{"id":598083,"date":"2026-04-21T18:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598083\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:50:12","slug":"suspect-arrested-after-mother-killed-daughter-injured-in-burbank-stabbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598083\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect arrested after mother killed, daughter injured in Burbank stabbing"},"content":{"rendered":"

BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) — A suspect has been arrested after a mother was killed and her daughter injured in a stabbing attack inside a Burbank home<\/a>, police announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The two woman were found stabbed in the home on North Brighton Street Monday morning. Arti Varma, 59, died from her injuries, while her daughter remains hospitalized in stable condition.<\/p>\n

More than 12 hours later, 30-year-old Sergio Fraire was taken into custody after a search warrant was served at a home in the city on East Palm Avenue, where he was believed to be staying. Police say evidence related to the stabbing was recovered.<\/p>\n

\"Suspect<\/p>\n

Fraire was booked for murder and attempted murder, though a motive in the deadly attack has not been determined.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear if the suspect had any relationship with the victims.<\/p>\n

Police have not released the name of the daughter, but neighbor Victor Goli identified her as Meera Varma.<\/p>\n

A mother was killed and her daughter was injured after a stabbing inside a Burbank home, friends say. Police are searching for the suspect.<\/p>\n

Arti was a first-grade teacher at Bret Harte Elementary School in the Burbank Unified School District. She is the second teacher at the school to be killed in the last two years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“This news is heartbreaking. Our deepest condolences are with Ms. Varma’s students, colleagues, friends, and loved ones, and with all members of the Bret Harte community who may be struggling with this loss. Words cannot fully express the sorrow we feel or the care we hold for those who are grieving,” Interim Superintendent Dr. Oscar Macias said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Counseling and mental health support services will be available for students and staff who may need it.<\/p>\n

Varma’s daughter, Meera, is a nationally known mental health activist who has worked alongside well-known figures including Oprah Winfrey, former President Joe Biden, former first lady Jill Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n

Friends said Arti loved to celebrate her culture and decorated her home for Diwali.<\/p>\n

Neighbors said the attack has been difficult to process and wonder who would attack the mother and daughter.<\/p>\n

“Is it something that we have to worry about as a neighborhood?” Strattan said. “If it’s someone they know that makes it even harder to process because they were such a good people. I can’t imagine someone would intentionally want to hurt them.”<\/p>\n

Goli said Arti’s husband and Meera’s father is currently in India.<\/p>\n

“He couldn’t even speak right… He was crying,” Goli said when asked how the husband reacted.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) — A suspect has been arrested after a mother was killed and her daughter injured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[260568,23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-598083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-260568","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}