California Man Charged With Murder in Fatal Stabbing of 1st-Grade Teacher

A California man was charged with murder Thursday in the stabbing death of a beloved Burbank 1st-grade teacher earlier this week.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is charging Sergio Fraire with murder, with a special circumstance of lying in wait, for allegedly attacking and killing Arti Varma in a Burbank, CA home early Monday morning.

Arti’s daughter -- identified by neighbors as 25-year-old mental health activist Meera Varma -- was also stabbed in the attack ... she was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

On top of the murder charge, Fraire has also been hit with one felony count of attempted murder and one felony count of first-degree residential burglary.

The D.A.'s Office alleges Fraire "inflicted great bodily injury" on Meera when he "personally used" a knife to stab her and her mom.

As we previously reported … police say they recovered evidence related to the stabbings at a house where Fraire was taken into custody by a SWAT team Monday night, hours after the attack ... about 2 miles from the scene of the crime.

Arti Varma, 59, taught 1st grade at Burbank's Bret Harte Elementary School. In a statement to KABC-TV ... Interim Superintendent Dr. Oscar Macias described the "heartbreaking" impact her loss will have on the school's community.

Macias said ... "Words cannot fully express the sorrow we feel or the care we hold for those who are grieving."

Neighbors say Arti's husband, Meena's father, was in India at the time of the attack and was inconsolable when he heard what happened.