The man who killed his children and wife before shooting himself sent two letters to a family member and left another in his law office just before the massacre, according to state police.
The letters by Sam Friedlander revealed his suicide was planned, but didn't indicate he planned to kill his wife and two children, investigators told The Journal News Thursday.
Friedlander, a 50-year-old lawyer, shot 8-year-old Gregory and 10-year-old Molly in their torsos last week as they laid in their beds, and beat his 46-year-old wife, Amy, to death in their bedroom. He then turned the shotgun on himself in the basement of their Westchester home.
The couple were in the middle of a divorce, and due in court two days later.
After the massacre, police found a handwritten, undated letter in Friedlander's law office, where he worked alone, according to The Journal News. It was addressed to no one in particular, but identified a family member in Massachusetts who should receive his things.
That same family member received two mailed letters from Friedlander a day or so after the killings, the newspaper reported.
Investigators also told the paper that Friedlander bludgeoned his wife with a wooden rolling pin, initially mistaken by police for a broken-off furniture leg because it was covered in blood.
They also said he was taking several medications to treat depression, anxiety, insomnia and high blood pressure. Friedlander had been taking several of those drugs for at least a decade, and there was no indication he had recently begun or stopped taking any of the prescription drugs.
State police said Monday Friedlander legally bought the gun he used to kill his children and himself six months ago, at a sporting goods store in Yonkers.
