Friends, neighbors shocked after NYC dad kills family in murder-suicide

Friends and neighbors of the Upper West Side family found dead in a suspected suicide were struggling to grapple Tuesday with how the neighborhood boy they watched grow up could have stabbed his partner and their two young sons to death at their home.

There were “zero, absolutely zero [signs],” said Jeff Kimmel, a 22-year resident of the West 86th Street building where super Edison Lopez, 41, is believed to have fatally knifed Alexandra Witek, 40, and their boys, Lucian, 3, and 1-year-old, Calvin, before killing himself.

“I saw him evolve as an adult and as a man,” Kimmel said of Lopez, whose dad was the super of the same building before he took over as a young man.

“He’d gotten into a relationship and they were together, the kids were born. They were happily strolling, regularly,” the longtime neighbor added.

Another resident recalled the doting mom being involved in the building community and taking the couple’s children to the park every day.

“[Alexandra] took them to classes in the neighborhood. She was very dedicated to the little boys,” the woman, who asked not to be identified, said.

“Everybody thought they were a great family,” said the neighbor.

The boys were friends with other youngsters in the building, which is near Riverside Drive, and the family had just celebrated Calvin’s first birthday a few weeks ago with a party, the resident said.

“They were very much a part of the community in the building,” she said of the family.

“Obviously, everybody is in shock.”

Neighbors said Lopez and Witek had met as youngsters, with her dad working as a doorman in the building across the street from the one where his father was a super and where the couple later lived together.

The two went to high school together, according to residents, and reconnected years later.

Both were first-generation Americans, with Lopez’s family hailing from Venezuela and Witek’s roots being in Poland. 

“They grew up here,” said a longtime family friend, who has been a super on the same block for 35 years. “I know him since he was a little boy and she was a little girl. I have seen them together when they were young.

“I didn’t see this coming,” he added. “I’ve never seen [Lopez] angry, never. I’ve never seen them fighting.”

In the weeks before the grisly incident, multiple neighbors and friends said Lopez and his family had been gearing up for a big move to the suburbs after he got a new job — with some describing him as excited and others saying he appeared stressed.

“He had a new job in Westchester County that was going to afford them more space for the family, and when we spoke with them about it, they seemed excited,” said the female resident, adding that the building was set to get a new super to replace Lopez.

But the apartment Lopez wanted for his new gig in Westchester wasn’t going to be ready in time, and “That may have been causing him some stress,” NYPD Assistant Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny told reporters Tuesday.

“There may have been some problems with the timing of the relocation, meaning he had to leave his apartment on 86th Street by the first and we’re hearing that quite possibly the apartment in Hastings wasn’t ready for him yet,” Kenny said.

Asked if it was possible Witek didn’t want to move, Kenny said, “Speaking to relatives and neighbors it doesn’t seem like that was an issue.”

The longtime family friend and three-decade resident of the block said he saw Lopez Friday and that the two had discussed the move and how Lopez was feeling pressure over it.

“He was upset or something… like, worried. I have never seen him like that,” the man said.

A doorman outside the family’s building also remembered seeing Lopez looking upset when he took the older boy to camp on Friday.

“[Lopez] was always nice…calm. You don’t see nothing that would lead, let’s say, trigger something like this. I feel sad,” Jimmy, the block’s longtime postman, said.

“How can you do this, not only to yourself, but do it to your kids and your wife?”

Witek – who was known as “Ola” to friends and family – is survived by her mother, Grace, and her brother, Lukas, according to a GoFundMe started by her grieving loved ones.

The mom of two was a former New York City schoolteacher, the fundraiser explained, and incorporated her classroom experience when raising her sons.

“A proud Polish mom, Ola shared her culture and language and made the lives of her boys bright and full,” the write-up reads.

“Her boys loved playing with their toys, story time with mom, and were two delightful babies to all that loved them.”

The young boys are seen cradled against their mom’s chest in a gut-wrenching photo shared on Facebook earlier this year.

The family was also looking forward to Lukas’ wedding to his fiancée, Emma Hutchinson, in just two weeks, the fundraiser page added.

Lopez, Witek, and their sons were found dead around 3 p.m. on Monday, police sources said.

First responders were called to the address when Lopez’s father and Witek’s brother drilled through the apartment lock and saw blood inside, the sources said. They hadn’t heard from the family since Sunday.

The little boys were discovered in the living room with two knives nearby, according to the sources. Their bodies were so bloodied that they were initially misidentified as a boy and a girl.

Witek was found in the hallway with a deep neck wound, while her husband was found dead on a bed in a bedroom with a similar injury and a third knife laying next to him, the police sources said.

Retired super and family friend Alfonso Barrera, 84, paid his respects Tuesday at the building’s front door, where others were starting to leave flowers and toys in the victims’ memory, and explained that his son Luis and Lopez were like brothers.

“I feel like dead. I feel like he is part of my family,” Barrera said of Lopez and his family’s deaths.

He shared a photo of Lopez smiling as best man at his son’s wedding in Arizona 11 years ago.

“He is a nice fellow, part of my family…His wife was a nice girl, beautiful girl,” he lamented, before being overcome with emotion.

Building resident Tom Holmes laid roses in four different colors on the threshold.

“One [color] for each of them,” he said sadly.

“The hopelessness….it was complete lack of hope over something, nobody seems to know,” he suggested of Lopez’s alleged actions.

“The children doesn’t deserve that nor the mother, of course…oh, my god, killing yours kids, that’s the bottom.”

Patricia Roman, a hairstylist at Jeffrey Stein Salons near the family’s home, stopped by the mourning building 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 that was what was going on just a few blocks away is terrible, is tragic… there is no words,” she told The Post.

She chose sunflowers, she said, in honor of Lucian and Calvin.

“They seem appropriate for children, and innocence and love and happiness,” she said.

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are 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 the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.