Crime & Safety

Wife in Murder-Suicide Wanted a Divorce, Police Say

Doctor who fatally shot wife then himself had no apparent history of violence, LAPD detective says.

Los Angeles police detectives have determined that a Sherman Oaks doctor who killed his wife and then turned the gun on himself was told by his wife that she wanted a divorce.

Dr. Alexander Michaelson, 39, and his wife, Vera Michaelson, 33, were found shot to death June 15 in the driveway of their gated home on Sherview Place in the Sherman Oaks hills.

"These were two good people who ended up in a star-crossed situation: She wanted to leave him, and that led to this," Detective Robert Bubb of the Los Angeles Police Department told Sherman Oaks Patch.

Find out what's happening in Sherman Oakswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"There's no way of knowing why a man would do what he did. There is no violence in his background," Bubb added.

Police received calls from people who suggested that because the Michaelsons were Russian immigrants that somehow the Russian mafia might be connected to the violence.

Find out what's happening in Sherman Oakswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"There was nothing sinister here, no connection to the Russian mafia," Bubb said. "It was a case where a man was distraught because his wife was leaving him.

"The gun used was a revolver that belonged to him," he said.

A day after the incident, a friend of  Dr. Michaelson told Sherman Oaks Patch that "love" was the cause of the violence.

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.

The children are now staying with relatives in Orange County, according to police.

Alexander Michaelson, a native of Russia, practiced medicine on Clark Street 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, Alexander 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.

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

Neighbors said the couple were found by one of the doctor's co-workers, who came to the residence to check on him after he abruptly left work on Wednesday, saying that he had an emergency.

At Dr. Michaelson's Tarzana office on Monday, there was a bright bouquet of flowers and a note that said in big letters: "We love you so much."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.