Harrison sisters killed by father in murder-suicide buried Friday

Joe Torres Image
Friday, February 27, 2015
Funeral held for two teen girls killed by father
N.J. Burkett reports from Harrison.

HARRISON, N.Y. (WABC) -- A Westchester County community gathered Friday to bid a final farewell to two young sisters who were shot and killed by their father, a retired cop.

Alissa Hochman, 18, and her sister, 13-year-old Deanna, were murdered Saturday by dad Glen Hochman, who then turned the gun on himself after leaving an undisclosed six-page suicide note inside their Harrison home.

Glen Hochman's wife and eldest daughter were out of town at the time of the murders. Residents are still struggling to comprehend the horrific crime.

The girls were remembered for their smiles.

Emil Giliotti said Friday that his great nieces "were touched by God."

Firefighters and other first responders lined the crowded the street outside St. Gregory the Great Church, and bells chimed as the teens' mother and older sister arrived in a motorcade led by an ambulance.

They were so wracked with grief they could barely speak, and mourners stepped out into the cold to console them. It was left to others to read the eulogies they'd written.

"I'm sorry, Deanna, that you left this world so young," her mother wrote. "You didn't deserve that. My heart is forever broken that you and Alissa are not with us anymore. I promise you that one day I will laugh again, remembering you."

"This tragedy has broken me, and I'll never be the same," Samantha Hochman wrote "I'll stay strong for mom and remind her every day that we have two of the most beautiful angels watching over us."

Alissa volunteered with the Harrison ambulance corps and was a senior at Harrison High School, while Deanna attended the Windward School in White Plains.

It's unclear when or where Glen Hochman will be buried.