Fire in the hollywood hills,
Four members of a prominent family are discovered murdered.
- It's a mother and her mother-in-law,
And then two children, it's just shocking.
- The victims were bound and gagged.
- Most of the family were alive at the time of the fire.
- What kind of animal,
Or animals could do something like this?
- [narrator] detectives investigate if an argument
Between rival families has taken a deadly turn.
- Well, how do you go from being it functions together
To families, husbands, and wives,
To quadruple murder by arson?
- [narrator] and a major wiretap investigation
Into a criminal conspiracy.
- [narrator] results in a horrific crime scene revelation.
- It was decided they all had to die.
(intense music)
- [narrator] it is late night
In the hollywood hills, los angeles,
Just after 11:00 p.M, a panicked man calls 911
To report his house is on fire.
- All the firefighters get dispatched
To a large one story single family dwelling.
They found heavy smoke and fire.
The occupant on scene was in the driveway.
- A gentleman by the name of harish kumar.
He told the firefighters he had arrived home
At which time he saw his house ablaze.
- All the vehicles belonging
To his family members were in the driveway,
So he immediately assumed
That they were probably in the house.
- [narrator] in the home are harish's 63-year-old mother
Sitaben, his 42-year-old wife, gita,
And their two children, 18-year-old, paras
And 16-year-old tulsi.
- Harish he attempted to enter,
However he was unable to do so
Because of the flames and the heat.
He immediately called 911.
- The firefighters, he was frantically begging them
To put the fire out.
- [narrator] 45 miles away in the city of irvine,
Harish's nephew, sagar kumar finds out the horrifying news.
- I called my dad's phone to say goodnight.
And then my mom is screaming in the background.
And I asked what's going on?
And it's my uncle harish on the phone screaming
That the house is on fire.
- [narrator] sagar immediately starts driving north
To los angeles, desperately trying to get through
To his family that he fears are in the burning building.
- They're not answering their phones.
- Well, the first firefighters, they entered the location
And basically knocked down the fire.
- The firefighters went through the home room by room
Checking for any possible victims that might still be alive,
And that wasn't the case.
Discovering four bodies inside the home,
All four in the same room.
- All the bodies were burned beyond recognition.
- [narrator] when sagar arrives, he finds the street flooded
With first responders.
- I just got out of the car and started running up the hill
Where I saw my mom and dad and harish.
They're asking, oh, are they there?
Are they there?
- [narrator] the grim discovery of the bodies
And suspicious nature of the fire triggers firefighters
On scene to call in arson investigators and detectives
From the lapd.
- We looking at a complete mess.
I mean, I gotta be honest with you,
The bodies had obviously endured immense heat.
I remember one of the bodies having a leg burn off up
To the knee.
- By the description, the height, the weight, clothing worn,
We basically knew that these people were his family members.
- When we looked at their bodies,
The victims had duct tape around their mouths
That we could clearly see that each of them are hog tied
With plastic ties, with the legs being pulled up behind
The back and attached to the arms.
That is an obvious indication that foul play was involved.
- As I walked into the location,
I actually did smell a strong odour
Of what appeared to be gasoline inside the house.
So we knew that someone else had set the fire.
I determined that there was three separate
And distinct fires.
One fire was in a master bedroom set in a closet,
And the front bedroom where the bodies were located,
And then another bedroom adjacent to that.
- [narrator] investigators need to wait for the autopsy
To officially identify the victims and cause of death,
But they have no doubts this is a quadruple homicide.
- We were still hoping
That hopefully somehow somebody got out.
One of the detectives came up to us and said
That they found four bodies
And that they were completely burnt.
And that's when we found out that we had just lost them.
- [narrator] the kumar family moved from india
In the late 70's to make their way in america.
- So they came to the united states with nothing.
- [narrator] harish's wife, gita took in her young nephew,
Sagar and his sister, so their parents were able
To work in hotels.
- It was like my mom, even my biological mom would admit
That gita did raise me.
You know, anything a mother would do for a child
That she would do for me.
But my grandmother, she loved to laugh
And she was very ticklish.
Get whatever you wanted,
Just threaten her with tickling her.
- [narrator] in 1990, harish and gita bought a rundown hotel
In the studio city area of la.
Sagar and his sister lived there with them,
Having formed a strong bond with their cousins,
Paras and tulsi.
- We grew up together.
Paras, we were only 13 months apart.
Super competitive brothers.
We never referred to each other as cousins.
He got away with everything
Just 'cause his grades were a lot better than mine.
A great kid and loved by everybody.
Tulsi, I mean, she loved to read and write.
She loved writing poem.
We just had a very special tight bond.
Unconditional love that you get from the younger sister.
It's hard to put words on how amazing of a soul she was.
- [narrator] the kumar's work hard to renovate their hotel.
- We had gita running it.
She was a great, amazing businesswoman.
She's a very smart and strong woman.
- Through hard work, they developed a chain of hotels,
Several other properties.
- So the kumar's were doing well financially,
Apparently good standing, well thought of,
Well-liked, the kumar's were good people,
- [narrator] stunned by the death of four family members,
The rest of the grieving kumar's gather round
To console harish and each other.
- We didn't know anything.
We didn't know how the fire happened,
We didn't know anything.
- [narrator] but the detectives know
This is a homicide case,
And want to question harish kumar.
- When you have a situation where you have a murder
Where the male in the family is absent
And actually discovers the crime,
So there are some concern.
- You know, he sticks out as your primary suspect.
Harish kumar has got to be our guy.
That's your initial reaction
Because that's the most obvious.
- We met with mr. Kumar and took him to hollywood station.
He was apparently in shock.
Two other detectives were responsible
For interviewing mr. Kumar.
- [narrator] harish says he returned home late
After watching a volleyball game in bakersfield,
90 minutes north of la.
When probed, he says there were no problems at home.
- He did not display any symptoms
Which are consistent with a person
Who's guilty of committing the crime being investigated.
- These two detectives that interviewed him,
They came to us and said, hey look, he's not your guy.
He's not gonna be your guy.
These were two real veteran, street savvy homicide guys
That I had a complete faith in.
So when they said that, that was good enough for me.
- When we continued to talk with harish kumar,
We did query him if he was involved in any type of disputes,
If there was any issues at all with either him,
Or other members of his family.
As an afterthought, at one point harish mentioned to us
That there was an individual
In the indian community named victor govin.
And victor govin owned a small, quite rundown hotel
Immediately adjacent to the hotel that gita ran.
- It was not near as nice a hotel as in a kumar's property.
- As he explained to us that there was a dispute over access
To an alleyway.
But harish's interaction with victor were always pleasant.
- You know, it was a good relationship with victor govin.
He would come over along with his wife and kids,
We would help each other.
And he ran out a box of toilet paper,
We'd send over a box of toilet paper
And just a normal business type relationship.
- And harish assured us that victor
Wasn't gonna be our guy,
That the dispute was not that significant.
Our intent was to explore victor govin and determine
For ourselves whether he was a viable suspect
In this investigation.
- [narrator] before investigators can follow up on this,
Apparently unlikely suspect, a big lead comes in.
- We had teams of detectives canvassing the neighbourhood,
Specifically to look for anyone
That might have surveillance equipment on their house,
And we got lucky.
- They were incensed by the fact
That they had to talk to gita.
- In that culture, cooperating with the police
Is effectively a death sentence.
But it offended this guy so much
That two kids have been killed.
- You gotta understand, I'm a reporter.
He could have been satan and if he's willing
To give up somebody who murdered four people, that's fine,
I'll take it.
- [narrator] the day after four members of the kumar family
Were discovered burned in their home,
Detectives canvassing the area find a potential break
In the case.
- There was a house two or three doors down
Had captured images of a grey or silver toyota,
Looks like a tundra pickup that had come up the street.
The victim's home sat on a cul-de-sac.
So whoever came up would have to leave the same way.
And that truck was seen leaving back the opposite direction
A half hour later.
- And they basically left just right before mr. Kumar
Came home and found the fire.
- The truck, there was no licence plate on it,
Been taken off.
So that again, makes it a little suspicious.
- [narrator] while police attempt to track down
The unmarked truck, detectives asked harish
To do a walkthrough of the crime scene.
- It's tough 'cause you're asking the man
To look at what's left of his life basically,
And what was once a very beautiful home.
All his family members are now gone, but it was important
For the investigation to see if he could help us
With anything that might have appeared abnormal to him.
- He explained to us that his wife, gita had just returned
From india and had a suitcase which was packed with jewellery
And trinkets from their country.
And that also approximately $55,000 in cash
Was normally kept in the house.
We were unable to locate even with his assistance,
Either the suitcase or the cash.
- Despite the clear signs of a robbery,
Investigators still question
If that's the primary motive behind the crime.
- We didn't think that this was the burglary
Or robbery gone wrong because of the obvious hatred
That was inherent in this crime scene.
Burglars and robbers,
They don't need to do that to commit their crimes.
It just isn't typical at all.
You can't rule it out, you can't rule anything out.
- [narrator] the third day after the fire,
Autopsies are performed on the family's bodies
And the full horror of what happened to them is revealed.
- I attended the autopsy, just a glance look in the mouth,
You could see the charring or smoke inside.
So that's an indicator
That they were breathing in smoke and heat.
- [narrator] the family were tied up
And apparently burned alive.
There's also injuries to the throats of gita,
And 16-year-old, tulsi.
- Both the mother and the daughter may have been strangled,
But most of the bodies were alive at the time of the fire.
- All four bodies were different places of the room.
They would all have to see each other being killed.
What kind of animal or animals could do something like this?
- [narrator] now, investigators have to break it to harish
Officially that not only are his family dead,
They have been callously killed.
- It destroyed him as a human being.
- Before the tragedy, and harish after the tragedy
Are two different people.
We're still forever scarred
That we lost these four amazing people.
Now that this is an actual homicide,
We're still trying to wrap our heads around that.
You know, who could have done this?
Why would they have done this?
- [narrator] investigators decide to follow up with harish
Regarding the only potential lead he's provided.
His recent dispute over the alleyway
With businessman victor govin.
According to harish,
The trouble started about six months prior.
- There was an alleyway that accessed the rear
Of the govin property as well as the rear
Of the kumar property.
The govin's over the years had blocked that alleyway off
To expand their property.
Gita kumar was planning on expanding their hotel,
And in doing so, they found out
That this alley wasn't supposed to be obstructed.
To the city planning department, they explained to gita
That this alley needed to be opened.
Deliveries weren't supposed to be made on the main street
In front of the hotel which I believe was ventura boulevard.
And she was going to be penalised if she continued
To receive deliveries any other way,
But through that alley.
Gita actually went to victor govin and asked him
To open up the alley so she could get deliveries.
Victor govin did not want to do this.
- [narrator] before investigators can speak with victor,
A call comes into police.
- Rod bernsen, a local reporter at that time
And a retired lapd sergeant had called robbery homicide.
- [narrator] the deaths of the kumar's has been gaining
A lot of press attention and working for the tv news,
Rod is a familiar face on screen,
And he says he's just received a call he'll never forget.
- I answered the phone,
Rod bernsen fox news's gonna help you.
And he said, I really need to talk with you.
The sense I had is that this guy had something to say
And I needed to listen.
So I went and I met with him and I said, why am I here?
And he said, I know who committed the quadruple murder
And arson in the hollywood hills.
- [narrator] tv news reporter, rod bernsen has met up
With a man who claims to have insider information
On who killed four members of the kumar family.
- And I said, well, you know, you gotta understand
I'm a reporter, so I wanna do the story,
But you need to talk to the police.
And he said, yeah, but that's not something that I do,
That's not something that we do.
I didn't ask his background, I didn't care.
You know, he could have been satan
And if he's willing to give up somebody
Who murdered four people, that's fine, I'll take it.
- [narrator] rod convinces the man to meet with detectives.
- He was called angel novoa.
It offended this guy so much
Because he kept hearing on the news
That two kids had been killed
And that pushed him over the wall.
- [narrator] detectives persuade angel to reveal his story.
- Mr. Novoa tells us that about four to six weeks,
I believe prior to the murders he was contacted by a guy
That he only knew as pedro, who was a friend
Of his brother's from back in the day.
And he was looking to hire some muscle to go up,
And intimidate some folks to sign some contracts,
And it had something to do with hotels.
He met this pedro guy and an indian guy as he described him
By the name of freddy, and that's all he knew.
- [narrator] angel tells the detectives,
He then accompanied freddy and pedro
To the address he now knows was the kumar's.
- And an approach is made on the residence
By the individual known as pedro proposing as a person
Who's trying to get the neighbours to sign a petition.
- [narrator] sagar and his mother happened
To be visiting at the time.
- There was a knock on the door and somebody had showed up
And asking for some type of signature for something
That was happening in the neighbourhood.
My mother, hema, but she shut the door and locked it.
- As pedro is getting entry into the house,
Something goes wrong and the occupant
Of the home slams the door on him.
So they leave the location.
Several days later, angel novoa is contacted by pedro
Who says, hey, we're gonna do it again,
But this time we need to bring guns.
Angel novoa decides that he doesn't want anything to do
With this, and he backs out.
- [narrator] for police, angel's story
Is a big breakthrough.
Then they show him a picture of victor govin,
The hotel owner involved in a dispute with the kumar's.
- And he positively identified vic govin
As the person he was introduced to as freddy.
We're dancing with music now,
Things are starting to make some sense.
- Also, we had the grey pickup truck seen leaving the scene
Of the crime.
Angel novoa identified pedro as a person
Who drove a grey pickup truck.
- [narrator] the number pedro used to contact angel
Is not registered to anyone,
But investigators are still able
To request records to check its activity.
- And he was making phone calls
To a motorcycle shop frequently.
So we thought whoever this person was,
Pedro or whoever had some connection
To this motorcycle shop.
And so we went there, motorcycle shop owner.
Showing him the phone number,
Said, do you recognise his phone number?
He said, yeah, that belongs to carlos
Who's a frequent customer.
He even does some work in here sometimes.
And we go, oh man, this is great.
He says, I've actually been to his house once.
- And he gave us a description
Of where the residence was located.
We sent surveillance teams over to that neighbourhood,
And they were able to locate a grey pickup.
And that vehicle came back registered
To a person named carlos amador.
- [narrator] now detectives search for a possible connection
Between carlos amador and victor govin.
- We're looking into carlos amador background,
We come to find out that he's a petty criminal
And mostly insurance fraud cases.
And some of his activities are in conjunction
With an individual named peter govin.
There's a male indian who resides in orange county
And has a hotel as well.
Peter govin turned out to be the brother of victor govin.
We looked into peter govin's background
And were astonished to see that he had a prior arrest
And conviction for attempted murder.
- [narrator] detectives have discovered
That one of their chief suspects for the killing
Of the kumar family, victor govin has a brother peter
Who was convicted seven years prior
For assault with a firearm.
- We learned that peter had gotten into a business dispute.
So after he couldn't get his money back from this guy,
Peter went to the guy's house, he shot him,
Left him for dead.
He had somehow or another amazingly slipped
Through the cracks and he got less than two years in jail
For that crime.
How that happened, we couldn't determine.
- Obviously at that point in time all kinds of lights
And sirens went off in our minds and we realised
That there was most certainly a nexus
Between the govin brothers and this crime.
- [narrator] but could a dispute
That seemed so insignificant to harish lead
To the kumar's death?
Now a month since the incident, detectives go back
To the remaining family members for more insight.
- We continue to inquire
And obtain more specific information about the govin's
And the "alley dispute."
- The govin brothers, and they had purchased another piece
Of land behind the alleyway.
So their idea was that if they get vacation of that alley,
They get four extra thousand square feet
Of land in total, right?
And then they can develop on that entire lot.
- It meant millions for the govin's.
It was a big deal to them.
- Gita is the boss of the kumar's hotel.
Detectives also hear from witnesses
That having to deal with her was aggravating the govin's.
- I came to learn in the indian community
That men run the show.
And in some people's minds, people like the govin's,
Women are almost second class citizens.
And at one point, during one of these social functions
Attended by the indian community, harish kumar was there
And peter govin was there.
And peter actually put his arm around him
And started walking him around saying, hey,
Why do you let your wife get involved in men's business?
This is between you and me.
And harish told him, no, this is her project.
Everything to do with that hotel is what she wants to do.
- I mean, it appears that the dispute
That brought about this tragedy
Was strictly between two separate families.
We determined that both victor and his brother were incensed
By the fact that they had to talk to gita,
And that it was not right for harish
To direct them to gita, and that he should have taken care
Of the problem as a man.
This is what we believe started the hatred
That caused this all to come to fruition.
- On may the 10th, they had a hearing scheduled for court
To determine whether the govin's or the kumar's
Would essentially win the dispute.
- [narrator] even though gita was confident
Of winning in court, she had proposed to the govin's,
If they altered their plan slightly,
Allowing access for the kumar's to get deliveries,
Then she wouldn't contest them building on the alley.
- I remember one time victor govin coming over
To gita's house, and I was at the table there too,
Along with paras and tulsi.
And it was just a peaceful, normal conversation.
And it seemed like he agreed to it
That, oh, that sounds like a very reasonable solution
And I think we should proceed in that manner.
And then that day that he did come,
He asked for a tour of the house
Which seemed a little weird,
But gita gave him a tour of the house.
- [narrator] a few months later,
Three of the people at that table, gita, paras and tulsi,
As well as their grandmother would be murdered
In their home on may 4th, just six days before the hearing
Was scheduled to take place.
- Our subsequent investigation led us to interviewing people
At the planning commission.
They indicated to us that would've been granted full access
To that alley, and victor govin would've been required
To remove any structures that he had illegally set up.
And it was clear that the kumar's didn't do anything
To precipitate this tragedy.
- [narrator] investigators will need to prove
That the govin brothers did.
- We decided that we would use a wiretap investigation
And monitor the phone conversations
Between the three principal.
- We were up on carlos's phone,
We were up on vic govin's phone and peter's phone.
- [narrator] as soon as the police start listening,
There's an immediate problem.
- [narrator] the govin brothers don't always talk
To each other in english.
- The two brothers spoke in a hindu dialect called gujarati.
And there aren't a lot of folks
That speak that particular language.
We were fortunate in that we had one individual
In the los angeles police department.
We immediately put a headset on him and explained to him
That he was gonna sit there until we solved this case.
- [narrator] investigators also have some additional methods
To get the govin brothers to talk.
- We call it tickling the wire.
You go out and you give somebody you suspect is involved
A little information knowing
That they're gonna want to get on the phone
And talk to folks.
- Detective went to victor's business
And explained they were involved in the investigation
Of the kumar murder.
- We acted like we needed his help.
We knew that he had a lot of knowledge of what was going on
And we had gotten a break in the case.
- And then they explained to him, well, we have video
Of this grey toyota pickup leaving the scene of the crime.
- He was in such a trance.
I had to actually put my hand in front of his face,
And snapped my fingers and he bounced too.
And he said, did anybody get the vin number?
And that was a major slip
Because he knew there was no licence plate on that truck.
- We also showed him a picture of carlos amador
And he indicated that he'd never seen carlos amador before.
From that point on, he started to get very nervous.
They advised him that they would be leaving his hotel,
And driving down to orange county to talk to his brother,
And they were hoping that he would not alert his brother
Just so that the investigation could be conducted
On a professional matter.
- [narrator] victor takes the bait.
(phone ringing)
- [narrator] but detectives don't go to peter govin,
Instead they pay a visit to carlos amador.
- Tom bracha and I identified ourselves
As automobile detectives investigating a series of thefts
Of toyota vehicles.
And we asked him to prove to us
That, that was in fact his vehicle.
He seemed quite cavalier and we were able to recover
The vin plate identification number from the vehicle.
- [narrator] now all three suspects are spooked.
- Became clear that there's only three people involved
In this crime.
And that's the govin brothers and carlos amador.
They're the only three calling each other
About going and meeting someplace.
- We had a surveillance team watching amador
And he goes and meets up with vic govin.
Not only did we have the phone conversation,
We had a photograph
Of vic govin standing right next to carlos.
(camera shuttering)
- [narrator] but the suspect's alliance is weakening.
- We considered that we could stay up on the wire,
And develop additional information
For at least another week or two.
However, that was cut short when we intercepted
A conversation between the govin brothers
And it became clear
That they were going to kill carlos amador.
- [narrator] police are logging the calls
Between the three suspects for the murder
Of the kumar family.
They detect signs that the govin brothers
Are turning on their co-conspirator, carlos amador.
- We formed the opinion that the two brothers had decided
That carlos amador was weak because we had talked to him
And they just didn't trust him.
- [narrator] and on July 25th,
Three months after the murders, the detectives decipher
That the govin's are preparing to kill amador.
- We heard the conversation between the govin brothers
That they were waiting for the other guy down
In san diego area and victor said, hey, I have the vehicle
To move the boat if you need to.
Neither one of them owned a boat.
Carlos amador didn't own a boat,
That was just code for putting a body in,
Or hiding a body in what have you.
We have to call this now or it's gonna be too late,
We'll lose carlos amador.
- Surveillance teams were following him southbound
On the san diego freeway.
Detective moberly and I were behind the surveillance teams.
- [narrator] amador suddenly realises he's being tailed
And makes a bolt for it off the freeway.
- He started driving around erratically at which point
The surveillance teams cornered him,
Boxed his car in and took him into custody.
I said to him, carlos, I'm not an auto theft detective.
I'm a homicide detective and you know why we're here.
- And his eyes got like saucers,
You know, I mean, they got big.
- Immediately, he gave us a vague rendition of events,
Which completely eliminated him from any culpability.
But he did admit that he accompanied victor govin
And peter govin to the kumar residence
On the night of the murders.
- [narrator] with carlos amador in custody,
Police go after victor and peter govin
Before they have the chance to flee.
- Peter and victor are both arrested within 24 hours,
Both at their primary residences.
Those arrests were made by swat teams.
- That's when we found out
That it was them the night of the arrest.
And these were the guys that did it.
It was shocking to us 'cause we didn't expect that.
- The govin's just completely adamantly denied
Any involvement in the crimes.
- With victor, we asked if he'd ever seen carlos amador
Before and he advised us that he had not.
We then showed him a picture of him
And carlos amador leaning against carlos amador's pickup
Truck in the parking lot of a restaurant,
He did not say anything else.
- Peter govin was a ex-con that was con wise so to speak.
He wasn't gonna implicate himself or his brother.
- [narrator] with the death penalty still in effect
In california for the most serious crimes
Such as mass murder, detectives work on carlos amador
As the suspect most likely to crack.
- You got two guys who are brothers
And you have this other guy and blood's thicker than water
And you tell 'em they're gonna lay you out,
They're gonna make you the prime suspect.
- [narrator] carlos amador cuts a deal for a reduced charge.
He agrees to give evidence against the govin's.
- Ultimately, we allowed him to plead guilty
To four second degree murders under the provision
That if in cross-examination during the trial he was proved
To be a liar, then all deals were off and he would be facing
The death penalty.
- [narrator] investigators used that deal
To get a complete picture of what happened that night.
- [narrator] amador claims the govin's told him the plan
Was just to intimidate gita kumar into signing documents,
Waving her family's rights to the contested alleyway.
- Victor goes to the door and works his way in
To talk to gita.
As far as gita knows, they're on good terms with each other
And they gotta work out this little dispute.
- [narrator] victor comes out to say, harish kumar
Isn't home, it's just gita, sitaben, paras and tulsi there.
After victor goes back in, peter govin
And amador follow, masks on, guns drawn.
- And victor was going to act
As if it was a residential robbery,
And that he wasn't involved,
That he was in fact a victim along with the kumars.
- [narrator] peter govin and amador separately tie up gita
And sitaben putting duct tape over their eyes.
- They brought the two women back into the small room,
Which we refer to as the death room.
According to carlos amador,
He is instructed to go back and bring the children.
- [narrator] amador goes to 18-year-old, paras's room.
- [narrator] after paras is tied up and his eyes taped,
16-year-old tulsi is next.
- Carlos amador, what stood out to me
Was his callous nature.
- [narrator] the family's eyes covered, victor govin gets up
To ransack the master bedroom, finding cash
And a suitcase full of jewellery.
But when they grab gita so she can tell them
Where the safe is, things don't go as planned.
- [narrator] gita now knows that victor
Is clearly part of this.
- And that's when it was decided they all had to die.
- [narrator] as part of a plea deal, carlos amador
Is revealing to detectives the events
On the night of may 4th, 2002 where he accompanied victor
And peter govin to the kumar's home, resulting in arson
And the murder of four members of the family.
- [narrator] after spraying the fire accelerant, amador says
He returns to a grizzly scene with all four of the family
Hogtied in the small bedroom.
- I mean, this non-human individual,
As far as I'm concerned wanted to inflict the most physical
And mental torture on that woman
Because this second class citizen was kicking his butt
In court on their dispute,
And that just set him off completely.
- And then he claims he went out to the truck
Before they were set on fire and did not actually see
Who lit the match, so to speak.
And I just drove away.
- [narrator] victor and peter govin are charged
With four counts of capital murder as well as burglary,
Arson, and robbery.
The kumar's friends and family are stunned
That a simple dispute over access
To an alleyway could have resulted in such a barbaric crime.
- If it was two families like the kumar's involved
In a dispute, they would've worked it out.
They would've worked it out,
But the govin's didn't see it that way.
- How do you go from being acquaintances
To being at functions together,
Both as families, husbands, and wives?
How do you go from that relationship
To quadruple murder by arson?
It's just shocking.
It's amazing what people do if greed is a factor.
- [narrator] almost two years after the murders,
The trial of the govin brothers begins on March 25th, 2004
At the los angeles superior court.
They plead not guilty.
- Carlos was offered 15 years to life
To provide state's evidence, which he did.
Even though he was as equally guilty under the law,
It wasn't his idea to go up there and kill these people.
- We were sitting there throughout their whole trial
Listening to all the evidence, and the testimony.
They had to show photos of paras and tulsi and gita,
And my grandmother, sita.
They recommended to us that you need to leave the courtroom
Because you don't wanna see these photos
'cause then it's pictures of their bodies completely burned.
My uncle refused to get up, harish,
He sat and saw those photos.
- [narrator] both victor and peter govin
Are eventually found guilty on all counts,
They're sentenced to death.
- I mean, hearing the guilty verdict,
These guys are finally caught,
But how does that help anything for us?
I mean, we're not getting any of the family back.
Paras and tulsi, they were young.
You know gita, she was only 42
And she was my age when this happened,
And even my grandmother's only 62 at that time,
And how much life they had to live.
- [narrator] harish kumar himself passes away
A few months after the trial.
- He pulled his vehicle to the side of the freeway and died.
The coroner, couldn't conclusively determine cause of death.
- That was another tragedy, but when you lose your wife
And mother and two children,
I wouldn't imagine being able to live that long myself.
- [narrator] in 2018, victor govin commits suicide
In his cell.
His brother peter remains on death row to this day.
The lives they ended, gita, sitaben, paras and tulsi
Are regularly commemorated by the surviving members
Of the kumar family.
- I mean, it's been 21 years,
Their friends are always reaching out
And especially on may 4th, all of your phones, my phones,
Everyone's phone in our family starts going off
And it's nice to see that they've put such a huge imprint
On so many people's lives that these people still remember
Who they were.