The Lodhi family lived in rural Goshen in Orange County for about a year and a half. They moved out in August, but people there still remember them fondly. And tonight, they mourn.
"Right now, we're just trying to digest this," said John Blaine, a former neighbor.
Neighbors John Blaine had nothing but good things to say about Abbas Lodhi and his wife Sarwat, whom friends called Mona, and their two kids, ages 13 and 9.
They played basketball and excelled at school, but police say they were murdered by their own father.
"I don't know what to tell you. Sometimes it's just not fair I guess," Blaine said.
The last piece of the grisly family tragedy fell into place Friday night, as police finished processing the scene in Wappingers Falls where they say Lodhi dumped his wife's body. She was found in some brush just off Route 376. They'd been looking for Mona for a day and had been hoping to find her alive.
"I think it's heartbreaking what's happened to this family and I think that we're all touched by it. We all have our own families," said Captain John Ryan, New York State Police.
On Thursday morning, an Eyewitness found the bodies of Lodhi and his 9-year-old son Zain in a car at a supermarket parking lot in Pleasant Valley.
Police later found the boy's older brother Mujtabah at the family's townhouse nearby.
Investigators say the father murdered his entire family before killing himself.
The search for answers led to Lodhi's Pharmacy in Hyde Park, which he closed just a few weeks ago.
Regular customers say he spoke of money trouble and family turmoil.
"He said he was getting tired of it. That he was having money problems. And that was one of the reasons he wanted to get out of here," a customer said.
"The only thing that I knew for a fact was that his dad passed away like three months ago, and couple weeks after that he told me just didn't care about the business," another customer said.
Police have not said if they've come up with a motive behind this murder suicide. In fact, they may never find out why.
The Arlington Central School District, where the boys were enrolled, said it was providing grief counseling for schoolmates and staff.
(Some information from the Associated Press)
