The Upper West Side father who was believed to have stabbed his longtime love and two young children to death before committing suicide had been “stressed out” about an upcoming move to the suburbs in the days before the shocking murder-suicide .
Friends and neighbors of the “perfect” family could not believe Tuesday how Edison Lopez, 41, could have fatally stabbed his fiancée Alexandra Witek, 40, and their children, Lucian, 3, and Calvin, 1. year, before killing. himself in the West 86th Street house in which he grew up.
There was “zero, absolutely zero [signs]said Jeff Kimmel, a 22-year resident of the co-op building, where Lopez served as superintendent after taking over from his own father.
“I watched him evolve as an adult and as a man.”
“Everyone thought they were one big family,” another neighbor told The Post.
“They were a big part of the community in the building.”
Alexandra Witek and her sons Lucian and Calvin were found stabbed to death on Monday. Facebook / Ola Witek
Although authorities have not specified any motive for the slayings, neighbors and police said Lopez seemed eager for a new job in Westchester County and the big move that would come with it.
The apartment Lopez wanted in Hastings-on-Hudson would not be ready for the Sept. 1 move-in date, which could have caused some mental strain, NYPD Deputy Chief of Detectives told reporters Tuesday. Joe Kenny.
“There may have been some issues with the timing of the relocation, which means he had to leave his 86th Street apartment before the first one and we heard that the Hastings apartment quite possibly wasn’t ready for him yet,” Kenny said. . .
Richard Allen, a 74-year-old resident who has lived on the sixth floor since 2000, said it would have been a vast improvement from the cramped space the family of four shared.
Father and husband Edison Lopez is suspected of stabbing his longtime love and their children before taking his own life. ART COPY
Especially after the building’s cooperative board rejected a proposal to give his burgeoning family a larger unit because the residents didn’t want to foot the bill.
“It was a step up,” Allen said.
“There were four of them in a one-bedroom apartment,” he continued.
“Would you like to do that if you could move to a bigger job with a bigger apartment? It’s something natural… I talked to him about it, he was happy”.
Witek and Lopez met when they were young: their father was the doorman across the street from the West 86th Street building where Lopez’s father worked as superintendent. Facebook / Ola Witek
A woman who lives in the building agreed that “it was going to give them more space for the family,” adding that the building was about to hire a new superintendent to replace Lopez.
“When we talked to them about this, they seemed excited.”
But it still weighed on Lopez, according to an old family friend who had lived on the block for more than three decades.
“He was upset or something… kind of worried,” the man said of a Friday conversation with Lopez.
Witek was found in the family hallway with a deep knife wound, police said. Facebook / Ola Witek
“I’ve never seen it like this.”
A doorman outside the family building also recalled seeing Lopez looking upset as he took his oldest son to camp Friday.
The shocking crime has left those who knew the family searching for answers.
Lopez and Witek met when they were young: their father was the doorman across the street from the West 86th Street building where Lopez’s father worked as superintendent.
The family’s bodies were found around 3 p.m. Monday.William Miller
The two first-generation Americans went to high school together, then reconnected years later and had two children.
Friends, family and neighbors described them as a loving family with a strong foundation.
Many of them saw López, the son of Venezuelan immigrants, grow up and fall in love with Witek, whose family came from Poland.
“They grew up here,” said an old family friend, who has been a superintendent on the same block for 35 years.
Edison Lopez was the building manager at the time of the apparent murder-suicide. James Messerschmidt for NY Post
“I’ve known him since he was a little boy and she was a girl. I have seen them together when they were young.
“I didn’t see it coming,” he added.
“I have never seen [Lopez] angry, never I’ve never seen them fight.”
Jimmy, the longtime mailman on the block, said: “[Lopez] It was always nice…quiet. You don’t see anything that could lead, let’s say, to trigger something like this.”
Three knives were found at the scene, police sources said. James Messerschmidt for NY Post
The children were friends with other youth in the building and the family had just celebrated Calvin’s first birthday a few weeks ago with a party, the resident said.
But on Monday afternoon, the body of Lopez and that of his beloved children and childhood sweetheart were found stabbed to death in their fourth-floor apartment.
When the policemen found their bodies, they were so devastated that they initially thought one of them was a girl.
According to police sources, they found the children in the living room with two knives lying nearby.
A local reacts to the news of the family’s gruesome death on Monday. James Messerschmidt for NY Post
Witek lay in the hallway, with a deep stab wound to the neck.
Her fiancé was in the bedroom, sitting on the bed with a slit throat and a third knife at his side, the sources said.
Police were called when Lopez’s father and Witek’s brother, who said they had not heard from the family since Sunday, drilled into the apartment’s lock and saw blood inside, the sources said.
“We saw them inside,” she told Gothamist, holding back tears.
When the policemen found their bodies, they were so devastated that they initially thought one of the children was a girl.
“They were already dead, whatever happens, maybe it happened the day before.”
Witek, known as “Ola” to her friends and family, is survived by her mother, Grace, and brother, Lukas, according to a GoFundMe started by her bereaved loved ones.
The murder of the mother of two has left her family “heartbroken and outraged,” according to the fundraiser, which had raised about $20,000 as of Tuesday night.
“Ola, a proud Polish mother, shared her culture and language and made her children’s lives bright and full,” the fundraiser said.
The children were found in the living room with two knives nearby.
“Her children loved playing with their toys, reading stories with mom and they were two lovely babies to everyone who loved them.”
In a heartbreaking photo shared on Facebook earlier this year, Ola cradled her children to her chest in a loving hug.
Retired superintendent and family friend Alfonso Barrera, 84, paid his respects Tuesday at the building’s front door, where others were beginning to drop flowers and toys in memory of the victims, explaining that his son Luis and López were like brothers.
“I feel like dead. I feel like he is part of my family,” Barrera said of Lopez’s death and his family.
Police were called when Lopez’s father and Witek’s brother drilled into the apartment’s lock and saw blood inside.
He shared a photo of Lopez smiling as the groomsman at his son’s wedding in Arizona 11 years ago.
“He’s a nice guy, part of my family… His wife was a nice, beautiful girl,” he lamented before his emotions got the best of him.
The building’s resident, Tom Holmes, placed roses of four different colors on the threshold.
“One [color] for each one of them,” he said sadly.
The murder of the mother of two has left her family “heartbroken and outraged,” according to the fundraiser, which had raised around $20,000 as of Tuesday night.
“The hopelessness… it was a complete lack of hope about something, nobody seems to know,” he suggested of Lopez’s alleged actions.
“Children don’t deserve that, nor does the mother, of course… oh my God, killing your children, that’s the bottom line.”
Patricia Roman, a stylist at Jeffrey Stein Salons near the family’s home, stopped by the building in mourning with sunflowers and red and yellow toy cars on behalf of her coworkers.
“I work a block and a half away and I have lived here for over 20 years and just to think that this is what was happening a few blocks away is terrible, it is tragic… there are no words,” he told The Post. .
She chose sunflowers, she said, in honor of Lucian and Calvin.
“They seem appropriate for children, innocence, love and happiness,” he said.
Additional reporting by Amanda Woods
If you are having suicidal thoughts or experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside of the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or visit Suicide PreventionLifeline.org.
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