A mother killed her 2-year-old son, husband and mother-in-law before taking her own life inside the family’s Woodbridge, Virginia, home on Saturday, according to police.
Prince William County police arrived to the home in the 3400 block of Vale Court around 8 a.m. Saturday where they found the family of four stabbed to death in an apparent murder-suicide.
According to a release from police Monday, 35-year-old Ziyi Lu is believed to have attacked her family. Lu allegedly stabbed her mother-in-law, Kegang Xie, 69, and her husband, Danxiong Gao, 40.
An autopsy confirmed Lu, and the three other family members, died from “knife-related injuries.”
The couple’s 2-year-old son was also killed. The child won’t be publicly named because of his age, police said.
The grandfather of the 2-year-old discovered the family Saturday morning after the attack had unfolded, police said.
Col. Peter Newsham, Prince William County’s police chief, called the murder-suicide “the worst possible nightmare.”
“We don’t know the exact cause or the motive in this case, but just to see a family destroyed like this is horrific,” Newsham said Saturday.
Police said the weapon that was used in the stabbing was recovered.
WTOP’s Jimmy Alexander contributed to this story.
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