4 Are Found Dead in Upper West Side Apartment, Including 2 Children

The bodies of four family members, including a toddler and a baby, were found on Monday inside a locked Upper West Side apartment in what police were investigating as an attack involving at least three knives.

The two adults — a man, 41, and a woman, 40 — suffered fatal injuries to their necks, according to an internal police report. The children, 3-year-old and 1-year-old boys, had also been killed, although the authorities did not provide details on their deaths.

A high-ranking police official said that the apartment door was locked from the inside and that the authorities were not looking for any other suspects at this time.

The official did not say whether the deaths were being investigated as a murder-suicide, but the internal report said one of the three knives found near the victims was found on the bed next to the man.

The victims were all members of the same family, the report said. Neighbors and residents said the dead man was the super of the building, and the dead woman and children were his wife and sons, but the police did not confirm the relationships.

The killings took place in a small co-op building on West 86th Street, less than a block from Riverside Park, and were discovered when a worried relative went to the fourth-floor apartment to check on the family.

The relative, whom residents identified as a superintendent at a nearby building, drilled a hole in the door to remove the lock when no one answered his knock. He peered in, and moments later, he dialed 911.

Firefighters arrived and had to force open the door to get inside, the police said.

Officers arrived around 2:55 p.m., the report said. They found the woman in the hallway of the apartment. The man was discovered in a bedroom.

Former tenants and neighbors said the dead man had followed in his father’s footsteps to become the super of the building. They recalled him as a calm handyman who could be seen every morning, watering the plants outside the building or wheeling his baby son around the block in a stroller.

His wife sometimes joined them, though she often stayed inside the apartment, they said.

Philip Caggiano said he’s lived at the corner for 50 years and had known the super since he was a little boy. Just a few days ago, he said he had seen him with his two young boys and his wife, and remarked how wonderful it was to have watched him grow into a man. “I thought, wow isn’t it great to live on the street, with this happy family,” he said.

Carlos Cabrera, a doorman next door, said the super would often ride his scooter with his toddler to the park. “He had a beautiful family and he was a very nice person,” he said. “I couldn’t ever have said what’s wrong.”

At least two dozen detectives and uniformed police gathered outside the building on Monday afternoon, surrounded by neighbors, peering out from under their awnings. On a stoop next door, a gray-haired couple sat clutching each other’s hands.

Olivia Bensimon contributed reporting.