An alleged love triangle ends in murder.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Rahul Gupta, who was found guilty of killing his close friend Mark Edward Waugh, in October last year, has been sentenced to life in prison.
Montgomery County Police had found Gupta covered in blood and an unresponsive Waugh with multiple stab and “defensive-type” wounds, at the former’s Silver Spring, Maryland apartment, reported the Associated Press.
Originally, when an officer asked Gupta what had happened, he replied that he walked in on his then-girlfriend cheating with Waugh, who was a close friend from Langley High School in McLean, Virginia. Waugh was a 23-year-old law student at the time of his abrupt death.
Gupta, now 25, recanted his claim in court, but by then it had been widely reported by a plethora of media outlets including the American Bazaar. He subsequently tried to pin the murder on his ex-girlfriend, Taylor Gould, whom he claimed he was covering for.
Gupta’s girlfriend told police that she couldn’t remember anything after drinking shots of alcohol at the apartment but was woken up by Gupta’s orders to call 911, reported local ABC affiliate WJLA.
“He killed my son and then tried to damage his reputation,” Waugh’s father, Bill, said in court, according to The Washington Post.
A clear motive has yet to be determined for the attack, but Gupta’s jury heard enough testimony to arrive at a guilty verdict in less than five hours.
“Mark was endowed with many God-given talents — his piercing wit, his infectious alacrity and his dazzling oratory prowess, to name just a few,” Gupta said during his sentencing.
Regardless of Gupta’s eloquence, Montgomery Circuit Judge Richard E. Jordan stated he was convinced the former biomedical graduate student had murdered his friend, and that he was stunned Gupta chose to speak about Waugh in such a manner during the sentencing hearing.
“It appears to be more deflection and a continuation of the narrative and of the lie,” Jordan said. “I don’t hear regret,” the judge further emphasized.