FLUSHING — A Queens man who cut the throats of his wife and son and then killed himself by setting the family apartment ablaze early Tuesday left a suicide note detailing his money problems, sources told DNAnfo New York.
Detectives discovered the rambling note in the sixth floor apartment living room where the three bodies of a man, his wife and son were found stacked one on top of the other at the Blair House at 143-40 Roosevelt Ave., near Parsons Boulevard, sources said.
The grim discovery initially had investigators scurrying to find a surviving son who has last seen leaving the apartment with a friend before the fire was set. The family's car was also missing.
But as the investigation progressed, the medical examiner told the NYPD that the wife and the son had their throats slashed, but the father was not cut.
And then late Tuesday, detectives recovered the hand-written note, which described the financial woes.
The note lead the NYPD investigators to believe the father killed his wife and son, and then set the apartment on fire as he laid himself on top of them in a grim funeral pyre.
Their bodies were found by firefighters called to the building at 4:50 a.m., officials said.
"It's a tragedy," a family friend said.
The blaze was contained to the living room, said the NYPD's Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce during a press conference at the scene.
"[Firefighters] put out the fire and observed the bodies on the floor in the living room as you walk into the apartment," Boyce said.
Neighbors recalled hearing strange noises during the night.
"I heard some banging. It sounded like glass breaking," said neighbor Lo Lee, who lives across the hall.
Lee also passed by the scene on his way out of the building and said, "Blood was all over."
A family friend visited the family's home later Tuesday morning.
"They were a very nice family," she said.
Fire marshals were trying to determine what started the fire, the FDNY said.
Three of the 60 firefighters who responded to the blaze were also treated for minor injuries at New York Hospital Queens, an FDNY spokesman said.
With Aidan Gardiner.
