Local Woman Killed in Murder-Suicide Spree

Father kills wife and two children in Westchester, NY home

They looked like the perfect family. Until a shocking act of violence shattered the picture.

According to investigators, 50-year old Sam Friedlander shot and killed his 8-year-old son Gregory and 10-year-old daughter Molly as they slept in their beds late Monday night.

The body of his wife Amy was found dead on the floor of their bedroom in Westchester County, NY.  Police say she’d been beaten with the leg of a piece of furniture.

46-year old Amy Friedlander grew up in Penn Wynn, Montgomery County and earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.  She was formerly a vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank, as well as a partner at a college tutoring program. 

Sam’s friends say Amy was emotionally abusive toward her husband.  Amy’s father tells NBC 10 the couple was getting a divorce, but denies his daughter was abusive.

“If there was any mental abuse it was him” said Gary Perez.  “I think he had a personality disorder.  He blamed everything on Amy”.

Investigators say the Friedlanders had a court date scheduled this week.

“We knew about the stresses the family was experiencing, the house was for sale, there was a divorce in the works and we knew that they had financial difficulties,” said the family’s rabbi Carla Friedman.

While people close to Friedlander told authorities he was acting irrationally in recent weeks, they are still shocked by the violent crime.

"He was always out on the front lawn building forts and always out there playing with them,” said the family’s neighbor Michelle Dienst. “It’s just hard to believe.”
 

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