Family of 4, including 2 toddlers, found stabbed to death in New York City apartment

A longtime superintendent at a New York City apartment building fatally stabbed his wife and two children, ages 1 and 3, before taking his own life, authorities said.

The family of four was found by officers when they responded to a request for a welfare check at the Upper West Side apartment Monday afternoon. With the help of the fire department, authorities entered the fourth-floor apartment and found the bodies of two adults and two children with stab wounds.

The family members were identified Tuesday as Edison Lopez, 41, Alexandra Witek, 40, Lucien Lopez, 3, and Calvin Lopez, 1, according to the New York Police Department.

According to police officials, Edison Lopez used multiple kitchen knives to kill his wife and their two young children who were left near the front door of the apartment hallway. Officers found Edison Lopez on his bed with a single wound on his neck.

The deaths come days after the apparent murder-suicides of families in Ohio and Oklahoma drew national attention. Members of a family of five, including three children, were found dead from gunshot wounds during a welfare check in northern Ohio on Thursday in what police said was a "domestic dispute that turned deadly."

New York family had no previous incidents, described as stable

Police said there had been no previous domestic incidents reported at the family's address. Other residents of the building described the family as stable and "very loving," NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said.

Before the family was found, Edison Lopez had taken his children on a playdate with a neighbor at the nearby Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Edison Lopez's father, who works across the street from the family's apartment, hadn't heard from his son and discovered the family by unscrewing the apartment's peephole.

Neighbors told news outlets the man worked as the building's superintendent and had grown up in the building, taking over the job from his father.

"They were adorable. They were babies," neighbor Lynne Allen told CBS New York of the two children.

Police investigating father's new job

Police are still looking for a motive and noted that Lopez had told neighbors he was leaving his position in the building for a new role as a superintendent in Hastings, a Westchester County suburb.

“We’re looking into the fact that he was leaving that position on 86th Street to take a job in Westchester County,” Chell said, adding that the pending move and job may have been a source of stress.

Contributing: The Associated Press