Overview
- The Burbank stabbing, reported around 6 a.m. Monday, left first-grade teacher Arti Varma, 59, dead and her 25-year-old daughter Meera, a nationally known mental-health advocate, in stable condition after surgery.
- Burbank police SWAT arrested 30-year-old Sergio Meza Fraire at a home on East Palm Avenue Monday night and said they recovered evidence, including a knife believed to be the weapon.
- Prosecutors on Thursday charged Fraire with murder, attempted murder and first-degree residential burglary and alleged he lay in wait and personally used a knife causing great bodily injury.
- Fraire pleaded not guilty at a Pasadena court hearing Thursday as detectives continued to review surveillance video and witness accounts and to probe motive and any prior connection to the family.
- The Burbank Unified School District praised Varma’s dedication and set up counseling for students and staff, a painful step for a campus that also lost a teacher to homicide in 2024.