UPDATED

• Oct. 16, 2004: Fire cannot destroy mother's presence-Her strength enables daughters to forgive their father and go on
• Oct.13, 2004: Brain trauma from the accident changed Singh's personality and made him more prone to violence (3_)

• Police say woman was beaten before dying in fire
• NRI Couple was a history of domestic violence who died in an apparent murder-suicide

STERLING HEIGHTS, MI, Oct. 12, 2004
NRI Press

NRI couple, Amrik and Baljinderjit kaur Singh who died in an apparent murder-suicide in Sterling Heights had a troubled relationship that had brought police to the house before, authorities said Monday.

Sterling Heights police said autopsy results are pending on Amrik and Baljinderjit Kaur Singh

“There was a history of domestic violence between the two of them,” said Sterling Heights Police Lt. Michael Reese, adding that officers had been called to the home in May 2002 for a suicide attempt by Amrik Singh. “We do not have an idea for the cause of the incident.”

As detectives attempted to piece together Monday how the violence unfolded, the Macomb County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on the bodies.

Reese said the couple, both 53, died from injuries sustained from the fire. Additionally, Baljinderjit Singh suffered from blunt trauma to the head that did not cause death, police said.

• NRI, Michigan resident kills wife, sets self afire

Sterling Heights, MI, October 11, 2004
NRI Press

Sgt. Dale Dwojakowski of the Sterling Heights Police Department said, Amrik Singh, 53, killed his wife Baljinderjit Kaur and set himself on fire as their three children gathered for breakfast. Three children unable to save dad or house

Amrik Singh stumbled into the kitchen, himself on fire, and said to children , 'I just killed Mom. The children tried to put out the flames, he said, but they couldn't. They fled to a neighbor's house and called 911.

Their parents Baljinderjit kaur and Amrik Singh -- were dead before emergency responders arrived at 9 a.m.

Baljinder Kaur, 53, was found near the home's furnace in the basement, police said. Her husband, was discovered in the kitchen, where his children told police they last saw him.

Police didn't know Sunday night whether the fire killed the couple or whether they died before the blaze ripped through the off-white, split-level home landscaped with pink impatiens, freshly trimmed shrubs and a Japanese maple. The house was marred Sunday by boarded windows, soot-tinged siding and lawn stones overturned by fire hoses.

The fire burned both of them, but whether there was a stabbing or a strangulation beforehand, we still have no idea." "There's no smoking gun, so to speak," Dwojakowski said. Autopsies are planned for today.

By late afternoon, with a fire investigator still on the scene and a construction contractor boarding up the home, neighbors helped the children gather a few belongings and consoled them with hugs.

"It's not easy," said a next-door neighbor who declined to provide his name.

"The girls came over, rang the doorbell, and said the house was on fire," he said, adding that the young women reported their parents were still inside.

As smoke billowed from the house, one neighbor broke a window but spotted no one.

"It's shocking for all of us, naturally," said Ron Lewanowski, who said he was awakened by the idling of engines before spotting four fire rigs in front of his home and heavy smoke coming from the house across the street.

He said the family resided across from him for more than 14 years. The husband, he said, often tinkered on vehicles in the garage, and always flew an American flag from a large flagpole in the front yard.

Neighbors said the couple was very friendly and loving. They said they often saw Amrik Singh shoveling snow from the sidewalks of his elderly and disabled neighbors.

Lewanowski said the man frequently greeted him. He recalled how the friendly neighbor last winter immediately fixed Lewanowski's mailbox after one daughter knocked it over when the vehicle she drove skidded on ice, and remembered compliments from him about his lawn and asking what product Lewanowski uses to keep it looking nice.

"If you ever needed anything, they were always there to help," Lewanowski said.

The couple's eldest daughters both in their 20s are in medical school and youngest child is 12-year-old son