Dr. Krystal Cascetta (ABC 7/screengrab)
A “renowned” New York City oncologist allegedly shot her baby and herself at home over the weekend months after giving birth, raising questions about whether postpartum mental health played a role in what state police determined was a murder-suicide.
At around 7 a.m. on Saturday, reportedly while her parents were inside the Somers, N.Y. residence and while her husband was away, 40-year-old Dr. Krystal Cascetta “entered her child’s room and shot her baby and then turned the gun on herself,” state investigators said in a brief statement, calling the Westchester County scene “consistent with a murder/suicide.” State cops described the doctor as a “renowned Oncologist for Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City.”
Citing a neighbor, the New York Post reported that police and ambulances had previously responded to the residence “[a]t least twice” and maybe three times over the course of the summer. The story did not go into further detail about those incidents. Though police did not release any information about the baby, the Post reported that the victim was a girl and Cascetta’s only child. An online baby registry said that Cascetta’s due date was March 17.
An “About Me” profile on Mount Sinai’s website said that Cascetta, an Albany Medical College graduate, was an “Assistant Professor of Medicine within the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Site Chief of the Mount Sinai Queens Infusion Center—a state-of-the-art treatment center for cancer and blood disorders and an extension of the Tisch Cancer Institute at The Mount Sinai Hospital.”
The bio said that the doctor’s “clinical focus” was treating “breast cancer, gynecologic cancer, sarcoma and gastrointestinal cancers.”
Cascetta’s 37-year-old husband Tim Talty, who started a protein bar company, once told the story of what inspired his spouse to become doctor in a post on his business’ website.
“Krystal, herself, will tell you that she has wanted to be a doctor for as long as she can remember; that even as a child she could be found wrapping her dolls in gauze. When Krystal was in 8th grade, her mother’s best friend passed away from breast cancer,” the website said. “It was this life-altering event that helped Krystal decide that Medical Oncology would be her specialty.”
Describing Cascetta as a “fierce advocate for the health of women,” the wesbsite said that people who knew her best “will tell you that being a doctor is in her DNA.”
Mt. Sinai Hospital reportedly said in a statement that it is “greatly saddened by the tragic loss of a Mount Sinai Health System doctor and her child.”
“We extend our deepest sympathies to Dr. Cascetta’s family, friends, colleagues, and patients,” the reported statement continued.
Somers Town Supervisor Robert Scorrano posted Sunday about the “tragic event event that took place yesterday morning in our community.”
“I ask our Somers residents to please allow those directly impacted by this tragic event the time to grieve,” Scorrano wrote. “We are Somers and will find a way to support one another and heal from this tragedy. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family.”
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