TX - Nika, 5, & Michela Kholodenko, 1, murdered, Benbrook, 17 March 2016

los2188

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Police say an award-winning concert pianist arrived at his estranged wife’s home to pick up their two daughters and found the girls slain in their beds.

Benbrook police Cmdr. David Babcock said Friday that Vadym Kholodenko (vuh-DEEM’ koh-loh-DEN’-koh) is not a suspect and that his spouse, who’s being treated for multiple stab wounds, faces a

mental health evaluation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/ente...d98130-ed21-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f_story.html
 
An internationally renowned concert pianist arrived at his estranged wife’s home in Texas to pick up their two daughters and found the girls slain in their beds, police said Friday. Authorities say their Russian mother, who had suffered knife wounds, faces a mental health exam.

Vadym Kholodenko stopped Thursday morning at the suburban Fort Worth home where he formerly lived to pick up Nika, 5, and 1-year-old Michela, Benbrook police Cmdr. David Babcock said. The Ukrainian-born musician found his wife, Sofya Tsygankova, in an “extreme state of distress” and discovered the dead girls. The pianist then called 911, police said.

Kholodenko, who won the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth in 2013, is not a suspect and is cooperating with police, Babcock said. Police said no suspects were being sought in the deaths of the girls or the stabbing of Tsygankova, who was recovering Friday at a Fort Worth hospital.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...8fe6c0-ed1a-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f_story.html

920x1240.jpg
 
I was just reading about this in the Daily Mail. I wonder what caused this horrific incident? Such adorable little kids. I feel terrible for the dad finding these precious babies murdered.

It wasn't too long ago that these stories were shocking. Now they are common and it makes me so sad. I'll never understand how a parent can take the life of a child. I just don't get it.
 
Shades of the Caroline Coronado case, here in California. She killed her three young daughters (ages 2 years to 2 months :tears: ) as her husband worked on a car nearby at a neighbors. She was discovered (IIRC by her own mother) with self-inflicted stab wounds.

CA - Sophia, 2, Yazmine, 1, & Xenia Coronado, 2 mos, murdered, 20 May 2014
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244348

The issue of post-partum psychosis was/is part of the discussion and likely the defense in the CA case. Her husband has attended her hearings.

This is tragedy beyond measure on all accounts.

It doesn't escape me that both cases involve a daughter with the same phonetically pronounced name (Sofya/Sophia).

The details of the Texas case will likely break your hearts. The #AngelsCoronado about undid me. I can't believe we are here - again....

Fly high, little ones....

#RIPNikaAndMichela

:floating: :rose: :floating: :rose:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My apologies for my error above:
Nika and Michela's alleged killer shares the same phonetic name with the eldest victim of Caroline Coronado.

I really need to sleep. They don't have :coffeews: here - only decaf...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Police have charged the estranged wife of Van Cliburn piano competition winner Vadym Kholodenko with capital murder after she was found stabbed and her daughters were found dead last week in Benbrook, southwest of Fort Worth.

Authorities believe Sofya Tsygankova, 31, killed her daughters and stabbed herself before her husband was scheduled to pick up his children for a regular visit. She is recovering at a hospital, where she’s being held in lieu of $2 million bail, Benbrook police announced Monday.

“We have probable cause, reason to believe that she committed the homicides,” Benbrook police Cmdr. David Babcock said, adding that police collected physical evidence at the scene.
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/201...h-capital-murder-for-death-of-daughters.html/
 
Bandaged wife of pianist appears in court and pleads not guilty to murdering their two young daughters six days after she found 'covered in blood going crazy'

Sofya Tsygankova had a visible white bandage on her chest in a Texas courtroom on Wednesday

She was found by police 'rocking back and forth' and wearing a blood-soaked nightgown last Thursday with her two dead children on a bed

She says she recalled 'cutting herself with a knife and taking pills' but had no memory of harming her children

Award-winning musician husband, Vadym Kholodenko, found the bodies

Tsygankova pleaded not guilty to two capital murder charges

Affidavits indicate that the children may have been smothered with pillows

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-wife-accused-kids-deaths.html#ixzz43oJKX5UB
 
if she is telling the truth on her not remembering hurting her kids (even though its possible) what kind of prescriptions would cause blackouts? im still trying to wrap my head around this, but could someone drug her, kill kids and then left to let sofya wake up and find them? and after that seeing her kids deceased, she goes into a panic bycutting self inflicting wounds on herself?
 
if she is telling the truth on her not remembering hurting her kids (even though its possible) what kind of prescriptions would cause blackouts? im still trying to wrap my head around this, but could someone drug her, kill kids and then left to let sofya wake up and find them? and after that seeing her kids deceased, she goes into a panic bycutting self inflicting wounds on herself?

Why is someone going to drug her and kill the kids? And never mind per the link above she says she remember taking pills. She reportedly has history of mental issues and was apparently taking anti-psychotic. Sounds like another Andrea Yates to me.

"The day before her daughters were found dead, their mother had gone to a mental-health facility in Fort Worth, the affidavit states. Tsygankova, 31, reportedly has a history of mental illness, and prescription pills found at the home point to that fact; police found an empty bottle of the anti-psychotic drug Quetiapine, as well as an antidepressant and another medication used to treat anxiety. "

http://www.people.com/article/sofya...ife-slain-children-asks-did-i-do-anything-bad
 
i was trying to give another scenario on what happened. although i think she did kill the kids.
 
Young daughters of renowned pianist likely died of asphyxia 'after their mother smothered them with pillows' at their Texas home, autopsy concludes

The medical examiner's office released the autopsy reports on Thursday of Michela Kholodenko, 1, and Nika Kholodenko, 5

Their mother, Sofya Tsygankova, has been charged in their deaths

Vadym Kholodenko, a Ukrainian-born winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, discovered his daughters' bodies in March

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...hters-likely-died-asphyxia.html#ixzz47F8eAyCg
 
Famed pianist takes stage in hometown for the first time since 'his estranged wife killed their two young daughters'

World renowed pianist Vadym Kholodenko played his first concert in Fort Worth since his wife is accused of killing their children, ages five and one

The pair had filed for divorce and were living separately in Fort Worth when the tragedy happened

Sofya Tsygankova was found by police 'rocking back and forth' and wearing a blood-soaked nightgown on March 17 with her two dead children on a bed

She says she recalled 'cutting herself with a knife and taking pills' but had no memory of harming her children

Kholodenko found the bodies

Tsygankova pleaded not guilty to two capital murder charges

Affidavits indicate that the children may have been smothered with pillows


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...killed-two-young-daughters.html#ixzz4AseGmWqx
 
From November:

Wife of Concert Pianist Vadym Kholodenko Ruled Not Fit to Stand Trial for Daughters’ Deaths

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wife-concert-pianist-vadym-kholodenko-ruled-not-fit-stand-trial-n676996

The estranged wife of acclaimed concert pianist Vadym Kholodenko has been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial for allegedly killing the couple's two young daughters by smothering them with pillows.

Sofya Tsygankova has been ordered committed by a Texas judge to a state mental health facility for 120 days of treatment with the hope that she will be able to face justice when she regains "a reasonable degree of rational understanding," court records revealed Wednesday.

Tsygankova, who is 32 and charged with two counts of capital murder of a person under age 10, will remain in the Tarrant County jail until a bed becomes available at the mental health facility.
 
Cliburn winner’s wife competent to stand trial in children’s deaths

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article154891249.html

After an extended stay at a state mental hospital, the estranged wife of former Cliburn winner Vadym Kholodenko is back in Tarrant County Jail after she was deemed competent to stand trial in the deaths of the couple’s two young daughters.

Tsygankova, who turned 33 last month, is accused of smothering Michaela Kholodenko, 1, and Nika Kholodenko, 5, on March 17, 2016. She has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder charges.

No trial date has been set.
 
Benbrook mom accused of killing daughters found not guilty by reason of insanity
Opening statements for Sofya Tsygankova's capital murder trial began Monday morning. It didn’t take a judge very long to hand down a verdict because both sides agreed she was insane at the time of the crime.

Defense attorney’s presented two expert witnesses who testified that Tsygankova suffered from severe depression with psychotic episodes. They said she wasn’t aware of what happened to her daughters. The defense also described a history of mental illness that started when Tsgankova was a teenager. Defense attorneys said she believed her children's souls had been taken over by the devil. The state’s expert agreed with their findings.

The judge’s verdict means she’ll return to a state mental hospital until doctors are confident she can be released. She will remain under court supervision indefinitely.

"She may stay there til she dies if she never gets better," Keene said.

Wife of Cliburn winner found not guilty by reason of insanity in daughters’ deaths
Tsygankova’s release from the state mental hospital could only come if a treatment team recommends — and a judge agrees — that she is stable enough to be released and doesn’t deem a danger to herself or others.

Even if released, she could be placed under tight restrictions, including that she wear a GPS monitor and take certain medications. She also could be ordered re-hospitalized.

She would remain under supervision and the court’s jurisdiction for life unless the court chooses to end all supervision.
 

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