Investigators say two friends of Anila Baby were killed about 90 minutes apart, while her prosecution is now paused for a competency review.

MILPITAS, Calif. — What police first described as a fatal hit-and-run in a Milpitas apartment parking lot on Aug. 28 has developed into a much broader criminal case, with Anila Baby accused of intentionally killing Anjana Hari with an SUV after allegedly killing another friend in San Jose earlier that morning.

The first public account focused on the death of Hari, 35, at the Mill Creek Apartments on Dixon Landing Road. Witnesses reported a blue SUV striking a pedestrian shortly after noon and leaving the property. Police soon located a damaged vehicle nearby and arrested Baby, a Milpitas resident who also lived at the apartment complex. Days later, investigators said evidence indicated the collision was deliberate rather than accidental. The case then expanded again when prosecutors charged Baby in the death of Ann Mary Mathew in San Jose. Baby now faces two murder counts, and authorities have not publicly established a motive for either death.

Milpitas officers were dispatched to the apartment complex just after noon after receiving reports of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian and leaving the scene. First responders found Hari critically injured in the parking area, and she was pronounced dead there. The original police announcement did not name Hari or Baby and described the investigation as a hit-and-run. Witnesses had reported seeing a blue SUV depart immediately after the collision, giving officers a description they could use while searching nearby streets and parking lots. The damaged vehicle was located a short time later, allowing police to make an arrest before investigators publicly characterized the incident as a homicide.

Court documents later changed the picture of what witnesses said happened before Hari was struck. According to investigators, Hari walked toward a blue Toyota Highlander that had stopped in the lot. One witness said she appeared to be smiling and friendly toward the driver, while another account described Hari and Baby as good friends. Investigators said they found no indication from those witnesses of an argument immediately before the collision. When Hari moved in front of the SUV, authorities allege, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and struck her. It then continued through the parking area, hitting three parked vehicles before leaving the apartment complex.

The physical evidence at the scene also became important to the murder allegation. A traffic investigator reported finding no tire marks that would indicate braking before the SUV struck Hari. Police said witness accounts and evidence from the collision led them to conclude that Baby intentionally drove into her. Prosecutors later alleged the killing involved planning, while the defense has not had an opportunity to test those allegations at trial. No jury has determined Baby’s guilt, and the criminal charges remain accusations. Authorities also have not explained what, if anything, happened between the women before the encounter in the parking lot.

Officers searching for the SUV found a damaged Toyota Highlander in a Walgreens parking lot less than a mile from the apartment complex, according to court records and local reporting. Baby was inside. Investigators described her as incoherent and said she had visible injuries and blood on her arms and legs. Those observations initially formed part of the investigation into Hari’s death. They became more significant after detectives in neighboring San Jose began examining another death reported that afternoon and developed evidence that they said connected Baby to that scene as well.

San Jose police said officers were called at about 1:53 p.m. Aug. 28 to a home in the 700 block of Linda Vista Street after a report of suspicious circumstances. They found an unresponsive woman inside and pronounced her dead at the scene. With help from the Santa Clara County Crime Lab and medical examiner’s office, detectives found evidence of at least one stab wound and classified the death as a homicide. The woman was later identified in court reporting as Mathew, 39. Investigators said Mathew knew Baby, and prosecutors eventually alleged that Mathew had been attacked before Hari was struck in Milpitas.

Authorities say the two deaths were separated by roughly 90 minutes. Investigators placed Baby at Mathew’s residence during part of the late morning through surveillance information, cellphone location data and other evidence described in court records. Detectives also examined home surveillance recordings and said clips covering portions of the relevant period had been deleted. A remaining recording showed footwear outside the home that investigators said matched sandals Baby was wearing when she was arrested. Police also said blood evidence recovered from Baby’s clothing strongly linked it to Mathew. Mathew’s cellphone was later reported to have been found in Baby’s vehicle.

Those findings transformed what had initially appeared to authorities in Milpitas to be one deadly vehicle incident into a prosecution involving two separate crime scenes in two cities. San Jose police announced on Sept. 10 that the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office had reviewed their homicide investigation and charged Baby with murder in Mathew’s death. By then, Baby was already facing a murder charge in connection with Hari’s death. Prosecutors have described the two killings as deliberate and have said the families are left with the central unanswered question of why two women who knew the defendant were killed on the same day.

The deaths also left investigators reconstructing an unusually compressed timeline. Police allege Baby was at Mathew’s San Jose home before noon, then was at the Mill Creek complex when Hari was struck shortly after noon. Officers subsequently found Baby and the damaged SUV in the nearby Walgreens parking lot. The San Jose death was not reported to police until later in the afternoon, meaning officers in Milpitas had already arrested Baby before San Jose investigators publicly connected her to Mathew’s death. That sequence allowed the separate investigations to converge once detectives compared evidence and established relationships among the three women.

Hari and Baby lived at the Mill Creek complex, and people interviewed by investigators described them as friends. Mathew also knew Baby. Prosecutors have emphasized the personal ties among the women, but law enforcement agencies have not announced a motive. The absence of a publicly identified motive remains one of the largest unanswered questions in the case. The evidence described so far addresses where investigators believe Baby was, what witnesses reported seeing and what forensic testing allegedly showed. It does not, by itself, explain what prosecutors believe prompted the two attacks.

The case has since moved into a different phase. In October, Baby’s defense attorney, Shawn George, raised doubts about whether she is mentally competent to stand trial. The issue concerns her present ability to understand the court proceedings and assist her lawyer; it is separate from any question about her mental condition at the time of the alleged crimes. The Santa Clara County Superior Court suspended the criminal proceedings while two court-appointed medical specialists evaluate Baby. The prosecution did not oppose the request to have her competency assessed.

The evaluators are expected to submit reports to the court, which is scheduled to revisit the competency issue Dec. 18. Until that process is resolved, the underlying murder case remains on hold. Baby has not been convicted of either killing, and the evidence against her has not been tested at trial. Investigators have continued to describe the motive as unresolved, leaving the deaths of Hari and Mathew connected by charges, evidence and friendship but without a publicly stated explanation for why authorities believe the two women were targeted.

Author note: Last updated October 20, 2026.