Funeral Services for Deceased Wife Sunday

Funeral services for Vera Michaelson, the 33-year-old woman who was killed by her husband, Dr. Alexander Michaelson, in a murder-suicide on June 15 will be held in Costa Mesa on Sunday, sources have told Sherman Oaks Patch.

Los Angeles police detectives say Michaelson, 39, shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself after he was told by his wife that she wanted a divorce.

The couple's bodies were found in the driveway of their gated home in the Sherman Oaks hills on Sherview Place.

The couple, who had recently moved into the house, were the parents of two children, ages 5 and 7, who were not at home when the shootings occurred, police said. The children are staying with relatives in Orange County, police said.

Funeral and burial plans for Alexander Michaelson are unavailable.

Friends of Dr. Michaelson told Sherman Oaks Patch that he was a wonderful man, "perhaps he loved well, but not wisely," said a member of the Tarzana Medical Center staff who asked that his name not be used.

"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.

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

Detectives say the gun used was a revolver that belonged to Dr. Michaelson.

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.

"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."

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 June 15, saying that he had an emergency.