Investigators say Orange County family committed suicide
Homicide detectives say five family members took their own lives earlier this year but close the case without knowing why.
Orange County Sheriff's Department homicide investigators have concluded that all five members of a successful family of Turkish immigrants committed suicide earlier this year at their upscale San Clemente home, but they still have no idea why.
Among the dead were Manas Ucar, an engineer and former Syracuse University professor; his wife Margrit, who once owned a Newport Beach jewelry store; their 21-year-old twin daughters Grace and Margo, who this year earned bachelor's degrees from UC San Diego; and the twins' 72-year-old grandmother, Fransuhi Kesisoglu.
An autopsy determined that the young women and their grandmother died from overdoses of prescription medication, including the painkiller Vicodin, and that Margrit Ucar shot her husband in the chest before shooting herself in the head, said Dan Salcedo, a sheriff's homicide investigator.
The family did not leave a suicide note and investigators found no indication of financial, medical or marital problems, Salcedo said this morning. The twins were found on a bed, their grandmother on a chaise lounge and their parents in a closet. Each of the victims was dressed in black.
Investigators searched the home, reviewed the family's computers and interviewed friends, relatives and professional colleagues but closed the investigation without determining a motive.
"I wish I had some answers, especially for the family," Salcedo said. "It's frustrating not to be able to provide them with some closure."
It's most likely that the twins, their grandmother and father each ingested large doses of prescription medication before their mother shot their father and then took her own life, Salcedo said. Manas Ucar had lethal amounts of medication his body, but died from the gunshot wound, the investigator said.
The victims had been dead about three weeks before concerned relatives visited their home in the gated Sea Pointe Estates community, perched above the Pacific Ocean, and made a grim discovery.
Investigators determined that the family last entered the gated community on May 3. Their bodies were discovered May 25. The family was well off financially. A Porsche Cayenne was parked in the family's driveway.
Manas Ucar, 58, worked as a traffic accident reconstruction expert, Salcedo said. He earned masters and doctoral degrees from Syracuse University in New York and was an assistant professor there before leaving in the 1980s. Margrit Ucar, 49, formerly owned a jewelry store at Fashion Island. Their daughters, graduates of San Clemente High School, worked as interns at a psychological clinic in San Diego County, Salcedo said. They earned bachelor's degrees in biology in January at UC San Diego.
Pfeifer is a Times staff writer
stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com
