What We Know About the Brothers Who Went to an Anime Convention After Allegedly Killing Their Parents

On the morning of April 23, Golam Rabbi was shot more than a dozen times in his garage. When his wife, Shamima, ran toward him, she was taken out with a single shot to the head. A few days later, when relatives came looking for the married couple, they found disturbing notes scrawled on the walls that hinted a serial killer might be on the loose. "Sorry, my first kill was clumsy," read one. "Take care of your brother, or he's next," another portended.

The victims' two sons, who lived at home, were not around when relatives arrived. Nor were they present later, by the time police got to the scene, and they weren't reachable by cellphone. Instead, according to charging documents filed Friday, the two were hanging at an anime convention about an hour away, in Oakland. The younger brother, a 17-year-old high school senior, even attended class that Monday as if nothing had happened. But by last Wednesday, April 27, he and and his 22-year-old brother, Hasib Bin Golamrabbi, had been arrested for the double homicide.

Meanwhile, a possible motive emerged last week: Anonymous sources told a Bay Area NBC affiliate that the older brother and his parents, who immigrated from Bangladesh, clashed over his sexual orientation. Homosexuality is illegal in that country, and in April, religious extremists hacked to death two prominent gay rights activists living there. Some of the black-ink notes found on the walls of the crime scene seems to fit the anonymous source's potential explanation. "I can't be like you telling a lie," read another graffito. "I can't love someone without telling them." According to the charging documents, the handwriting could be grouped into two categories, one of which matched samples found in the younger suspect's bedroom.

Golam Rabbi, 59, was an engineer. His wife, 57-year-old Shamima, was an accountant. Both were active and well-liked at their local mosque, although the sons were described as much more reserved.

On his Facebook page, the younger brother describes himself as a "piece of shit." And despite the fact that Hasib's profile seems to have disappeared, the San Mercury News captured his final post: "Fuck yeah to the kids who feel like they're dying inside but still gather up the strength to roll out of bed, get dressed and leave the house," he apparently wrote. "You are strong and beautiful and worth so much more than you know."

According to the charging documents, the brothers stayed in an Oakland hotel after attending Kraken Con, where they ignored pleas from concerned relatives to return home. The next day, on the drive back, Hasib dropped his younger brother off about two miles from their home, where he was soon picked up by the cops. The elder brother reportedly hid in his friend's closet for another 24 hours, confessing what he had done. As soon as Hasib left, the friend directed police to him.

After he was arrested, Hasib admitted that he killed his father, cops say. However, he said it was at the insistence of a random intruder, and that he did not kill his mother. That same day, the 17-year-old told investigators his elder sibling killed both parents, and then instructed him to contain the situation by closing the curtains and ensuring blood wasn't leaking out from under the garage door.

At their arraignment Friday, both suspects pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and a special charge of double-murder. The minor waited in the wings as his older sibling stood before a judge and reporters, wearing a yellow jumpsuit indicating he had been placed in the psych ward of Santa Clara County Jail.

Both brothers are being held without bond, although in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Hasib insisted that his younger brother was innocent. "I want everyone to know what happened," he told a reporter, "but I can't say anything without a lawyer."

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Golamrabbi Charging Docs