A family of five, including two children, was found dead in a southeast Orlando home Tuesday in what the Orlando Police Department called an apparent murder-suicide that left neighbors in a state of shock. of shock that one described as “sickly sadness”.
The agency said investigators went to the home on Lake District Lane, near Lake Nona, around 1 p.m. to conduct a welfare check. Inside, they found the bodies of five people. The discovery prompted a massive police response in the neighborhood.
OPD spokeswoman Andrea Otero in a written statement did not identify the dead or give their ages, saying their next of kin have yet to be notified.
The brief OPD statement sent to the media around 4:40 p.m. did not say how they died or what led to the killings. The agency had not provided any additional updates as of 8 p.m. and said it did not expect to provide any Tuesday night.
Justin Rossilini said he lives across the street from the two-story beige house and hasn’t heard anything alarming in recent nights.
“I’ve had the last two days off. We’ve been at home. I didn’t feel anything,” he told reporters. “I have a feeling it happened Sunday night.”
Rossilini said he saw a police officer looking out the window of a car outside the house around 11:30 a.m. Later in the afternoon, he said there were about 35 vehicles on the street where he lives.
He said the family, who moved in “about two months ago,” had a 22-year-old son, whom he had seen about five days ago when he got the mail, as well as two girls, ages 6 and 7.
“They looked normal,” he said.
Lauren Ruiz, 20, grew up in the neighborhood. He went out to the scene to get closure and more information about what happened.
“When I heard what happened I was shocked, panicked and somewhat confused,” he said. “I was hoping they were wrong. That kind of thing never happens here.”
Orange County Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero came forward after hearing news of her son’s friends playing sand volleyball nearby, as well as calls from residents who thought there might be a shooter in freedom
“It’s important for leaders to come out and start to understand that there is something going on with the mental health of the community … We don’t want this to happen again,” he said.
Heather Collins, 46, lives nearby and said she knows the family moved in a couple of months ago.
“I have this sickening sadness,” he said. “It’s a nightmare to end up like that, especially with the kids.”
There have been several murder-suicides in Central Florida in recent months.
In April, a family friend shot and killed two people before killing himself at an unincorporated home in Winter Park, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. The victims were identified as James Calhoun, 42, and Emma Cain, 49, and the killer as Shane Shearer, 48.
In June, police say Carlos Manuel Soto shot and killed his wife, Zuleika Del Carmen López Avila, their mother Mileida Carmen López Avila and their 15-year-old son, Víctor Araujo López, before killing himself.
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Zuleika López Avila had called law enforcement six days earlier, expressing fear that her husband had a gun in their home. Officers went to the family’s apartment but said they found no evidence of physical violence and said she denied being threatened, so no action was taken.
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Another suspected murder-suicide took place later that month at The Fountains Resort on International Drive, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said. The shooter and victim were not publicly identified at the time, and the agency described the death only as the result of a “domestic incident.”
Tuesday’s chilling discovery also brings to mind one of Central Florida’s most notorious recent homicide cases: the Todt family murders, in which Anthony Todt killed his wife and three children in Celebration.
Authorities found Todt living with the decomposing bodies of Megan Todt, 42, and the couple’s children, Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4, on Jan. 13 2020, while serving a federal health warrant for his arrest. welfare fraud charges related to his Connecticut physical therapy business.
Megan Todt and her three children had been dead for “at least a couple of weeks” before they were found, according to a medical examiner. Todt, who told jurors he tried to kill himself and failed in several ways, was convicted of first-degree murder in April.
arabines@orlandosentinel.com
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Maribel Gomez Cordero. She is an Orange County Commissioner.
