AVA SANGAVARAM - 7 yo - / Accused: Mother, Victoria Vovchik - Bronx NY

'They're all dead to me now': Family rift that tore doctor apart
before she stabbed her seven-year-old daughter 31 times before killing
herself

• Victoria Vovchik found stabbed to death in her home next to her daughter
  
• Girl was stabbed 31 times and had her throat slit but survived
  
• They were discovered by the girl's father, who did not live at the home
  
• Vovchik,
  45, left no note explaining the attack or her suicide and now friends
  are trying to understand why she would kill her 'happy' daughter
  

By Meghan Keneally

PUBLISHED: 00:41 EST, 2 March 2013 | UPDATED: 04:21 EST, 2 March 2013


It was revealed today that the doctor who stabbed her seven-year-old
daughter 31 times before killing herself had a major confrontation with
her relatives in the weeks preceding her suicide.

Victoria Vovchik, 45, told a friend that her relatives were 'all dead to me now' after a massive falling out.

Vovchik was discovered lying dead in the master bedroom of her New City, New
York home when the father of her daughter came to pick the girl up.

The daughter, Ava Sangavaram, was found lying nearby but in spite of her
significant injuries, she was 'alert and responsive' when emergency
crews arrived on scene.



Tragic: Dr Victoria Vovchik (left) is thought to have stabbed her 7-year-old
daughter Ava (right) 31 times before killing herself in their home

A number of details surrounding the life of Dr Vochik are mysteriously
missing as investigators try to explain how she could have brought
herself to harm her daughter and then kill herself.

It is unclear whether Dr Vovchik and her daughter's father, Dr Kristappa
Sangavaram had ever married, but they were not together at the time of
her death.

Dr Sangavaram was the one to call police on Thursday
as he arrived at the home to pick up the girl. Dr Sangavaram, 68, did
not live with Vovchik and their daughter, but co-owned the home.



Though she remains in critical condition, he seemed hopeful on Thursday night, telling Newsday: 'Be happy that she's going to be fine. Thank God she's alive. She's going to be OK.'

Dr Sangavaram was brought in for questioning by Clarkstown police, but was
later released. They do not believe he played any role in the tragedy,
the Journal News reported.

Police now think that the best
understanding of the true version of events will come from the little
girl as soon as she is strong enough to talk to investigators.



Discovery: They were found by the girl's father, who co-owned the house with Vovchik

Police said Vovchik left behind no note explaining why she attacked her
daughter or took her own life. She used a knife or other sharp object to
kill herself, officers said.

'She loved Ava. Ava was her world.
If she tried to kill Ava and herself, it was a misguided — probably
frantic — attempt to spare them both future suffering,' her college
friend Allison Solin told local paper The Journal News.

Ms Solin spoke to Dr Vovchik two weeks before her death and said that her
friend was going through some family trouble, though she did not know
the cause.

'She would call me crying and say, "Family is the
most important thing to me, and I don’t feel like I have a family
anymore." These are her exact words — ‘My heart bleeds for this little
girl (Ava) because she doesn’t have a family,' she told the paper.

Vovchik went on to dramatically liken the split in her family to genocide.


Tragic: Vovchik's body is carried away by coroners but her daughter survived and is in critical condition


Investigation: She left no note explaining why she attacked her daughter or took her life, police said

That was not the only split going on in her life either, as she recently closed one of her three medical practices.

Vovchik was a podiatrist with practices in Fort Lee and Montvale, New Jersey,
but the doctor who sold her the Fort Lee practice spoke to her about six
months ago and was told that she was shuttering the location.

'I asked her if there was anything I could do to help. She said no, that
she was fine. She wanted to join a group practice,' Dr Richard Weiner
told Newsday.

She co-owned the house in New City where she lived with her daughter and bought it with the girl's father in 2010 for $810,000.

The lawyer who represented them in the sale said that he thought that they
were together as a couple, but Sangavaram's grown son from a different
relationship refutes that theory.

'It’s a touchy situation
because he had a child with her (Vovchik) but wasn't married to her,'
Preeth Sangavaram, 29, told The Journal News.


Scene: Her body was found next to her daughter at their home in New City, New Jersey on Thursday

'The child was very important to him, so he always tried to maintain a healthy relationship.'

The elder Mr Sangavaram had reportedly been married to a different woman
for several decades, though the status of that relationship is also
unclear.

Though Dr Sangavaram and Dr Vovchik apparently tried to
be civil for the health of their daughter, her friend Ms Solin painted a
picture of a turbulent relationship.

'A lot of times, when I would speak with her, they were in a fight and he was nowhere to be
found. At times, he just wouldn’t take her calls or respond to her, and
that would make her extremely anxious and desperate,' she said.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2286933/Victoria-Vochik-Doctor-fight-relatives-weeks-stabs-7-year-old-daughter-31-times-killing-herself.html#ixzz2MO9gQRUv

It is a miracle this little girl survived.