RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. – A family attorney for one of the three people found dead in a Rancho Santa Fe home earlier this week claims the deaths were a result of a double murder-suicide.
Two women and a teen were found dead Monday in a home in the 17100 block of Via de la Valle when San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an initial report of child abuse.
According to people who know her, 15-year-old Hannah Arya was one of the victims. She was the daughter of Michael Arya, a real estate broker who owned the home until he died earlier this year from lung cancer.
Attorney Carl Starret claimed to 10News Thursday that the other two victims were 48-year-old Seyah Amini and 56-year-old Mia Shin. Starret told 10News that Amini was Michael Arya’s sister. Shin was a real estate broker. Starret alleges that Amini shot Arya and Shin and then killed herself.
Starret told 10News he is the attorney for the Amini family and a long-time friend of Amini’s husband. Starret said Amini, a married mother of three, was suicidal after her brother’s recent death from lung cancer.
Amini’s husband had taken Seyah to the emergency room twice in the span of two weeks for being suicidal, Starret said. She was not admitted for a 72-hour mental health evaluation.
“She apparently had some sort of paranoia issues, even though, bear in mind, her brother had been through this three-year battle with lung cancer,” Starret said. “But somehow, she apparently thought that people were somehow going to blame her for his death and ruin them financially.”
Starret claims Seyah and Hannah were both in Michael’s will.
Starret said Shin was a friend of Michael’s and was acting as Hannah chaperone while she was in town visiting relatives. Hannah had recently been staying with her mother in Oregon.
For the past few years, Hannah attended boarding school at Verde Valley School in Sedona, Ariz., 10News confirmed through a school administrator. The administrator said Hannah was a well-respected student and very involved in equestrian riding. She voluntarily left the school mid-way this year to be with her dying father.
According to the San Diego County Assessor's Office, the home is currently owned by the Michael Arya Revocable Living Trust. It was unclear who Arya named as the benefactor of the home.
The sheriff’s department not officially identified the three victims found dead in the home.
