The father of the 41-year-old man suspected of killing himself, his wife, and their two young children in their Upper West Side apartment on Monday said he saw no signs of distress from his son in the lead-up to the horrific incident.
Police confirmed they’re investigating the stabbing deaths of Edison Lopez; Alexandra Witek, 40; Calvin Lopez, 1; and Lucien Lopez, 3, as a murder-suicide.
The four were found in their fourth-floor apartment in a building on West 86th Street and Riverside Drive where Edison Lopez worked as the superintendent.
Edison Lopez took over the job from his father, Mario Lopez, who moved to another building nearby.
“If you look around and ask their friends – very levelheaded individuals. Both of them,” Mario Lopez, 66, told Gothamist by phone about his son and Witek. “You usually see problems in a couple where you see the behavior of the children affected immediately. Their grandmother, my wife, took care of them. We didn’t see anything.”
Police said they recovered multiple knives from the apartment. Cops had no record of domestic violence among the family.
Mario Lopez said he and his wife discovered the horrific scene on Monday after she was unable to reach the family or open the apartment door. Mario Lopez said he punched one of the locks in.
“We saw them inside,” he said, holding back tears. “They were already dead, whatever happened, happened maybe the day before.”
Mario Lopez recalled spending time with the family over the past weekend. Lucien Lopez played with a new toy Jeep. Nothing had seemed amiss, Mario Lopez said.
Edison Lopez was also on track to start a new job next week as the super of a building in Hastings-on-Hudson, his father said. The family was planning to move into a more spacious apartment.
The killing stunned residents of the Riverside Drive co-op building. Many said they’d watched Edison Lopez grow up with his father, take over as super and start a family.
“The feelings, we were here at 9/11, and this…
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