Slain Bel Air Family's Survivor Speaks Out

BEL AIR, MD — After a Bel Air family was nearly decimated by a murder-suicide in September, notes left behind raise clues as well as questions about a motive. While authorities are not making the notes public, the family's sole survivor spoke to The Washington Post about their contents.

Laila Siddique, 25, a medical student at Penn State, told The Washington Post she questioned whether her father was framed or under duress in the Sept. 28 deaths of her brother and mother; if he did kill his family and himself, she wondered why she was left.

"We were all together all the time," Siddique told the Post. "It should have been all of us."

Read the entire article on The Washington Post.

Nasir Siddique, 57, a retired lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Army, was employed in the public works department at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), reportedly alluded to in his posthumous correspondence.

"There is too much stress in my job at APG," Nasir Siddique allegedly wrote in a note relayed to The Washington Post. "...It has killed my family & everything."

Relatives do not believe that Nasir Siddique would have killed his family, and Laila Siddique reportedly said he wrote a will bequeathing everything to her and her 19-year-old brother. It was "odd" that he would mention her brother if he had planned to kill him, she said; in another twist, her uncle added that the note's signature did not look right.

Related: Officials Say Bel Air Man Killed Wife and Son in Murder-Suicide

Deputies were called to the Siddique residence in the 1200 block of Mikara Court in Bel Air on Wednesday, Sept. 28, after family members had not been able to get in touch, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office, which said deputies had never been called to the Bel Air residence before.

Officers reported finding a woman — Zarqa Siddique, 48, of Bel Air — in the bathroom deceased, shot in the head hours before authorities arrived. She was reportedly an inclusion helper at Prospect Mill Elementary.

As investigators were gathering evidence, including notes, at the scene in Bel Air, the Prince George’s County Police Department alerted Harford County officials to a murder-suicide in College Park.

Nasir Siddique and Farhad Siddique, 19, were found deceased in a Jeep in a parking lot near an apartment complex, both with gunshot wounds, according to the Prince George's County Police Department.

Investigators alleged Nasir Siddique used a revolver found in the vehicle to kill Zarqa Siddique at their home in Bel Air, then drove 60-plus miles to College Park, where he allegedly shot Farhad Siddique, a junior at the University of Maryland, and killed himself in the car.

The day of the shootings, Nasir Siddique reportedly sent two text messages to relatives.

Aasi Tahir Siddique said that his brother texted him at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28, stating he was stressed about his job at APG, according to The Baltimore Sun. Nasir and Aasi Siddique lost their mother in March, an added emotional weight, the newspaper reported.

Even so, Aasi Tahir Siddique told the Sun it was "unbelievable" his brother would kill his family members.

Laila Siddique also received a text message the day of the slayings. Hers came at 10:48 a.m. from her father, indicating he was stressed about his job at APG and was particularly disturbed by a recent work tour of the Malcolm Mitchell house, a property on the military base slated for demolition, The Washington Post said.

While Prince George's and Harford County officials allege the Siddique case was a murder-suicide, detectives say what led up to that remains unclear.

"They have not been able to concretely determine a motive," Cristie Kahler, spokeswoman for the Harford County Sheriff's Office, told Patch this week. "And it is likely any determination they make will be speculation."

The Prince George's County investigators agree.

"For somebody to take that step to kill their own child," Prince George's County Police Capt. Brian Riley said, "we never understand that."

Help for Those Considering Suicide

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, there are resources available to help.

The Harford County Mobile Crisis team is available at 410-638-5248.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-SUICIDE (or 1-800-784-2433). Its website offers services including a live chat.

The Kristin Brooks Hope Center provides specific hotlines for suicide prevention, veterans support, teens, grad students and those with postpartum depression.

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