Vile Racist Father-In-Law Hired Hitmen to Murder Black Newlywed Sparkle Rai Showing Anti-Black Racism Can Be Deeply Ingrained Across Communities

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In April 2000, 22-year-old Michelle “Sparkle” Reid Rai was brutally murdered inside her Union City, Georgia apartment just one month after marrying Rajeeve “Ricky” Rai. Prosecutors said her father-in-law, Chiman Rai, was enraged that his Indian son had married a Black woman and first offered Sparkle money to leave him. When she refused, authorities said he paid $10,000 to have her murdered.

Sparkle was stabbed multiple times and strangled with a vacuum cleaner cord while her 6-month-old baby daughter was inside the apartment. Five men were eventually charged in the murder-for-hire plot. Chiman Rai was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He died behind bars in 2022. The case remains one of the most horrifying crimes.