‘Heinous atrocity’: Same-sex couple, two kids murdered in New York basement

Police worked Wednesday to try and unravel the mystery of who killed a woman, her partner and her two young children, whose bodies were found in a riverfront apartment house the day after Christmas.

“After being in this business for 43 years, I can’t describe the savagery of a person who would do this,” said Troy Police Chief John Tedesco.

 Troy police investigate multiple deaths at 158 Second Ave. on Dec. 26, 2017, in Troy, N.Y. The bodies were discovered Tuesday afternoon in a basement apartment in a house in Troy, a city near Albany. Lori Van Buren / The Albany Times Union via AP

Investigators revealed little about the deaths, declining to identify the victims or say how they were killed. But the chief said the slain children were an 11-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. The mother was 36 years old and in a relationship with a 22-year-old woman whose body was also found in the basement apartment, the chief said.

Tedesco declared during a news conference that the killings were “not a random act,” but wouldn’t say why he believed that was the case.

A property manager found the bodies Tuesday after being asked to check on the welfare of the residents of the apartment, one of five in a house located in the city’s Lansingburgh section along the Hudson River just north of Albany, police said.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that a person who committed this crime is capable of anything,” Tedesco said, adding that police don’t believe there was an imminent danger to the public.

The victims’ names were being withheld pending notification of relatives, he said.