A mother is dead and her daughter is injured in what police believe may have been an attempted murder-suicide.
According to NBC News, an eight-year-old girl in Fairfield, Connecticut, woke up on Saturday morning to find her mother dead. The girl ran to a neighbor’s house for help when her mother wasn’t responding.
Ivanna Krekhtyak, 36, is believed to have taken her own life but police have not revealed the cause of death.
Investigators suspect Ivanna tried to kill her daughter before she took her own life, and may have believed her daughter was dead. Police says the little girl had strangulation marks and her face was red, along with additional signs of trauma.
“We’re looking to interview the daughter,” Fairfield Police Chief Gary MacNamara told NBC News. “Obviously she survived, but there’s trauma. There’s some memory issues with regard to exactly what occurred last night.
“Pretty clear from the injuries this was designed, at least in our opinion at this point, that strangulation was meant to kill her.”
Police believe the girl likely lost consciousness and may have appeared to be dead.
At this point, it appears that the mother acted alone. A motive for the suicide and possible attempted murder is not yet known.
There is a two-year-old crowdfunding campaign still online, which raised money for a woman named Ivanna Krekhtyak and her six-year-old daughter in Fairfield, after what appears to be the death of her husband. Crime Online cannot confirm it is the same family.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.