Sounak Sengupta
Investigation Discovery’s ‘Forensic Files II: Killer Alibi’ features how Indian multimillionaire Ravi Kumra was murdered inside his Monte Sereno, California, home in late November 2012. He and his former wife were victims of a home invasion, and the authorities arrested the conspirator trio over the following few months.
How Did Ravi Kumra Die?
Raveesh “Ravi” Kumra was born Ram Kishan Kumra in Kartharpur, India, on September 20, 1946. He graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from the esteemed IIT Delhi and emigrated to the United States in 1970. Eventually settling in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, Ravi was one of the first Indian-born entrepreneurs in the wireless industry. He started several cellular companies in the US with successful bets on emerging telecommunications trends. He was deemed one of the quietest angel investors in Silicon Valley.
The ever-generous Ravi never turned down a request for help from his friends in need. Family and friends described him as a business maverick with a rare mind and visionary thinking. He loved philosophy and politics, thrived on learning, and was famous for sending 2000-word e-mails — ranging from politics to religion to mathematics and music — at 2:00 am. Ravi married Harinder “Rani” Kumra in Ludhiana, India, in 1974 and had two daughters, Raina and Anisha. He bought The Mountain Winery in Saratoga in 1995 for $6 million.
According to reports, Ravi had to sell the winery, built by a French-born California wine pioneer more than a century ago, in 1999 over reported worker disputes. Ravi and Rani lived in a 7,000 sq ft house on Withey Road in the elite, wealthy neighborhood of Monte Sereno for almost two decades, since 1995, barring a short period of separation when they divorced in 2010. Hence, it was shocking when the 66-year-old multi-millionaire venture capitalist was gagged, tied up, and choked to death during a home invasion robbery on November 30, 2012.
Who Killed Ravi Kumra?
According to Rani’s testimony, she cooked on the night of November 29 and convinced Ravi to leave his home office and have dinner. She recalled washing the dishes before she walked to her bedroom, switched off the lights, and turned in for the night. The show explained the couple, married for more than three decades, had an amicable divorce but continued to reside in separate bedrooms in the same Monte Sereno home. However, she could not remember if she locked her bedroom door, which she usually did before retiring for the day.
Rani told the investigators how confident her husband was in their home and being secure, that he usually left doors unlocked and did not even turn on the security alarm system at their property. She testified a noise from her door awakened her, and moments later, someone assaulted her. A sobbing Rani recalled seeing the intruder’s face in their iPhone light and later provided a somewhat accurate description to the police composite sketch artist. She was forced to walk to the kitchen, where she found Ravi with his hands tied in the back.
When Rani saw him struggling, she recounted notifying the intruders not to force him since he was a heart patient with breathing problems. The intruders then blindfolded her, duct taped her mouth, tied her legs with a blanket, and had her lay face up. She remembered how her lips were bleeding from being assaulted, and the blood dripped inside her. The intruders stole from $20,000 to $30,000 — meant for their daughter’s wedding — and a tall container of pennies and quarters saved by her children when they were small.
The intruders even pulled several 22-carat gold bracelets she was wearing from her wrists before leaving the home. Initially afraid, a blindfolded and tightly bound Rani eventually mustered the courage to get up and call 911. When the police and the medical respondents arrived, they untied her and rushed Ravi to the hospital, where he was declared dead. The medical examiner noted he had died of asphyxiation from his gags. The police did not find evidence of forced entry at the Kumra residence, indicating the intruders were aware of Ravi’s eccentricities.
However, the investigators had a quick breakthrough when they noticed the invaders left the gloves used in the robbery in the Kumra residence sink soaked in soap water. They also found DNA evidence from the distinctive-looking duct tapes used for binding the victims. The police ran the retrieved DNA through the national database and found two hits — Javier Rubenrodrigu Garcia and DeAngelo Joseph Austin. The show stated Javier and DeAngelo were part of a gang that specialized in burglarizing residents of South Asian descendence.
The authorities placed them at the scene during the robbery time frame using information from their cell tower location, and the duo was arrested on December 31, 2012. The police also looked into Ravi’s background and learned about Katrina Fritz, a former sex worker who provided sexual services to him for 12 years. Reports stated she met Ravi in San Francisco in 1999 and quit her sex work in 2000 as she began to work exclusively for him. She frequently met him at his house or a local hotel until their relationship cooled in 2011.
The officers were confident Katrina knew about the crime, the residence layout, and Ravi’s behavioral eccentricities. Though she denied knowledge of the robbery-murder, the police took her into custody in February 2013 after they found DeAngelo, her brother, drove an X5 BMW registered to her name immediately after the homicide. When she heard she was charged with murder and could face life without parole or the death sentence, she decided to cooperate with the authorities and named their final conspirator — Marcellous Bernard Drummer.
Court documents state DeAngelo, the alleged mastermind of the crime, contacted his sister, Katrina, shortly after the 2012 Thanksgiving with the plot of robbing the Kumras. Though she claimed she initially tried to dissuade him, Katrina eventually provided her brother and his two accomplices, Marcellous and Javier, with detailed drawings of the residence outlay. She even pointed them to Ravi and Rani’s bedrooms and told them the Indian-born venture capitalist left his door unlocked and kept cash and jewelry stored in the home.
Javier Garcia, DeAngelo Austin, and Marcellous Drummer Are in Prison Today
After the police found a vintage Louis Vuitton purse and an India-made gold bracelet inside Marcellous Drummer’s Oakland home, he was taken into custody on March 7, 2013. The officers also noted he contacted Katrina minutes before the home invasion based on phone records. He also called DeAngelo nearly 200 times between mid-November to early December 2012. Katrina pled guilty to robbery and false imprisonment felonies with gang enhancements on September 18, 2014. She testified against the trio in exchange for a maximum sentence of 17 years.
The trio faced six felony counts of murder, assault, criminal threats, robbery, false imprisonment, and residential burglary. Two gang enhancement charges were added to Javier and DeAngelo. Marcellous was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to life without parole for murder and concurrent terms of 15 years to life for the home invasion and 11 years to life for robbery and false imprisonment in December 2014. Javier and DeAngelo were convicted of first-degree murder, robbery in concert, criminal threats, and false imprisonment in June 2016.
The former was sentenced to 25 years to life consecutive to another 12 years in prison in July 2016. DeAngelo received the life sentence and consecutive sentences of 30 years to life and 36 years and four months for the other charges. Javier, 32, is incarcerated at the High Desert State Prison and will be eligible for parole in 2036. DeAngelo, 32, is serving his sentence at the Salinas Valley State Prison, while Marcellous, now 36, is incarcerated at the California State Prison, Solano.
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