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Staten Island Man, Douglas Nemeth, Allegedly Snaps, Stabs Wife and Young Children in Attempted Murder-Suicide

Staten Island Man Douglas Nemeth Snaps, Stabs Wife and Young Children in Attempted Murder-Suicide
Victoria Orlik (Personal Photo) Personal Photo

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) In what appears to be an attempted murder-suicide, an out-of-work chiropractor from Staten Island, N.Y. snapped and stabbed his live-in girlfriend and their two young children multiple times before slashing his own throat, late Sunday night.

When cops arrived at the scene, they found 34-year-old Victoria Orlik outside the home she shared with 41-year-old Douglas Nemeth, cradling their infant son Brandon - both were covered in blood and suffered knife wounds to the neck.

Nemeth, who was described by neighbors as nice and never aggressive, reportedly barricaded himself and his 3-year-old daughter Sasha inside the home for about 90 minutes before police finally broke down the front door after not being able to make contact with him. They found a grisly scene - Sasha covered in blood in a front bedroom, barely breathing, and Nemeth lying on the kitchen floor.

"He was covered in blood" in the kitchen, police told the The New York Daily News. "It was a pretty clean slash wound to the neck."

A neighbor said he heard Nemeth yell, "I'm tired of this. I'm not going through this all the time," during an apparent argument with Orlik.

Nemeth died on the way to the Staten Island University Hospital while Orlik and the two young children were hospitalized in critical condition.

The violence stunned neighbor Anna Ogurtsova who told The New York Post, "I've known the family for eight years and I never heard any fighting. I never saw him and Victoria arguing, they seemed like such a happy family."

On the other hand, a friend of the family, Konstantine Mitkin, told The New York Daily News that Nemeth "had temper problems" and had been out of work for almost two years, leaving Orlik, a teacher, as the sole breadwinner. 

"[But] how do you do this?"Mitkin added. "That's your own kids."

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