A Florida professor killed an 3-year-old daughter and herself because of a child custody dispute

A Florida man who killed his 3-year-old daughter in December and then committed suicide left a farewell note seven pages in which he described in detail the dispute over custody of the child with his wife.

Dead girl with mom
Photo: Facebook / Laurel Friedman

The bodies of 48-year-old Ayhan Aites and his three-year-old daughter Ela were found on December 10 in the man’s apartment. Aytes, a professor at the University of South Florida, did not answer phone calls and text messages for four days, after which the Temple-Terras police entered the apartment and found the bodies, writes People.

Aytes hung on a beam with a rope around his neck. Ela was lying on her back in bed, and although her death was declared a murder, the final autopsy reports and causes of death were not yet published.

Aytes left a seven-page letter at the scene, dated December 6—four days before the bodies were discovered—and dealing with divorce and child custody disputes between Laurel and Ayhan.

“I can’t imagine my life and Ela’s life if we have to go through this nonsense for the rest of our lives,” Aytes wrote at the end of the letter.

Aytes and his wife, Laurel Friedman, fought a fierce battle for custody of Eloy. Aytes, a Turkish citizen with a green card, wanted to take the girl to Turkey to visit his family in September 2018. Friedman filed a lawsuit demanding to ban Aytes from undertaking this trip.

The man said that he wanted to take Al to visit his mother, and then return to the United States, but the court took the side of Friedman, noting that in the event of such a trip there is a risk of kidnapping the child.

December 5 Aytes did not bring his daughter to kindergarten, which caused alarm in Friedman. In her appeal to the family court, she claimed that her husband’s mental health was deteriorating.

Through her lawyer, Aytes claimed that Ela told him that the “lover” Friedman had improperly touched her, so the man decided to keep custody of Eloy “until the decision was made as to whether a case of abuse would be opened girl ", but the man could not provide evidence of his claims.

Aytes married Friedman in 2012, in January 2018, the couple filed for divorce, and developed a parent agreement regarding the separation of custody of the girl.

According to his professional website, Aytes was a media and communications specialist working on his book.

The couple had previously lived in Istanbul for some time, but moved to Florida after a political uprising in Turkey led to a failed coup d'état.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How a divorce can affect immigration status

What is the real cost of a divorce in the USA? Higher than you might think

How to save a marriage in immigration

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.