Alappuzha: The district has reported six brutal murders in the past 200 days. All six have a common thread: The bodies were buried in an apparent bid to escape arrest. The series of murders has been giving sleepless nights to residents, as the murderers have not spared newborns or the elderly. The latest in the series was the murder of Vijayalakshmi of Karunagappally at Karoor near Ambalapuzha.

Rosamma: April 18, Poomkavu
A few months into the New Year, Roasamma, a 60-year-old resident of Poomkavu, was murdered. Her body was found buried behind her house. Investigators later found that her brother, Benny, had murdered her for gain.

Benny had earlier asked Rosamma to hand over her gold so that he could pawn them. In a quarrel that ensued, the man bludgeoned his sister to death with a hammer and removed the gold jewellery from the body. Police said Benny pawned the gold the next day, validating the suspicion that he had killed Rosamma.

Kala: July 2, Mannar
An anonymous letter helped the police crack a 15-year-old case of a missing woman. The Ambalapuzha police received the letter after two men were arrested in connection with an explosion.

The anonymous sender demanded the police to investigate the role of the arrested duo in Kala, which had gone missing 15 years ago. The letter also mentioned that the two men had links with her murder.

During further investigation, the police found the remains of Kala's body in a septic tank. Five relatives of Kala's husband, Anil, Soman, Suresh, Pramod, Santhosh and Jinu Rajan, were arrested. Anil is in Israel. The accused told the police that they, along with Anil, murdered Kala and hid her body in the septic tank. Anil's alleged suspicion of infidelity led to the murder.

Newborn: August 11, Thakazhi
The body of a newborn baby was found in the paddy polders of Thakazhi on August 11. Police caught up with the accused after a 22-year-old woman, Dona Joji, sought treatment for bleeding and stomachache. Doctors who attended to her found that she had recently delivered a baby.

Further investigation revealed that Dona handed over the baby to her friend Thomas Joseph. The man, along with his friend Ashok, buried the body in the polder. Dona, who had completed a course in Forensic Science, was working in a Kochi firm when she was arrested.

Investigators found that Dona met and fell in love with Joseph while pursuing the course in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Joseph was then studying Hotel Management in Rajasthan's capital city. Dona reportedly told the police that she had wrapped the baby in clothes and hid the child in her house to keep her pregnancy and subsequent delivery under wraps.

Newborn: September 2, Pallipuram
Three weeks after Dona's baby was found dead, another baby was killed at Pallippuram panchayat. Asha, 35, a resident of Kayippuram house in the 17th ward and a mother of two, and her friend Ratheesh, 39, of Rajeshalayam, were arrested in the case. The infant was killed since the baby was born out of wedlock. Ratheesh, who took the baby home, allegedly smothered the infant to death.

Asha had given birth to the child at a private hospital in Cherthala on August 26 and was discharged five days later. ASHA workers, who later visited her house, were told that the child was given in adoption. On finding the mother's behavior suspicious, the ASHA workers alerted the panchayat authorities and police. Further investigation led to the arrest of Asha, the prime accused, and Ratheesh.

Subhadra, September 10, Kalavoor
Kochi resident, Subhadra's murder, came to light after her son approached the police with a missing person complaint. The probe led investigators to Sharmila, 52, and her second husband Mathews, alias Nidhin, 35, of Palliparambil in Kattoor. It was revealed that the man and wife had brought Subhadra, 73, to their rented accommodation on August 4 and murdered her, allegedly for gain.

Subhadra's body was found buried near the couple's accommodation. It was revealed that the elderly woman was smothered with a pillow and strangled with her shawl to death. After a preliminary investigation, the police felt that the woman was killed for the gold jewellery she was wearing.

However, the accused did not get enough gold as expected. All they got was less than three sovereigns. Subhadra was wearing four bangles weighing below half a sovereign, a nose stud, a ring and a chain. The chain was of rold gold.

Vijayalakshmi, November 4, Ambalapuzha
The latest in the series of murders that shocked Alappuzha is that of Vijayalakshmi. Vijalakshmi, 40, of Karunagappally, and Jayachandran, 50, of Karoor were in a relationship. He brought Vijayalakshmi home on November 4, when his wife and son were away. Following a quarrel, he hacked Vijalakshmi to death with a felling-knife and later buried the body in a property behind his house.

Later, he dumped Vijayalakshmi's mobile phone on a KSRTC bus to mislead the police. However, the conductor found the phone when the bus reached Ernakulam, which became the turning point in the case. While interrogating, accused Jayachandran reportedly told the police that he had watched the Malayalam crime thriller movie 'Drishyam' ten times.