‘It Couldn’t Be Any Worse:’ NY Neighborhood Reels After Family of 4 Is Found Dead

Hours after a husband, his wife and their two children were found dead inside their Westchester County home, police have yet to reveal many details, including how they died and their identities.

At this point, law enforcement sources tell News 4 investigators believe the father killed his wife and children in their Pleasantville home before taking his own life. The bodies were found Thursday afternoon after police responded to a call for a welfare check. The school district contacted police after the two children’s unaccounted-for absences at school.

Authorities have said it was an isolated incident and there is no further threat to the community, yet the close-knit neighborhood has been left reeling by the horror. The house the street sits on is adjacent to Pleasantville’s high school and middle school, in a town one resident described as an “all-American community” and “king of your Norman Rockwell town.”

The middle school was open Friday, and grief counselors were offering solace to grieving students as detectives returned to the scene of the crime in hopes of gathering additional evidence. 

“Our hearts are broken at news of this incredible tragedy,” said Pleasantville Schools Superintendent Mary Fox-Alter. “This is a very small community, and it impacts all of us in this small village.”

Most neighbors were too stunned by grief to even want to discuss what happened. One, Brian Skarstad, told NBC New York he was friends with the family, including the two young children who were killed.

“When something like this happens, it’s devastating. It’s worse than anybody can imagine and especially when it’s people you know,” said Skarstad. “It couldn’t be any worse than this.”