Infant girl is found unharmed in upstate New York cottage where her mother and grandmother were fatally gunned down in double homicide
- Clarkstown Police Department responded to the residence near the rear of 104 Lake Rd, Valley Cottage, at around 7.10am on Tuesday
- They found the two women – 63-year-old Wanda Castor and her daughter, Kathleen Castor, 27, both of Valley Cottage – dead with gunshot wounds
- The infant girl was found inside the residence with no visible injuries
- She has been identified as being Kathleen’s daughter and has been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services
- Detectives spoke with a person of interest on Tuesday and are investigating the homicides
Police in upstate New York discovered an infant girl in a cottage where the baby’s mother and grandmother were both killed in a double homicide.
The Clarkstown Police Department responded to the residence near the rear of 104 Lake Rd, Valley Cottage, at around 7.10am on Tuesday.
There, they found the two women – identified as 63-year-old Wanda Castor and her daughter, Kathleen Castor, 27, both of Valley Cottage – dead with gunshot wounds.
The infant girl was found inside the residence with no visible injuries, authorities shared in a press release. She was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
The Clarkstown Police Department found the infant girl alive at the Valley Cottage home while the two women – identified as 63-year-old Wanda Castor and her daughter, Kathleen Castor, 27, both of Valley Cottage – were found dead with gunshot wounds
She has been identified as being Kathleen’s daughter and has been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.
‘This area in Valley Cottage is normally a very, very quiet area,’ Clarkstown Police Department Chief Ray McCullagh said during Tuesday press conference. ‘We rarely, rarely respond to calls there. This is very out of the ordinary for that location.’
The sentiment was echoed by Town of Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann, who added: This is not typical for a suburban community like Clarkstown.
Detectives spoke with a person of interest on Tuesday and are investigating the homicides
The cottage on 104 Lake Rd where the two bodies and the infant were found
Detectives spoke with a person of interest on Tuesday and are investigating the homicides.
During the press conference, McCullagh shared that a vehicle had been missing from the scene. It had since been found and is being processed.
Police shared that they believed the killings were part of an isolated incident and said that the public was not in danger.
The cottage was on a huge parcel of land that included other cottages and is near a local nursing home, but authorities assert the facility has nothing to do with the case.
‘This area in Valley Cottage is normally a very, very quiet area,’ Clarkstown Police Department Chief Ray McCullagh said during Tuesday press conference. ‘We rarely, rarely respond to calls there. This is very out of the ordinary for that location’