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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge has found the estranged wife of concert pianist Vadym Kholodenko (va-DEEM' koh-loh-DEHN'-koh) not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2016 deaths of the couple's two daughters.
Judge Ruben Gonzalez in Fort Worth on Monday then ordered Sofya Tsygankova (tsih-GAN'-koh-vah), who was charged with capital murder, committed to a state mental hospital. The defense and prosecutors agreed with the ruling.
The Ukranian-born Kholodenko in 2013 won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth.
He found his daughters — 5-year-old Nika and 1-year-old Michaela — dead in their suburban home in March 2016. The parents had filed for divorce a few months earlier.
Prosecutors alleged Tsygankova smothered her children. She initially was deemed unfit for trial, but received mental health treatment and last year was ruled competent.
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This story has corrected the woman's first name to Sofya, not Sonya.
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