An online stock trader, his wife and their two small children were found dead from carbon-monoxide poisoning in the bedroom of their Manhattan apartment yesterday in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.
The husband, Fred Wang, 42, had been despondent over a business deal gone bad, police said.
Six silver-colored bowls of charcoal had been lit to emit the toxic fumes and a blanket had been draped over the door to prevent draft, police said.
Window curtains had been drawn in the family’s second-floor apartment in the Morningside Gardens housing complex on West 123rd Street.
Wang, a Columbia University business graduate, was found lying on the floor.
His wife, Christine, 42, was found huddled on the bed with their children, Dennis, 8, and Serena, 6.
A close friend who asked not to be named, said the Taiwan-born Wang had been despondent recently over a financial matters.
Cops said he had Express Mailed a letter to a relative in Taiwan detailing his intention to kill himself and his family.
The concerned friend then contacted a female cousin in New Jersey.
The cousin was let into the apartment by a grandmother who lived with the family, police said.
“The grandmother was not aware of what happened,” the source said.
The cousin and the grandmother could not open the locked bedroom door and called police.
Firefighters arrived at the scene first and broke down the door and discovered the grisly scene.
There was no suicide note found in the apartment.
Police said the grandmother may have been living with the bodies in the next room for three days.
She was not harmed by the fumes, but she was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, where she was being treated for other health problems.
“I knew them very well. It’s surprising. My kids and his kids went to St. Hilda’s Episcopalian school together,” said the close friend.
“He was doing well financially – but then something went wrong.”
He said the family had been living in a larger apartment on the 14th floor in the same building, but recently moved to one more affordable on the second floor.
The FDNY, which tested for carbon monoxide, said the levels were eight times higher than the average reading.