Police: death of woman, 7-year-old child was murder-suicide

WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) — The deaths of a woman and her 7-year-old daughter, whose bodies were found Thursday in a Westport, Connecticut, home, are being treated as a murder-suicide, police said.

Tracy Do, 46, died from self-inflicted stab wounds and her daughter, Layla Malon, was drowned, police and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced late Friday afternoon.

“This is a horrible tragedy, and the police department is keeping the family as well as the community that was so deeply affected by this in our thoughts and prayers,” Police Chief Foti Koskinas said in a statement.

Authorities found the bodies around 4 p.m. Thursday while responding to a report of an unresponsive woman, police said.

Hearst Connecticut Media reported that court record show the owner of the house attempted to have Do removed from the home earlier this year after their romantic relationship ended. He alleged in the filing that she destroyed some of his belongings and was escalating tensions in the home, according to the court documents.

A local elementary school offered counseling Friday to parents and students.

Westport Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice said the deaths of a district parent and student were an “untimely and tragic loss.”

“There are no words that could console the sense of sorrow we feel by this unspeakable tragedy,” Scarice said in a statement. “We want to express our deepest condolences to all those impacted by this heartbreaking loss.”