http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=339767


"Nimisha Tiwari took her two young children shopping this weekend for toys.

Then she killed them.

Police say the Naperville mother used gasoline to ignite a weekend blaze that killed all three of them. The deaths were ruled a double-murder and suicide.

Nimisha and Anand Tiwari were struggling with marriage problems, court records revealed, but authorities said the senselessness of what unfolded Saturday on the 1900 block of Nutmeg Lane belies understanding.

"Who knows what would drive someone to do something like this," DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said. "There's no explanation for this."


Crosses have been installed in remembrance of Naperville mom Nimisha Tiwari and her children in front of their home. Authorities said Monday they believe Tiwari started the fire that killed herself and her two young children. (Bev Horne/bhorne@dailyherald.com)


The fire killed the 32-year-old stay-at-home mother; her son, Vardaan, 4; and his 18-month-old sister, Ananya.

Anand Tiwari is not a suspect. Police said he was in Chicago at a class to complete a master's degree when fire swept through an upstairs master bedroom and hallway. They said his alibi checked out and he passed a lie-detector test.

"He is distraught about his family," said Naperville Police Chief David Dial, who described the violence as "senseless and tragic."

"He (Anand) has no explanation."

The couple married in April 1999 and moved from India to the U.S. later that year. They eventually settled down in Naperville's Cinnamon Creek subdivision. Neighbors described a happy family, but police and court records documented recent marital discord.

Nimisha Tiwari obtained an emergency order of protection against her husband after a May 10 dispute that also involved her parents in which she accused him of a history of being abusive and controlling.

She alleged he cut off her use of the phone, credit cards and bank accounts, and even was secretly taping her conversations in the home. She asked for the children's passports so that he would not take them to India without her. She alleged he "tells me to commit suicide" and that he tried to take out a life insurance policy for her in October 2006.

"He threatens that, 'I would take away kids from you and would throw you out of the house,'æ" she wrote, describing it as an "every day thing." "He is telling my son, 'Mom is crazy and out of (her) mind.' "

But police said it was actually Anand Tiwari who initially contacted them, about one week before his wife sought the protective order. The information technology engineer later denied her allegations in court documents and complained his wife was growing increasingly unpredictable.

He, too, feared his wife and her family would flee with the children to India.

"I believe my son is terrified of his mother, unless I am there with him," Anand Tiwari said in a May 22 court filing. "My wife suffers from multiple sclerosis, which affects her decision-making and causes her to create false beliefs for herself and to act impulsively on those beliefs."

He added: "I am afraid that the impulsivity endangers the children, including by her inability to appropriately discipline the children. In the past, my wife has punished our son for not listening to her by locking him in a dark room for more than an hour."

But days later, his wife dropped her attempt for a more permanent order of protection without explanation.

Authorities had no further dealings with the family until 3:45 p.m. Saturday, when rescuers rushed to the home after a passing driver saw smoke and called 911. The front door was dead-bolted. There were no signed of forced entry.

As they climbed the stairs, dousing flames within 20 minutes, rescuers came upon a grisly discovery. The mother and her two children lay on a bed in the master bedroom. Nimisha Tiwari was near the foot of the bed, a lighter resting near her body. Her children did not appear restrained, but the bedroom door was shut. She did not leave behind a suicide note.

A gasoline can was found inside the bedroom. Rescuers described two fires, one just outside the bedroom door inside the hallway and another inside the bedroom. Authorities believe Nimisha Tiwari may have poured the gasoline on herself before igniting the blaze with the lighter.

The children's deaths were ruled homicides. Authorities said their injuries were consistent with being in a fire. They were alive when it broke out, but neither child showed obvious signs of a struggle. It will be weeks before lab tests are complete to see if the children were possibly drugged.

"I would think that a 4-year-old might try to get out if he were awake," Dial said.

Police reviewed video surveillance footage from a nearby gas station that they said shows the mother buying gasoline around 1:40 p.m. Saturday, Dial said. Her children were in the van with her. Afterward, police said, the mother was seen about 2:05 p.m. buying toys with her kids at a Downers Grove store.

The mood of the usually quiet, racially diverse neighborhood Monday continued to be one of disbelief.

In front of the house, three crosses, with flowers and stuffed animals, including a teddy bear, stood amid the chaos. Yellow crime-scene tape cordoned off the home, outside of which a patrol officer kept watch.

Neighbors said they felt shocked and helpless - and wanted to do something, but unsure of what.

"What do you do?" said neighbor Linda Conway. "What is the right answer?"

She said the son, Vardaan, was "the most adorable boy," who always seemed happy, often riding his bike down the block.

At the toy store, the mother bought each child one final toy - a Dora doll for her daughter, Ananya, and a Thomas the Tank Engine toy for Vardaan.

Authorities later found both toys inside the bedroom, near their bodies

Oh, I had no idea they were indian. What at tragic story. A really gruesome way to kill yourself and your kids though. She didn't have to kill her own children...

Dozens and dozens of stories like that pour out of Texas and Florida every year.

Both states are filled with bat$hit insane and infanticidal mothers because when the Bush brothers governed them, they severely damaged public mental health care services. And the religious extremism doesn't help either.

That's a terrible story. There was no reason to take the lives of her children.

She lived in my Chicago suburb. Considering how connected Indians are, I'm sure there's someone in our social circle that knew her family. Sad story...I can't imagine how you can set fire to your own children.....

By the way, most people with mental illness aren't violent and don't kill. That's one thing I don't like about this story is that it's going to perpetuate the myth that mental illness is what causes people to kill.

Lol @ Indians are connected. They hate each other.

Connected means they all know each other somehow from one person or the other, moron.

Connected doesn't mean emotionally united, lol.

I wonder if they ever thought of being divorced.

People act too impulsively on their emotions. People need to start thinking things through before they get too caught up in their emotions and do something completely irrational like this lady. Who would go so far to prove a point or show their frustraition and pain that they would end the lives of their own children? Geez, meditate or medicate. Pick one people; don't just go burzerk at the first trace of pain you feel in your heart.

I don't know the exact situation, but cultural taboos have to do with this. Some Indians hate the idea of medication used for the mind, going to a psychologist/psychiatrist, divorce, etc.

Most people with mental illness don't kill.

Very unfortunate. In India many such instances happened where whole family committed suicide or a man or a woman murdered their own children before committing suicide themselves. And that happened in the U.S. is very disturbing.

Oh yeah, it's always Bush's fault isn't it? As if people don't commit suicide in other states as well?

Is there a common reason in India why a parent would kill their kids before committing suicide? Are they scared that their kids will suffer, so it's better to die? Is it a honor/dishonor thing?


Some people think that maybe the husband was abusive, so she didn't want to leave her kids with him and she couldn't tolerate the marriage anymore....But I could never put my kids through the pain of burning.

poor kids

Sounds way out there but yeah, he has a lot to answer for.