Azalea Rivas, 37, is found dead next to daughter (14) and family dog after ‘murder-suicide’ in mother’s Brooklyn apartment
- Police said the horrific deaths of a mother, her daughter and their dog could be a murder-suicide
- The three bodies were found in the mother’s apartment in Brooklyn
- A neighbor heard what he described as someone being murdered on Friday and the family was found dead on Monday
Police suspect a murder-suicide was the cause of death of a mother, her 14-year-old daughter and their dog, who were all found dead in their Brooklyn apartment.
Azalea Rivas, 37, was found dead next to her 14-year-old daughter and the family dog by Rivas’ boyfriend at 4:30 PM on Monday, according to the New York Post.
The concerned friend broke down the door to discover a gruesome scene and called police, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Police are now calling the disturbing incident a murder-suicide after previously claiming they were investigating the scene as part of a brutal domestic dispute.
It is unclear which of the two victims they believe is the killer.
Rivas was found with a bloody cut on her face as she lay dead on her back in the living room.
A mother was found dead Monday next to her 14-year-old daughter and their dog in a Brooklyn apartment
Police now say the gruesome deaths could be the result of a murder-suicide
A neighbor had called the police on Friday after hearing an alarming noise from upstairs, but police left after knocking several times and getting no response.
Her teenage daughter was found face down with trauma to her head.
Their dog was discovered next to them with a bag over his head.
Sources say Rivas’ friend has been questioned by police but is not considered a suspect.
Officers had been called to the New York Avenue apartment several times in recent weeks.
A downstairs neighbor of the mother and daughter called the police on Friday after he heard an alarming noise coming from upstairs.
Neighbor Steve Schor said, “I mean, when I called 911, I literally said it sounded like someone was being murdered.”
Schor said, “I’ve never heard anyone killed, except in the movies. But I can only imagine it would sound like that.”
Police who arrived at the apartment on Friday left after no one answered the door.
The mother was identified as 37-year-old Azalea Rivas. She was found with a brutal cut on her face.
Azalea’s teenage daughter was found dead with trauma to her head and their dog was discovered with a bag over his head
According to a report from The Daily News, a downstairs neighbor was startled awake around 7:20 a.m. Friday by the sound of blood-curdling screams and a whining dog.
“We woke up to loud banging and screaming,” 38-year-old Steve Schor told the newspaper Monday as police remained stationed outside the building near Avenue D in East Flatbush.
“We called 911 and the police came. When they went upstairs, no one answered. All they heard was loud music,” he added, revealing that the woman and girl had only been living in the apartment building for a few weeks.
“After the banging we heard the dog howling and whining and then it just stopped,” Schor said, before suggesting another person was responsible for the killings.
“What I heard was quite grotesque,” Schor added. ‘We clearly heard that people were being murdered.
The scene they discovered on Monday was described by a police source as particularly gruesome and bloody.
Police are awaiting final autopsy results but are considering the possibility that this grim incident was a murder-suicide.