Md. Man Discusses Day His Wife Died Trying To Save Daughter In 1992 Carjacking
SAVAGE, Md. (WJZ)—It was one of the most grisly carjackings in Maryland history. A mother was killed, trying to rescue her daughter. Now, 20 years later, the victim's husband opens up about that day.
Adam May has the heart wrenching interview.
Until this crime the term carjacking didn't exist in Maryland. Now, after two decades, we're learning more about this tragedy.
September 8, 1992 began as a joyous morning for the Basu family. It was Sarina Basu's first day of preschool.
"Sarina was very excited, and Pam was talking to her," said Steve Basu.
Steve Basu had no idea this would be the last time he'd see his wife.
When Pam Basu left their home in Savage, Howard County, she was attacked by two men who wanted her 1990 BMW.
Minutes later, Steve Basu saw a shoe but didn't realize it was his wife's.
"I said 'That's weird. There's a shoe in the street,'" he recalled.
When Pam Basu was carjacked, her daughter was in the backseat. She reached in to try to save her but her arm got stuck in the vehicle. She was dragged down the road for more than two miles to her death.
And meanwhile, after about half a mile, the carjackers threw 22-month-old Sarina into the woods. She got up and walked into the middle road where witnesses picked her up. She was crying, asking for her mother.
"It was horrific. That's the only way to describe it," said Jody Lilley, retired officer.
Lilley was the first officer on the scene. She found Pam Basu's body tangled in barbed wire-- after the suspects tried to dislodge her from the car by driving into a fence.
The crime stunned the nation.
Rodney Solomon and Bernard Miller were convicted.
Key evidence was a video, first seen on WJZ, of the actual suspects walking behind Pam Basu, when she was putting her daughter in the car. To this day Steve Basu wishes he had noticed them.
"Maybe because of the nature of the day, I got careless," he said.
Sarina is now preparing to graduate with a degree in industrial engineering. Her dad knows her mom would've been proud.
"A really loving mother, who had a lot of heart," he said.
Both of convicted killers are still in prison. Soloman has no chance of parole. Miller has tried for it but failed.
This year, a retired police officer wrote a book on the crime, called "Fatal Destiny."
