Following the exhumation and examination of six corpses on October 5, 2019, 47-year-old Jolly Amma Joseph was arrested and charged with six murders, all family relations. It is reported that she confessed to all. Among the dead were her ex-husband, Roy Thomas and the 2-year-old daughter of her present husband, Shaju. Two accomplices were also arrested, M. S. Mathew (44), and Praji Kumar (48).
It is alleged that cyanide was used in each of the killings.
Motive – According to KG Simon, the principal motive behind the alleged murders was Jolly’s desperation to sustain her web of lies. “She had lied to her in-laws, fabricated educational degrees, lied about a job for 14 years and created a fake will to get her father-In law’s property. She was desperate to sustain the narrative and in the process committed the murders as well,” Simon added. [Evangeline Elsa, “Charge sheet filed for the murder of Jolly Joseph's first husband Roy Thomas,” Gulf News, Jan. 2, 2020]
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CHRONOLOGY
1973? – Jolly born, Vazhavara, Idukki, Kerala; middle-class family.
1998 – She came to Koodathayi as a bride following her marriage to Roy in 1998.
Aug. 22, 2002 – Annamma Thomas (57), M-in-L (Roy’s mother), dies.
Aug. 26, 2008 – Tom Thomas (66) dies; of Ponnamattom house.
Sep. 9, 2011 – Roy Thomas (40), first husband, dies.
Feb. 24, 2014 – Mathew Manjadiyil (68), F-in-L (Roy’s father), dies.
May 3, 2014 – Alphine Saju (2) dies, daughter of present husband Shaju Zacharias and his former wife Sili.
Jan. 11, 2016 – Sili (Sily, Cili, Cily) Shaju (44), husband Shaju Zacharias’s former wife, dies.
Oct. 2019 – Rojo Thomas, living in US, demands police reinvestigation.
Oct. 5, 2019 – 6 Ponnamattam family bodies were exhumed. St. Lourde’s Cemetary, Koodathayi.
Oct. 5, 2019 – police arrested Jolly Joseph, 47, for Roy Thomas murder. They also arrested jewellery employee and relative M S Mathew (Shaji) and goldsmith Prajikumar, 48, for providing cyanide.
M S Mathew (Shaji) and goldsmith Prajikumar, 48 for providing cyanide to Jolly Jospeh.
Oct. 26, 2019 – Jolly Joseph arrested for Cily murder.
Jan. 1, 2020 – Jolly Joseph formally charged with murder of Roy Thomas, destruction of evidence and Section 6 (2) of the Indian Poison Act for crimes committed using poison, yesterday.
Feb. 27, 2020 – Jolly attempts suicide; Kozhikode district jail.
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Jolly Amma Joseph, 47, native of Kattapana in Idukki district. Koodathayi, Kozhikode, Kerala.
Accomplices – M. S. Mathew (44), and Praji Kumar (48).
Shaju Zacharias, Jolly’s husband # 2 not implicated.
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SOURCES
[“Kerala woman held: Allegedly confessed to giving cyanide to husband and five relatives,” The News Minute (Bangalore, Karnataka, India), Oct. 5, 2019]
[“Koodathayi murders: Police register Jolly’s arrest in 2-yr-old Alphine’s death,” (Bangalore, Karnataka, India), Oct. 26, 2019]
Timeline: Evangeline Elsa, “Update: Kerala serial killer Jolly Joseph - here's what we know so far about the cyanide murders,” Gulf News (Dubai), July 27, 2020
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