Middle Island woman found slain; husband dies at hospital

A woman was found slain in her Middle Island home, and her husband later died at the hospital from apparent self-inflicted stab wounds in a murder-suicide, police said Monday.

Police identified the woman as Fahriye Ugan, 54, and her husband as Erdem Gulay, 41. Family members could not be reached for comment Monday.

Suffolk County homicide Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer said officers from the Seventh Precinct, along with Middle Island Fire Department members, responded to the home on Summersweet Drive just before 9 p.m. Sunday after a female relative of Ugan called 911. The relative, who had gone to the house to check on Ugan after not being able to reach her, smelled a strong odor of natural gas.

The first responders broke into the home and detected a gas leak, but they also found Ugan dead and Gulay with severe injuries to his head and chest, Beyrer said. His wounds “appear to be self-inflicted,” Beyrer said Monday morning.

Police declined to detail Ugan’s fatal injuries, saying an autopsy is being performed. In a later news release, police called her injuries “wounds.” A police spokeswoman would not specify the type of wounds.

Detectives had sought to speak to Gulay, who initially was hospitalized and had been expected to survive, police had said. But Gulay died of his injuries Monday night.

Police did not identify a motive.

Beyrer said police had been called to the home twice in 2014 for “verbal disputes” between the husband and wife, but he said no arrests were made on either occasion because police determined “nothing criminal” had occurred.

Neighbors Lisa Gray and Meagan O’Flaherty, who live a few doors from the couple, said they would wave hello when they saw the couple, who they estimated had lived there since the neighborhood was created in 2000.

“We were shocked,” said Gray, 34. “It’s crazy.”

The neighbors said the husband and wife’s son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter had lived in a home on the street until about two years ago.

“It’s just so sad,” said O’Flaherty, 19.

With John Valenti

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.