Investigators have linked the murder of a local doctor's girlfriend to last week's murder-suicide of two doctors in Voorhees, New Jersey.
Ballistics tests show the same gun that Dr. Giocondo Navek is accused of using to kill Dr. Payman Houshmandpour before he killed himself, was also used to kill Navek's girlfriend in North Carolina, Shawna D. Givens.
Authorities say Navek pulled the trigger, killing Givens, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff's office in North Carolina.
Dr. Houshmandpour was on his way to work last Wednesday when Navek ambushed him in the parking lot of his condo complex, walked up to his car and shot him multiple times, according to witnesses and the prosecutor.
Dr. Navek fled the scene. One of the witnesses had called 911 and when police confronted Navek about a mile away from the murder scene, Navek shot himself to death inside a car he'd borrowed from a family member.
When investigators tracked that car to South Philadelphia, they found Navek's Mercedes. They say evidence inside the car led them to suspect Navek had murdered his Givens, his girlfriend in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The motive behind Dr. Houshmandpour's death may have been revenge. According to an acquaintance, Dr. Navek blamed Houshmandpour for his dismissal from Virtua hospital in Voorhees. The two had both worked there as residents. Navek let the hospital nearly two years ago, but the hospital has not commented on why.
Neighbors say Navek had been living in Williamstown, New Jersey with his fiance, who was also the mother of their young child. She moved out of the house recently.
Navek, 39, and Givens, 35, both worked at the same Army hospital in North Carolina. They'd driven up to Philadelphia for Easter weekend to visit family. Investigators have not talked about a possible motive for Givens' murder. She was the mother of three children.
Houshmandpour, 32, leaves behind a wife and a young child.
