Police investigate deaths of woman, 14-year-old in Brooklyn as possible murder-suicide
FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police are investigating the gruesome deaths of a woman and a 14-year-old girl found in a Brooklyn apartment.
Officials say the two deaths are being investigated as a murder-suicide.
Police arrived at the apartment on New York Avenue Monday and found 37-year-old Azalea Rivas and 14-year-old Azaria Wright with fatal slash wounds.
Rivas sustained a fatal slash in her neck, as well as knife wounds on her wrists.
Wright, who authorities was lying next to the woman in the living room, sustained a fatal slash to the back, puncturing her right lung. She also had blunt force trauma to the head.
Azaria had a bag over her head, as did their dead dog, a mini pitbull named Biscuit.
Though the dog was found with a plastic bag over its head, officials say they don't believe the pet died of suffocation.
Based on autopsy results and the ongoing investigation, the deaths are deemed it a murder-suicide.
Law enforcement say both women, mother and daughter, were struck by a van in New Jersey in 2016. Azalea sustained permanent brain injuries in the crash, which is now a focus of the investigation.
The victims are believed to have been dead for a few days when they were found, officials said.
Police had been called to this apartment numerous times over the past several weeks. They found the women at what was described as a "bloody" scene during a wellness check.
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