Police have released new details after a family of four, including two children, were found dead with apparent stab wounds inside a superintendent’s apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.First responders broke down the door to the family’s fourth floor apartment inside 328 West 86th Street just before 3 p.m. Monday.
The whole family was found dead, in what police suspect is a likely murder-suicide. The apartment was deadbolted, locked from the inside.
They found 3-year-old Lucien and 1-year-old Calvin Lopez dead in the living room, their 40-year-old mother Alexandra Witek dead in the hallway, and their 41-year-old father Edwin Lopez dead in a bedroom.
The mother and father both suffered injuries to the neck, while the children suffered injuries to their bodies. EMS responded and pronounced all four of the victims dead at the scene.
Police recovered multiple knives, and police sources told Eyewitness News that the victims’ injuries were consistent with stab wounds.”I think it’s crazy. I think it’s scary,” resident Jeff Kimmel said. “I couldn’t imagine, when this happened and we were all shaking, the first thing we thought is who could have come into our building and do this?”
Kimmel has lived at 328 West 86th Street for 22 years and says the crime scene played out in the home of the building’s superintendent who lived there with his wife and two young sons.
Edwin Lopez, who grew up in the apartment when his father was the super, recently gave notice to the co-op board that he had taken another job.
Sources say it was the superintendent’s father who grew concerned when he didn’t answer his phone, or the apartment door.
With the help of another family member, he hammered out the peep hole. That’s when he spotted the children’s mother motionless on the hallway floor and called 911.Neighbor Philip Caggiano told Eyewitness News that he knew the 41-year-old dad when he was just a baby.
“I thought how great to live on this street with this happy family,” he said. “This is heartbreaking, just heartbreaking.”
Police are continuing their investigation.Four people, including two children, were found dead inside an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan Monday, according to police sources. Josh Einiger has the latest details.
