Suspicious details in deaths of N.Y. family found in home fire spur homicide investigation

Police in upstate New York said Monday that the deaths of a family of four found in a weekend house fire are being investigated as homicides after authorities observed non-burn-related injuries on the victims.

Irondequoit Police Chief Scott Peters said two adult parents and two toddlers were found inside the basement of the charred home when authorities responded to the blaze Saturday around 5:30 a.m.

Authorities identified the victims as Fraime Ubaldo, 30; Marangely Moreno-Santiago, 26; Evangeline Ubaldo-Moreno, 4, and two-year-old Sebastian Ubaldo-Moreno.

Chief Peters reiterated his earlier stance that the quadruple slaying was not a “random act” and suggested the Ubaldo-Moreno family was targeted.

“Just looking at the condition of the bodies, you can tell that these were not wounds consistent with — they didn’t have damage to them consistent with being in a fire,” the chief said Monday.

Chief Peters said police are still awaiting word from the medical examiner to determine a cause of death for the victims.

No suspects or persons of interest have been shared by authorities. He also refused to say whether the house fire was started to throw investigators off the trail of a suspect or suspects.

Fire Chief Shane Metcalf said officials are still trying to figure out how the home went up in flames.

Chief Metcalf said crew members first searched the burning home’s bedrooms for the victims.

Firefighters found multiple active fires throughout the home, but didn’t find the four victims until they checked out the basement.

“At that point, obviously, with the suspicious nature of what they had encountered, all the fire department personnel [got] out and then turned the incident over to the police department,” Chief Metcalf said.

Chief Peters said the family purchased the home in the last two or three years and had not made calls to the police.

The neighborhood itself is also relatively quiet in terms of law enforcement activity, the chief said.

“It was a horrific scene,” Chief Peters said. “In almost 32 years of doing this job, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Irondequoit is a suburb of Rochester, New York.