Two doctors will evaluate Anila Baby before the case involving the deaths of two women can resume in Santa Clara County court.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Criminal proceedings against a Milpitas woman accused of killing two friends within about 90 minutes have been suspended while court-appointed medical specialists determine whether she is mentally competent to understand the case and assist in her defense.
The competency proceeding marks the latest turn in the prosecution of Anila Baby, who faces two murder charges stemming from the Aug. 28 deaths of Ann Mary Mathew in San Jose and Anjana Hari in Milpitas. Defense attorney Shawn George raised doubts about Baby’s current ability to stand trial, and the case was sent to the Santa Clara County Superior Court’s mental-health process. A judge appointed two doctors to evaluate her and scheduled a Dec. 18 return date for their reports and findings. The competency question does not decide guilt and does not determine Baby’s mental state when the women died.
George raised the issue after meeting with Baby and told the court that those interactions caused him to question whether she could presently participate in her defense. The District Attorney’s Office did not oppose having her evaluated. Once the doubt was formally raised, the court suspended the underlying criminal proceedings while the specialists conduct their examinations. That means the murder case cannot proceed in the usual manner until the court addresses competency. If the court later determines Baby is competent, the prosecution can resume. The current order does not amount to a ruling on the evidence supporting the charges.
The pause comes after prosecutors spent September expanding what began as a single murder case in Milpitas into a prosecution over two deaths in neighboring South Bay cities. Baby was first arrested after Hari, 35, was struck by an SUV at the Mill Creek Apartments on Dixon Landing Road shortly after noon Aug. 28. Milpitas police originally responded to reports of a hit-and-run. Investigators later concluded that the collision was intentional and prosecutors charged Baby with murder. The government then brought another murder charge after San Jose detectives connected her to Mathew’s death earlier that day.
According to San Jose police, officers were sent to the 700 block of Linda Vista Street at about 1:53 p.m. after a report of suspicious circumstances. They found an unconscious, unresponsive woman inside a home and pronounced her dead. Investigators working with the county crime lab and medical examiner’s office found evidence of at least one stab wound and classified the death as a homicide. Mathew, 39, was later identified as the victim in court reporting. Police said she and Baby knew each other, giving detectives an immediate relationship to examine as they reviewed activity at the residence.
Investigators allege Baby was at Mathew’s home during the late morning. Court records described in published reports say motion-activated surveillance recordings from portions of that period had been deleted. A remaining recording showed a sandal that detectives said matched footwear Baby was wearing when she was arrested. Authorities also cited cellphone location information and vehicle surveillance as evidence placing her at or near the home. Investigators said Mathew’s cellphone was found in Baby’s vehicle and that forensic testing of blood recovered from Baby’s clothing strongly linked a stain to Mathew.
While detectives were reconstructing the San Jose scene, the Milpitas case offered a different body of evidence. Witnesses said Hari approached Baby’s blue Toyota Highlander in the apartment parking lot in an apparently friendly manner. One witness said Hari seemed to be smiling; another described the women as good friends. Investigators said the SUV was stopped before Hari walked in front of it and then suddenly accelerated. The vehicle struck Hari and continued into three parked vehicles before leaving the complex, according to court documents.
A traffic investigator later reported finding no tire marks indicating that the Highlander braked before hitting Hari. Authorities used that finding, the eyewitness accounts and the vehicle’s movement to support their allegation that Baby intentionally struck her. Hari was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers searching the surrounding area located the damaged SUV in a Walgreens parking lot less than a mile away. Baby was inside and was taken into custody. Investigators described her as incoherent and said she had visible injuries and blood on her arms and legs.
At the time of Baby’s arrest, those observations were being documented in connection with Hari’s death. They took on new significance once San Jose police began investigating Mathew’s killing. Prosecutors eventually alleged that Mathew was killed before Hari, even though Mathew’s body was discovered later in the day. Authorities say the attacks occurred roughly 90 minutes apart. That compressed timeline became one of the defining features of the case, tying together evidence from a private residence, an apartment parking lot and the nearby location where police found the damaged SUV.
When Baby appeared in court after the second charge was filed, prosecutors stressed the seriousness of the allegations. Deputy District Attorney Marisa McKeown said the government believed the killings were willful and premeditated and noted that both victims were mothers. Prosecutors said the women’s families were struggling with the question of why someone they knew would allegedly kill them. Despite the government’s claims about planning, authorities have not publicly announced a motive, and no trial has taken place at which prosecutors would be required to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
The distinction between the pending competency evaluation and the allegations themselves is especially significant at this stage. Competency to stand trial concerns whether a defendant presently understands the nature of the proceedings and can assist counsel. It does not establish whether the defendant was legally responsible for an alleged crime, and it is not the same as a defense concerning a person’s mental state at the time of an offense. The doctors appointed by the court are examining the current competency question. Their reports will help the judge decide what happens next procedurally.
That process also supersedes earlier scheduling in the criminal case. Before the competency issue was raised, published reports listed future dates for Baby to return to the regular criminal court process. The Oct. 16 mental-health proceeding instead resulted in the appointment of two evaluators and a new Dec. 18 date for the court to receive their findings. Until the judge addresses those reports, the substantive prosecution remains suspended. Authorities have not announced that the murder charges have been dismissed or reduced, and the competency order does not erase the accusations.
The pause leaves several factual and legal questions unresolved at once. Investigators have publicly described evidence they say links Baby to each scene, but that evidence has not been tested before a jury. Prosecutors have characterized the deaths as deliberate, but they have not publicly supplied a motive. Baby’s defense has now raised a question about whether she can presently participate in the proceedings, but the court has not yet announced a competency finding. Each of those issues concerns a different part of the case and will require a separate determination.
The next confirmed milestone is Dec. 18, when the Santa Clara County court is expected to review the medical specialists’ reports and findings. Until then, Baby remains charged with two murders and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The deaths of Mathew and Hari remain the foundation of the prosecution, but the immediate court question is narrower: whether the defendant is currently able to understand and participate in the legal process that would determine the criminal allegations against her.
Author note: Last updated October 20, 2026.