Crime & Safety

Murder-Suicide Baffles Police and Friends

'Everyone is in tears; we can't believe it,' says friend of Sherman Oaks couple.

Los Angeles police detectives are looking for a motive in a murder-suicide at a Sherman Oaks home Wednesday in which a 39-year-old physician shot and killed his 33-year-old-wife and then turned the gun on himself.

Dr. Alex Michaelson and his wife, Vera Michaelson, were found dead of gunshot wounds to the head, a pistol lying between them in the driveway of their house in the 15000 block of Sherview Place in the Sherman Oaks hills.

Detectives determined the deaths were a murder-suicide, according to LAPD Lt. Terri Brinkmeyer of the Van Nuys Station. No note was found, and investigators have been interviewing family members.

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The couple, who had recently moved into the gated property, were the parents of two children, ages 5 and 7, who were not at home when the shootings occurred, police said.

"First, I heard one shot, then several minutes later I heard three more shots," said Juana Milan, who lives next door to the Michaelson home, on Thursday.

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"They just moved into the place about 2-1/2 weeks ago," Milan said. "They seemed like very nice people. They told me they have two children, but I never saw them."

Alex Michaelson, a native of Russia, practiced medicine in Tarzana. Vera Michaelson recently graduated from dental school.

According to Vera Michaelson's Facebook page, she hailed from Minsk, Belarus, and earned degrees from Belarus State University of Technology and California State University, Northridge. She had just completed the dentistry master's program at Nova Southeastern University in south Florida.

According to the California Medical Board website, Alex Michaelson received
his medical training at the Moscow Medical Stomatological Institute and
changed his name from Alexandre D. Mihelson at some point after his California
medical license was issued in 1998.

Michaelson was board-certified in infectious diseases and internal medicine, according to the medical board website.  

Neighbors told NBC4 that the couple were found by a co-worker who came
to check on the physician after he abruptly left work on Wednesday, saying that he had an emergency.

"I can't understand how two successful people could end up like that," said a woman who gave her name as Anna, who lives two houses from the Michaelson home.

 At Michaelson's medical office on Clark Street in Tarzana, there were signs in English and Russian that said, "Due to an emergency the office is closed."

"Everyone is in tears; we can't believe it," said Gail Sample, an officer manager at  the Pulmonary Medical Corp., which is located in the same building as Michaelson's office.

"He was the nicest, sweetest guy,  and he loved her very much," Sample said of Michaelson and his wife. "When she was in school in Florida, he would fly there every other weekend to see his wife and the kids."

Nurses at the pulmonary office said doctors there were shaken by the incident.

"Dr. Michaelson was very popular with his patients," said a nurse who did not want to give her name. "Some of them were here today visiting us, and they were crying when they heard the news."

Michaelson was on the staff at the Tarzana Medical Center across the street from his office.

"People at the hospital cannot believe it," Sample said. "I pray for the children. They are old enough to know what happened. They're going to have to live with it."

Police said the couple's children were staying with relatives in Orange County.

City News Service contributed to this report.


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