Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Money, Love, Betrayal: The Quadruple Murder Trial of Gurpreet Singh

Episode Date: September 2, 2024

In April 2019, Gurpreet Singh called 911 and reported that he found his wife, her parents and her aunt shot to death in their apartment in West Chester, Ohio. A massive police investigation unfolded and quickly police zeroed in on Singh as the prime suspect in the murders of Shalinderjit Kaur, Parmjit Kaur, Hakikat Singh Pannag and Amarjit Kaur. Singh's trial would reveal betrayal, an affair and a claim that an Indian land mafia was responsible for the murders. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy breaks down the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Use the code LAW15 for 15% off at https://citybeauty.com/LCCrimeFix. That’s promo code LAW15 for 15% off your order!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. I will send out, but I need to know what's going on. Can you say it again? Yes, ma'am. My wife, my family, and my parents need it. A man's frantic 911 call leads to the discovery of his wife, her parents, and her aunt all shot to death in their apartment. That's a pretty unbelievable phone call to get. It's kind of shocking. Immediately, suspicion turned to Gurpreet Singh, the man who placed that 911 call.

We knew it right from the beginning that he's the one who has done it. I have the details of this disturbing case out of Ohio and how it ended. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. When the murders of four members of one family happened on April 28, 2019, in Westchester, Ohio, it was a stunning and sad case. Shalinderjeet Kaur and her parents, Parmjeet Kaur and Hakiakat Singh Panag, and Parmjeet's sister, Amarjeet Kaur, were found shot to death. Shalinderjeet's husband, Gurpreet Singh, called 911. Your wife and your family are doing what? They're on the ground. They're on the ground and bleeding.

Your wife? How many people are down? My wife, my parents, my dad. Who? My wife, my dad, my mom, my wife, my dad, my mom, and my aunt. Officers with the Westchester Police Department, of course, raced to the scene. Someone's banging the doors. Okay, all right, stay back here for me, okay? All right.

Police found Gurpreet Singh with his hands in the air standing outside of the apartment. Let me see your hands! Hands! All right, hands! Let me see your hands! Hands! All right, hands! Let me see your hands! Hands! Down on the ground! Down on the ground! Down on the ground! Lay on your belly!

Leave my life! Leave my life, please! I got cover. You handcuff Marconi. Handcuff him. Handcuff him. You got coverage on him? Come up here and get lethal coverage on him. Thank you. That's a pretty unbelievable phone call to get. It's kind of shocking. Your first response is, are you serious? And then when you find out how horrific the crime scene was and everything, you just, you basically, it's an all hands on deck. We're getting, get everybody in here and let's, we know right from the start, we got to do our best on this case.

Just because of the complexities and four victims is very unusual. And then all one location like that. So it was definitely a shocking phone call to get. The area that Westchester Police Chief Joel Herzog polices is a bedroom community north of Cincinnati, and it doesn't see a lot of violent crime. And it was so it was unusual. This was an apartment complex that the owners had done a lot of work to and fixed it up. And it became a very low call volume place. So for it to be at that location definitely was shocking and shocked for the community. It had people and very shocking for the Sikh community because we, you know, we have a decent number of Sikh population in Westchester, but it's not anything we have any issues with. We have a temple here,

but there's never been any violence of this nature. This quadruple murder case is so incredibly disturbing, but we're able to bring it to you because of sponsors like City Lips. City Lips is not a painful lip plumper that stings and burns. It will give you fuller, healthier, younger looking lips. City Lips uses clinically tested ingredients and soothing moisturizers. Just swipe it on clean bare lips and after a few minutes, you will experience the full effects of City Lips. To try City Lips, click the link in the description, scan the QR code on your screen, or go to citybeauty.com slash lccrimefix. Use the code LAW15 for 15% off of your order. Inside the apartment, as I mentioned earlier, police found Gurpreet Singh's wife, Shalinderjeet Kaur, her parents, Parmjeet Kaur, and Hakiya Kat Singh, Panag, and Parmjeet's

sister, Amarjeet Kaur, all had been shot in the head several times. I walk inside, my wife, my mom, and my eyes are all gone, bleeding. Do you know who may have done this? The family were all members of the Sikh community. Amarjeet just happened to be visiting from India. She was really close to her sisters, her brothers. So that's why she was visiting there. That is Amrsheet's son, Jazdeep Hans. Her original plan was to visit my other uncle in Maryland, then to Westchester, and then she was about to visit to California.

So that was her plan, and she bought a lot of gifts for the kids also. So but that's like, oh, that's gone. Tell me about your mom. What was she like? Oh, she was actually really calm. And she was like, I always figures like that she was a God figure to me she was nearly a God because every time whenever I am in pain I always looked into her so she always helping me she was always a she was always helping us everyone and she was always always soft-spoken also. So, yeah, she was really soft-spoken.

Police launched a massive investigation at the apartment complex, trying to figure out who killed these family members in the apartment and why. But there was something that stood out about who wasn't in the home when this happened. Gurpreet and Shalinderjeet's children were not there. That was part of our case to look at. And as we followed through, it was very unusual for the kids not to be home at this hour on a Sunday, on a school night. Shalinderjeet was very protective of her kids and she was very, made sure their schooling was ready, their homework. They got a good night's sleep. So it was very, made sure their schooling was ready, their homework, they got a

good night's sleep. So it was very unusual for them not to be home. And we were able to track records and phone calls and determine that she had made several calls requesting them to bring their kids home, but that we feel it was delayed because the crime had not occurred. So Gapreet did not want his kids anywhere near the house and was having them keep them away. Did he ever sit down and do an interview with law enforcement? Did he cooperate in the beginning? Um, no, I wouldn't say it was cooperation. Uh, he had, he sat down with us the first night, uh, and then, uh, did not really cooperate with us at all. We had to get warrants for the gunshot residue kit in testing. And then his statement, other than his initial statement, was not consistent. That interaction about evidence that might be on Gurpreet Singh was captured by police body cameras.

Gurpreet Singh wanted to leave the police station, but officers wouldn't allow him to do so. Why would I stay here? Sir, please. I understand that, but there's no arguing about it. You're going to stay here and that's final. That's it. Okay. Arrest me. As soon as we get arrested, you're under detainment. No, I don't understand detain or whatever. Back in the room. You arrested me. You didn't get back in this room.

Look, he told me now that my family was shot. I thought it was an accident. You thought what was an accident? Four people died and you thought it was an accident? Yes. I wasn't told anything. Sir, please arrest me or let me go. You're detained please under arrest me or let me go. You're detained.

You arrest me or let me go. You're detained. Come on in here. I don't know what detain is. You two high guys are doing this to me? See? Look! Listen, do you want to sit with your hands free which I would prefer. I will come back sir.

Thank you. I gotta see you my dad understand please let me come on let's have a seat please let no no why don't you just arrest me then why not why don't let me go okay sir you're in full uniform everything please take me in your car. I'm not back. With you. What kind of law is it? I mean,

look how you guys are getting in a position like I am some threat to you, right? No, but you can't leave. You're not allowed to leave. Why? Because we're in a search warrant for evidence that is on you. As Chief Herzog mentioned, Gurpreet Singh spoke to detectives for a time. My name is Gurpreet Singh. Okay. You go by Gary? Somebody told me to go by Gary.

I'm going to call you Gary. Is that okay? This happened that evening and into the early morning hours of Monday. You heard Singh tell police that he goes by Gary. He went through his day. It was a Sunday and he didn't go to temple as he usually would. You didn't go to church today? No, I was really my back really bad. Okay. I play volleyball really hard. Okay. Singh was a long-haul truck driver, and he also didn't go to work that night

as he usually would. What took place when you called 911? It's very important to us to help us out. I come back. I see my mom. Yes, I see my mom. And I see my wife. And I see my mom, and I see my wife, and I see my aunt.

I see they bleed, and they are on the ground. And I am just running to try to shake them, try to see. And I go inside my dad. I checked him, he bleeds and no one talked. I call and I try to No, one officer come. Yeah, I call him. But sir, can you please tell know what happened. That's what we're trying to find out from you, what you saw, what you did today, where people were just trying to get an idea. The crime was absolutely shocking to people in Westchester. It's very heartbreaking. An entire family killed last night. We are out here at that apartment complex. There is a pond way back in the distance. The dive team has been searching that pond for quite some time.

It looks like they're about to wrap up their work. I actually covered this case when I worked in local news in Cincinnati. Prayer vigils were held in Westchester and in India. They were praying that the killer would be found. Interestingly enough, less than 48 hours after the murders, divers found a gun believed to be the murder weapon in the pond that you saw me point to just a moment ago right behind the apartment. I was actually there when those divers found the gun. News photographers could actually see divers pulling the gun out of the pond with their cameras. Even with evidence that seemed compelling like that, investigators still had to take time to piece the case together. Then on July

2nd, 2019, less than three months after the murders, police raced into a Walmart parking lot in Bradford, Connecticut, and they took Gurpreet Singh into custody. He immediately put his hands up and he did not resist. From the beginning, many people believed that Gopreet Singh had committed the murders, but he maintained he didn't do it. Singh pleaded not guilty to the charges and the prosecutor announced that he would seek the death penalty against him. Singh's first trial in October 2022 ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked with one juror holding out. His attorney said the murders were the result of a professional hit by a land mafia in India that had a beef with

Hakiakat Panag. Well, that was something immediately, you know, we had to look at because there was accusations that there was land ties that were worth a considerable amount of money back in India. So we were prepared if we needed to. We'd send investigators to India. We'd work with the State Department and what do we have to do, whatever we have to do to make the case. When you have four people, four citizens of Westchester that are brutally murdered, we're going to do whatever it takes. Singh's second trial started last spring and there was a shift in strategy. Singh waved his right to a trial by jury and opted for a three-judge panel. And he was making a major admission at the second trial.

After telling police he found his family dead, now Singh would say he actually witnessed the murders of his family members. Did they present to you anything more than the fact that he was there? Or does the physical, does the scientific, does the background of this family show that while he was there, he did not pull the trigger? He could not have been the shooter, and the background proves that someone else orchestrated this crime, and that that man did nothing more than witness the most horrific event in his life and made the critical mistake of lying about it. Prosecutors presented evidence that Singh had a strange relationship with his in-laws and that he had a secret. That secret had a name, Navkaran Kaur. Did your relationship at that point with Gurpreet become romantic?

After my divorce, yes. Did it become intimate? After my divorce, yes. Prosecutors said Gurpreet Singh was living a double life and that double life was very expensive. Did he then pay $20,000 for the down payment of this house? Yes. So you were able to get the mortgage put in your name after that? Yes. Did Gupreet offer to help pay for the monthly mortgage payments on the resident? Yes. NAVCORONCOR opted to not be photographed during the trial, which Ohio allows for witnesses.

How significant was the affair that Gurpreet Singh was having? You know, and when did you find out about that? We found out actually probably pretty early on. It was pretty significant because it showed it helps add to the motive. I don't think that was the only motive, but that helps add to a possible motive. Because obviously when we want to follow the evidence, let the evidence lead us. We don't pick a suspect and build a case. We let the case build itself from the evidence.

And that's what we did here is just did research, investigations. And when you start doing phone records and you start finding these things out, then when things aren't adding up and it shows a motive, that helps solidify the case. In Singh's second trial, his defense team argued that he was there when the murders were committed, but that he wasn't the shooter. It was someone else that he didn't know. So why would they argue that? He basically just said he came in and found them that way. And then he had walked around, checked everybody. That's why we might find why he has blood from different people on him.

And then he had called us, but he had told us he called us immediately. But we were able to, through GPS systems, through cameras in the neighborhood, cameras on businesses a mile or two away that he drove by to show where he was at, GPS on his vehicle, all that to pinpoint where he was at, what time, and show his timeline of what he said did not match. And from the time the gunshots were to the time he called us, that also didn't match up. So we were able to put all this together and then utilize witnesses that, when I say witnesses, it wasn't a lot of seeing. Nobody saw the crime occur, but someone maybe heard a gunshot. Someone saw a person in the area around back. Someone heard a splashing sound in the lake behind. The lead detective testified at the second trial about

when divers found the murder weapon. When was the firearm found in relation to the homicides? Homicide was approximately at 2130 hours on the 28th. We found they started searching at 1030, I believe, in the morning, two days afterwards on the 30th and I think shortly before noon like maybe 1155 1158 ish That that day on the 30th they found a gun so they had searched for about an hour and a half I found that so divers found the gun after searching for only a short time Magazine is still in it. It was in my experience, it was in the slide lock location, which means there were no more rounds in the gun. It was locked to the rear. That's how we found the

gun and that's how we kept the gun. For the bucket that's beneath it, tell us what that is. That is simply a one gallon bucket that we have on Westchester Police Department. We used that initially, but we needed a larger bucket because it is too big for a one-gallon bucket. So we ended up taking a BCI bucket, which is a five-gallon bucket, which is right next to you, sir. We used that bucket to submerge the item. Again, we don't want it to corrode or degraded any farther than what it already had. And tell us what we're looking at here.

We're looking at a Ruger SR9 with the serial plate, serial number plate, removed from the gun. And a magazine with a, thank you, with a magazine with a 17 round capacity.

That gun could hold 17 rounds. The coroner had testified that 16 rounds were fired, four at each victim. And the detective testified that efforts had been taken to hide the serial number. You can see where the serial number normally is found. It's found on a silver plate. Looks like someone removed it by use of like a drill bit, like using small drill bits in order to just pop it out and it was removed. Gurpreet Singh's cousin also testified

about his work schedule. Were you familiar with Gurpreet's regular work schedule? Yes, sir. What was Gurpreet's regular work schedule? Leave Sunday basically most of the time, unless the load's been canceled or something happened. But sort of most of the time, Sunday he leaves and he'd be back, same thing, Friday nights. That Sunday night, the night of the murders, Gurpreet Singh was not working. Nevertheless, Singh's defense argued that the land mafia theory was never properly investigated. And the only thing Singh did wrong was lie to the police about being in the apartment when his family was murdered.

I think this panel is wise enough to see that there are much more layers to this case, many unanswered questions and suspects that were not ruled out, and the potential that may have been scared of something worse than the police and with complicated loyalties. The three-judge panel deliberated for just two hours before reaching its verdicts. Verdict, three-judge panel, specification two to count one. We, the three-judge panel, having found Gupreet Singh guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of aggravated murder, as charged in count one, unanimously find Gopreet Singh guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of committing the aggravated murder as part of a course of conduct involving the purposeful killing of or attempted killing of two or more persons by him pursuant to revised

code section 2929.04a5. We knew it right from the beginning that he's the one that who has done it because he has a long history before that also. So he was suspect number one from day one. What is the long history? Tell me about that. He was like, he was continuously giving threats and all those things to our family. That's why we knew that he's the one. What kind of threats? Like he was always demanding money from our family. So even a few days ago, he beat Mr. Hakikat Singh Panag. So that was also the reason that we got to know that he's the one.

And then he was demanding money from India also. So that's why we knew it. He's the one. It took the panel about as long to determine that Singh should receive a death sentence. We, the three-judge panel, do hereby unanimously find that the aggravating circumstance that the defendant was found guilty of committing does outweigh the mitigating factors presented in this case by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. We, therefore therefore unanimously find that the sentence of death should be imposed upon Gavrit Singh under count one of the indictment.

And that verdict form is signed by all three judges. It's been tough and I really feel bad for the family members that had to endure that length of time and then for the first trial to not go through. And then I will say I was shocked also when they picked a three-judge panel. Because right away, then you think, okay, procedurally, is there something we missed? What can they point out? Because he does not have a good chance of judges. You can sway a juror, but to sway a judge is a much higher bar that you have to pass. So come to find out we didn't, there was no procedural issues that we had. And he, you know,

I don't know why he made that decision or as a defense team made that decision, but to get the guilty verdict, which we knew he was, we knew he was early on. That was a huge relief just for us, for the family. And it was just a really good feeling. I can't think of a more serious or more aggravating case that doesn't deserve the death penalty. I mean, there is some, but you know, this is, this is up there when you brutally, you know, you brutally kill your four family members and you premeditated to do it and it's over money and love or whatever you want to call it, that's a horrible situation. So this is, I think this case is fitting for the death penalty. From the day one, we had a belief in the police system. We had a belief in the American

justice system. So we always followed whatever, the exact steps that were measured steps that they were taking. So we had a belief in them. And in the end, we went to the police station to thank them. They have done a lot of, lot of work. That was a tough case for them. So they have worked really hard. And Jazdeep Singh has a message for anyone who might be in a bad relationship. One thing I just want to make clear to everyone that's going into the tough situations or tough relationships, never push your relationship. If something is not going good or if something is not going smooth in your relationship, so the best way is to get apart.

So that's why, so that these things doesn't happen. So that's why I always suggest, I want to suggest everyone, if something is not going in good in your relationship, please get apart or this will be the result do you feel like Shalinder Jeet was staying with him because of the children yes uh so she was uh we always we told her to get apart from him but uh she was always saying that I have to live with him because of the kids. So she was living with this pain because of the kids. Now more than five years after the murders, Gurpreet Singh is in an Ohio prison and he's appealing his death sentence. Jazdeep Khan says Gurpreet and Shalinderjeet's children are in school and they are doing well, considering everything that they've gone through.

That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thank you so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.