Couple charged in Indian American chef Dominic Sarkar’s murder

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Police have arrested Maria Moore, 50, and Marvel Salvant, 46, in connection to the murder of Fremont, California chef Dominic Sarkar.

According to a San Francisco Chronicle report, Sarkar was killed in his sleep as a result of a murder-for-hire plot.

Police have charged Moore, Sarkar’s frequent partner, and Salvant with murder, along with added special circumstances including murder for financial gain and murder by lying in wait.

Sarkar was asleep in his bed at about 12:30 a.m. on October 8 when an intruder made his way into the home and shot him several times before fleeing.

Since none of Sarkar’s roommates was assaulted and no valuables were missing from the residence, police immediately suspected murder.

A neighbor had witnessed a man running from the residence and getting on a bicycle just after the shooting.

Nearby surveillance footage also showed a man bicycling toward the residence and later riding toward a Subaru Outback, entering the car and driving away.

Footage showed the same Outback circling the area near Sarkar’s residence before the shooting.

When Moore spoke with Fremont police investigators on October 9, she told them that she was the beneficiary of two life insurance policies Sarkar had; one which he purchased in April 2016 and had a payout of $500,000, listing Moore as the primary beneficiary as well as two of Sarkar’s daughters and the other one was purchased in 2017 worth an additional $300,000, listing Sarkar’s three daughters as beneficiaries but was later modified “under suspicious circumstances” and is now under Moore’s name.

Thus, Moore was named as the primary beneficiary on both policies and would gain $800,000 should Sarkar die.

Court records show that Moore had wired $500 to Salvant via Western Union a month before the killing and she had deleted several text messages between her and Salvant before visiting the police station

Police obtained what they described as “extensive cell phone records,” which revealed the deleted messages before and after Sarkar’s death.

After several messages were exchanged, officers were able to record a clandestine Nov. 15 meeting between the two in a Redwood City parking lot, where police said Salvant was hoping to receive a payout from the insurance policy, according to court records.

The two were then arrested and booked into Alameda County jail.