A Sunnyvale man is in police custody after he walked into Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (DPS) headquarters and told officers he killed his wife and daughter. Just after 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 20, officers say Leonid Yamburg told the records clerk he killed his wife.
Officers detained Yamburg and went to his home on Homestead Road, less than a block away from Homestead High School.
“Once our officers arrived there, they unfortunately found the suspect’s wife dead inside the garage and the suspect’s daughter dead inside one of the bathrooms,” said Sunnyvale DPS Captain Craig Anderson. “This is just a horrific tragedy. Our hearts are broken for the family, for the victims and all their friends.”
DPS has identified one of the victims as Svetlana Yamburg, Leonid Yamburg’s wife. They have not released the name of the daughter, but say she was 11 years old.
Investigators do not know how the two victims died or what led up to their deaths. They say shortly after Leonid Yamburg was detained; he invoked his right to an attorney.
Officers stayed at the home on Homestead Road to collect evidence. Sunnyvale DPS received assistance from Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner. The medical examiner is currently looking for a specific cause of death.
Meanwhile, Sunnyvale DPS officers are receiving counseling to help them cope with this horrific and tragic incident.
“The thing that people sometimes lose sight of is every police officer or public safety officer that we have here in Sunnyvale, they’re human beings first. These incidents are all tragic incidents, but especially when it involves a kid, most of us all have kids of our own,” said Anderson.
“In addition to our work that we’re doing to investigate these crimes, we’re always looking out for our officers to see what their well-being is, where their mental status is and their emotional well-being,” continued Anderson. “That’s something we’ve actually begun doing today even, reaching out to officers to make sure that they’re coping okay with this. This is a terrible tragedy for not only the family, but anyone who has to investigate it or see what occurred.”