Manhattan man kills wife, kids ages 1 and 3 in horrifying murder-suicide, cops say

NEW YORK — An Upper West Side man brutally killed his wife, their infant son and toddler daughter before taking his own life Monday, according to police sources.

Cops found the bodies of the 41-year-old suspect, his 40-year-old wife, their 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter in an apartment on West 86th Street near Riverside Drive around 2:56 p.m.

The adult victims had their throats slit and the children suffered stab wounds to their bodies, according to police.

Paramedics pronounced all victims dead at the scene, cops said.

Their names were not immediately released. But a neighbor said the superintendent had long worked at the building, living with his family in the fourth-floor apartment where the grisly scene was found.

The resident, Jeff Kimmel, said the super’s father, himself a former superintendent at the same building, had come to visit his grandchildren earlier Monday. After being unable to get into the apartment, he forced the door open, according to police sources. Emergency services were called when he saw blood on the floor, they added.

Firefighters assisted officers in gaining entry to the unit, where the man’s body was found in bed and the woman’s in a hallway, the sources said.

The killer used multiple knives during the carnage, according to police.

The dead man’s father and mother were seen visibly shaken in the lobby of the building.

“They probably were gonna either baby-sit or hang out or do something,” Kimmel of the parents of the alleged killer. “Everybody’s really shocked.”

Kimmel said he’d known the deceased man for more than two decades, describing him and his family as well-liked by residents.

“Really nice guy. Everybody likes him. He’s solid,” the neighbor said. “He has a lovely wife from what I gather. Two lovely young kids. Great family. I couldn’t imagine what this could be.”

Residents enjoyed watching their super’s family grow over the past several years, according to Kimmel, who said the super had boasted of getting a new job in Westchester County that would allow him to better provide for his wife and two kids.

“We were happy for him when he got married and had his kids,” said Kimmel. “He seemed happy. He said, ‘Yeah, it’s a good move for the family.’”

The now-dead super had lived in the West 86th Street co-op since he was a boy, and many longtime residents watched him grow up before he took over the reins from his father.

“I knew (the super) since he was 10 years old when he moved into the building,” said Lynne Allen, a decadeslong resident. “He was my cat-sitter when he was a young teen and just a great guy. Great, lovely family and adorable little children.”

Allen described the victims as an outwardly perfect family with a beautiful young mother, two happy children and a father excited to begin working at his new job.

“She was a gorgeous young woman,” she said. “They seem very happily married and then they had this lovely family and now they’re moving to Westchester and everything was perfect.”

Residents at the building were shocked to learn of the heinous killings, with Kimmel saying he assumed that the attack came from outside the building — not from within the family, as police suspect.

“The first thing we’re thinking is, ‘Who could’ve come into our building and done this?’” said Kimmel. “I think it’s crazy.”

The West 86th Street slayings occurred about a half-mile away from where the body of 74-year-old Maria Hernandez was discovered bound and gagged in her West 83rd Street apartment near Columbus Avenue on Jan 18.

Police cuffed Lashawn Mackey, a former superintendent of the building, and homeless man Terrence Moore for Hernandez’s murder. Both men face burglary and murder charges.

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