Trial begins for man accused of killing family in Novi

Lakshminivasa Nerusu charged with three counts of murder

Lakshminivasa Rao Nerusu

NOVI, Mich. – The trial is beginning for a man who fled to India after the 2008 slayings of his wife and two children in their suburban Detroit home.

Lakshminivasa Nerusu was arrested in February 2013 in Andhra Pradesh, near Hyderabad, India. A Novi police investigator and an FBI agent flew to India and returned Nerusu to Michigan.

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He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole.

Police said Nerusu allegedly stabbed his wife, Jayalakshmi Nerusu, his 14-year-old daughter, Tejasvi and 12-year-old son, Siva, to death in their Novi home on Oct. 13, 2008. But their bodies were not found until two weeks later when police went to the home after the children stopped showing up for school.