Ervin Lupoe | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Ervin Antonio LUPOE

Classification: Mass murderer

Characteristics: Murder-suicide - Said in a suicide note that he shot and killed his family before turning the gun on himself because he and his wife were fired by the hospital where they worked

Number of victims: 6

Date of murder: January 26, 2009

Date of birth: ????

Victims profile: His wife Ana Lupoe

and their five children, Brittney, 8, twin girls Jaszmin and Jassely, 5, and twin boys Benjamin and Christian, 2

Method of murder: Shooting

Location: Wilmington

, Los Angeles, California, USA

Status: Committed suicide by shooting himself the next day

photo gallery

Sister of murder-suicide man calls him 'loving'

The last time Yolondo Lupoe saw her brother, he seemed to be enjoying life with his wife and five children. He fired up a barbecue and put an inflatable bouncy house and pinata in the backyard to celebrate his twin boys' second birthday.

By Thomas Watkins - Associated Press Writer

February 3, 2009

Six months later, police say, he shot them all dead at their Wilmington house, then turned the gun on himself.

He and his wife had lost their jobs, were awash in tax debts and didn't know how they would support the family - a sharp contrast to the carefree couple who Lupoe visited in July.

"They were an amazing, happy, tight-knit family, just like their family picture," Lupoe, 37, told The Associated Press on Monday. "They were laughing, constantly smiling."

The image from that sunny day last summer is one she cannot reconcile with the reality in which she now finds herself.

Police say Ervin Lupoe killed his wife Ana, their 8-year-old daughter and two sets of twins, 2-year-old boys and 5-year-old girls, the evening of Jan. 26 before killing himself the following morning.

"Why?" she asked. "Why did any of this have to happen?"

Yolondo Lupoe recalls the children running around, giggling uncontrollably at the birthday party. When one of the two boys seemed overwhelmed, his father picked him up and comforted him.

"I found my brother to be a very compassionate, loving father and very loving toward his family," Yolondo Lupoe said. "He was very protective and loving."

She said her older brother never had any mental problems. She blamed his actions on desperation after learning he and his wife were fired from their jobs as hospital technicians at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.

"They saw no hope," she said. "I can imagine things piling on top of them. Constant no hope."

Before he killed himself, Ervin Lupoe faxed a letter to a local TV station saying he had expressed frustrations with a hospital administrator. The couple had been fired after they lied about their income in order to qualify for cheaper child care, police said.

A few months after the birthday party in Wilmington, Yolondo moved to South Korea, where she teaches English. She flew back into Los Angeles on Thursday after learning of the deaths.

"It's just unbelievable and unthinkable," she said, her voice choking with grief.

Ervin Lupoe and the couple's twin sons will be buried in California, but Yolondo Lupoe declined to say where exactly her brother would be buried.

The body of his wife will be returned to Guatemala along with the bodies of the couple's three daughters. Ana Lupoe was a dual Guatemalan and U.S. citizen.

Two memorial services will be held, one in Spanish on Wednesday, the other in English the following day, relatives said.

Couple in Wilmington murder-suicide fired for alleged fraud

Ervin and Ana Lupoe lost their jobs at Kaiser for allegedly falsifying income records to qualify for a child care program. The couple and their five children were found dead Tuesday.

By Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton

January 29, 2009

The man believed to be responsible for killing his wife, five children and himself in Wilmington had been fired from his hospital job along with his wife for allegedly forging a supervisor's signature on a child care application, according to Kaiser Permanente officials.

Diana Bonta, vice president for public affairs at Kaiser Permanente, said the couple falsified income records so they could qualify for a child care program run by Crystal Stairs, a nonprofit child development agency located near the West Los Angeles medical center where they worked.

"They were terminated because in the healthcare field, records are an important part of the process and people trust us with their health," she said.

Several police sources familiar with the investigation told The Times that Ervin and Ana Lupoe made upward of $40 an hour each in their work as radiological technicians for the hospital. But the couple made it appear that they were earning between $7 and $10 an hour, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

The disparity was discovered when the child care agency called Kaiser to inquire about the couple's income. Bonta would say only that Kaiser launched their investigation in December after being informed of the alleged fraud.

A day after police discovered the bodies of the seven family members at their Wilmington home, police said they were still trying to find out what could have triggered Lupoe to kill.

The couple's financial situation, though pressing in recent months, did not appear to be especially dire. The Lupoes were behind one month in their mortgage, investigators said. They found notices of two bounced checks -- one for about $15,000, the other for almost $2,000 -- to pay for property taxes and penalties, according to the police sources. Investigators said it did not appear they were behind on their credit card payments.

In the last two years, the couple had finished a home remodel that included the master bedroom and bathroom, and purchased new kitchen appliances including an industrial-grade refrigerator, the sources said.

The day before the Tuesday slayings, Lupoe made an 8 a.m. phone call to his brother-in-law, Cesar Ramirez, the police sources said. Lupoe told him he was in the car with his wife and five children and that they were on their way to Garden City, Kansas. Lupoe's tone did not indicate there were any problems, the sources said.

The next day, Ramirez's phone rang at 6:30 a.m. Lupoe was on the other end and asked Ramirez to do several favors for him, including paying his lawyer and putting the family's possessions into storage. Lupoe also asked Ramirez to mail several letters to family members, the sources said.

Then came the words that left Ramirez stunned. Lupoe said, "Your sister and the kids are dead," a source familiar with the case said. Lupoe asked Ramirez to leave the keys to the house in one of the family cars so the police wouldn't break down the door. "Then he said, 'I'm sorry, I had to do it. We love you and I'm next,' " and he hung up, sources said.

Ramirez immediately dialed the emergency operator in Garden City, where he thought the family was headed. Kansas authorities called the Los Angeles Police Department as an emergency call came in from KABC-TV Channel 7 reporting that they had been faxed a copy of Lupoe's two-page suicide letter. It was later learned that the letters Lupoe asked Ramirez to mail were copies of the suicide note, which he intended to send to about a half-dozen family members.

Lupoe served in the Marines for several years after graduating from high school in Northern California. There was nothing in his military record indicating any problems.

After his discharge from the Marines, investigators said he paid his way through the Rio Hondo Community College law enforcement academy in hopes of becoming a police officer. After completing the program, he applied but was rejected from several local police agencies.

He became a security guard before transitioning into a career as an X-ray tech at Kaiser.

Redacted Text: Ervin Antonio Lupoe's Murder-Suicide Note

Deranged man claims wife helped him come up with idea

NBCLosAngeles.com

Wednesday, Jan 28, 2009

Here is a redacted text of the letter sent to KABC-TV by Ervin Lupoe, who is believed to have killed his wife and five children at their home in Wilmington. A redacted copy of the letter was posted on the KABC-TV Web site.

"To whom it may concern:

"To start off about this tragic story, my name is Ervin Lupoe, my wife Ana Lupoe, my eldest daughter Brittney Lupoe-8yrs, my twin daughters Jaszmin, Jassely-5yrs, my twin boys Benjamin, Christian 2yrs 4mo.

"We worked at Kiaser (sic) Permanente West Los Angeles. My wife as a mammo. Tech. damn fine one ask everyone including the physicians. My new position as a Special procedural tech. My position was a fight to get, in fact had to file a grievance with the union for discrimination and HIPPA violations, then another administrator had to correct the DA (redacted) regarding the union procedures, the ADA who did this is, I truly believe is the reason, well not the whole reason, but added kindling to the fire, why we are dead, (redacted).

"Well my wife and I were being investigated for misrepresentation of our employment to an outside agency for the benefit to ourselves's, childcare. When after we had our initial interview on Dec. 19th. It seems our fat with the company had been decided on Dec. 22nd, yet on the 23rd, I was told by my administrator, (redacted) that, `You should not even had bothered to come to work today you should have blown your brains out.' After such admonishment from my administrator, assuming there had been a decision reached, I contacted my union rep. who stated goto HR and inform them of the incident, and to the union reps. knowledge there was no decision made.

"(redacted) the HR person handling our matter stated that there was no decision reached as of yet and that an outside agency was handling the matter. (redacted) stated to me that she had spoken to (redacted) and (redacted) concerning the statement made, but (redacted) completely denied making such a comment. I produced the names of the employees, and (redacted) reached me two days later stating (redacted) thought about the matter and did state (redacted) made the comment. Then (redacted) asked me how I would accept (redacted) apology, but not to answer just yet, think about it a couple days and let (redacted) know. I left the office and two days later my wife and I were terminated. Our administrator also stated that we would not be eligible for unemployment, my wife applied anyway.

"We returned Kiaser (sic) Permanente's property prior to leaving the facility, yet the company could not provide us with our license's so that we may look for other employment. I let the (redacted) of the facility know what was occurring yet she stated there was nothing she could do but refer us the HR or our union rep. We were told by (redacted) that we should have received our license's as they were mailed, yet we did not and when we attempted to reach her concerning the matter and unable to reach her, again we reached the assistant administrator of the facility who again stated the same to contact HR. We stated we have attempter (sic) but there was know response. Then when (redacted) reached us, she stated don't contact (redacted) ... any more concerning any problems.

"So after a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone's else's hands, in addition it seems Kiaser Permanente want's us to kill ourselves and take our family with us. They did nothing to the manager who stated such, and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and 5 children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are.

"Ervin Lupoe

"(Handwritten:) Oh Lord my God is there no hope for a widow's son!"

Unemployed California Dad Who Killed Family, Himself Said Hospital Incited Tragedy

FoxNews.com

January 28, 2009

An unemployed Los Angeles father said in a suicide note that he methodically shot and killed his family before turning the gun on himself because he and his wife were fired by the hospital where they worked after being told "you should have blown your brains out."

But the hospital said it was "confident" that none of its employees told Ervin Lupoe to take his own life or kill his family.

Police are investigating after finding a horrific scene at the Lupoes' home in Wilmington, Calif., on Tuesday morning.

In one upstairs bedroom, the bodies of twin 2-year-old boys were found beside their dead mother. In another bedroom, 5-year-old twin girls and their 8-year-old sister lay next to their lifeless father.

Lupoe and his wife had both recently been fired from their jobs at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.

His letter, faxed to KABC-TV in Los Angeles, indicated that Lupoe and his wife — both 40 — had been investigated for misrepresenting their employment to an outside agency to obtain child care, and claimed that an administrator told the couple on Dec. 23: "You should not even had bothered to come to work today. You should have blown your brains out."

The letter said the couple complained to the hospital's human resources department and eventually were offered an apology, but two days later they were fired.

"They did nothing to the manager who stated such and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are," the note said.

In a statement, the hospital said they were "saddened by the despair in Mr. Lupoe's letter faxed to the media, but we are confident that no one told him to take his own life or the lives of his family."

When asked what the couple was offered an apology for and whether an administrator said what Lupoe alleged, hospital spokesman Anthony Crump told FOXNews.com he could not comment on employee matters.

The Los Angeles Police Department said it's unlikely the medical center would be held legally responsible for telling Lupoe to blow his brains out.

"I don't know how someone's statement could be prosecuted," LAPD Officer Sam Park told FOXNews.com. "It's just like if I told you to go jump off a cliff. I don't think it could be prosecuted legally."

Park said he wasn't aware of any investigation into the hospital or its employees.

Police believe Ervin Lupoe killed his five children and his wife before turning the gun on himself.

"Why leave our children in someone else's hands?" Lupoe wrote in his letter to KABC. The station posted the letter on its Web site with parts redacted.

The station called authorities after receiving the fax and a phone call from Lupoe, and a police dispatch center also received a call from a man who said, "I just returned home and my whole family's been shot." Police are unsure who the male caller was, but they suspect it was the father.

Officers rushed to the home in Wilmington, a small community between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and found the bodies.

All the victims were shot in the head, some multiple times, coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter said. The killings may have occurred between Monday evening and early Tuesday, based on neighbors' accounts of firecracker sounds, he said.

Although the fax — addressed to "whom it may concern" and explaining "why we are dead" — asserted that the wife, Ana Lupoe, planned the killings of the whole family, police Lt. John Romero said Ervin Lupoe was the suspect. A revolver was found next to his body.

It was the fifth mass death of a Southern California family by murder or suicide in a year. Police urged those facing tough economic times to get help rather than resort to violence.

"Today our worst fear was realized," said Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner. "It's just not a solution. There's just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this."

Ervin Lupoe removed three of the children from school about a week and a half ago, saying the family was moving to Kansas, the principal told KCAL-TV. Crescent Heights Elementary School Principal Cherise Pounders-Caver said nothing seemed to be troubling Ervin Lupoe, and she did not ask why the family was moving.

Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles released a statement confirming Lupoe and his wife were fired as medical technicians more than a week ago. The hospital said the firings followed an internal investigation but would not specify why they lost their jobs.

Lupoe's fax identified his children as Brittney, 8; 5-year-old twins Jaszmin and Jassely; and twins Benjamin and Christian, ages 2 years and 4 months. Winter confirmed the identities of the girls, but the boys' names were pending.

To Amanda Garcia, everything seemed normal in the Lupoe house next door. Her neighbors always had a friendly wave and their five young children would play outside.

"They were happy, they had birthday parties," the 22-year-old Garcia said as she choked back tears near her home. "The kids were always outside on bikes, riding on their wagon."

FOXNews.com's Michelle Maskaly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Burden of Debt Weighed on Family in Murder-Suicide

By Rebecca Cathcart - The New York Times

January 28, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Ervin and Ana Lupoe had planned to move closer to family in Kansas to weather the financial storm their lives had fallen into. But a bounced check to the Internal Revenue Service last week may have changed those plans, police detectives said Wednesday, digging the couple deeper into mounting mortgage debt. Instead of building a new life, Mr. Lupoe killed his wife and five children hours before shooting himself in the head on Tuesday morning.

“Things were going on in their life here, but the plan was to move to Kansas,” said Detective David Cortez of the Los Angeles Police Department. “They were discussing that with relatives, loading the truck to drive across country. But something obviously went wrong in the last 24 hours.”

Public records show that the Lupoes had taken out three mortgage loans totaling over $850,000 in 2002, 2005 and 2006. An extensive home remodeling job last year may have added to their financial burden. Detective Cortez said the Lupoes had fallen a month behind in house payments and had found out about the bounced check last weekend. Cecilia Yvar, a neighbor, said the Lupoes seemed upset on Sunday evening. “She was crying,” Ms. Yvar said. “She looked sick. The husband was holding her.”

On Monday afternoon, Ana Lupoe’s brother, Cesar Ramirez, called the couple from Garden City, Kan., to discuss their move. Mr. Lupoe, 40, told Mr. Ramirez that they were “in the car, on their way,” Detective Cortez said. At 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Mr. Ramirez called again to find Mr. Lupoe distraught.

“They’re gone,” Mr. Lupoe told his brother-in-law, according to detectives. “They’re dead,” he said, “I am going to do it myself.”

Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, said the five children and Mrs. Lupoe, 43, were already dead on Tuesday morning. In statements to his brother-in-law, a call to the police and a letter he faxed to a local television station that morning, Mr. Lupoe alternated between saying that he had already killed his family and that they were still alive.

The police were investigating Mr. Lupoe’s mental health history on Wednesday. An officer told detectives that he had encountered Mr. Lupoe and two of his children at a Los Angeles store two years ago, after responding to “a call of a man acting strangely.” Mr. Lupoe was diabetic, the officer said, and had been suffering from low blood sugar. A neighbor told detectives that Mr. Lupoe sometimes had “low glucose” and “acted strangely,” Detective Cortez said.

Ervin Lupoe and Ana Ramirez were married in 1999, Detective Cortez said. Ana, a native of Guatemala, had become an American citizen a decade before. Mr. Lupoe moved to Los Angeles from San Jose, where he was raised by his mother, Carolyn Arndt, a nurse and single parent.

Mrs. Arndt was in shock over the deaths, said Jim Arndt, her brother-in-law. “It hit her so hard. Those are all her grandkids that she has.”

The couple bought their house in Wilmington, just south of Los Angeles, for $290,000 in 2002, soon after the birth of their first daughter. In the years that followed, the couple had two sets of twins and built a second story onto their home.

Public records indicate that Mr. Lupoe had a history of financial troubles. In 1995, he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Los Angeles. Dennis Tibayan, deputy of the bankruptcy court in Los Angeles, could not confirm the amount of Mr. Lupoe’s debts at that time, but said that the filing was discharged in 1996.

In the letter he faxed to KABC-TV, Mr. Lupoe described a tangled workplace dispute at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in West Los Angeles before he and his wife were fired from their jobs as medical technicians there. He said they had been unable to seek other employment because the hospital had not released their medical licenses.

On Dec. 23, he wrote, a hospital administrator told him to leave work and said, “you should have blown your brains out.”

Kaiser Permanente officials said Tuesday in a statement that they were “saddened by the despair in Mr. Lupoe’s letter faxed to the media,” but that they were “confident that no one told him to take his own life or the lives of his family.”

On Wednesday, neighbors gathered to cry and pray beside a makeshift memorial outside the family’s home. Clemencia Ortega, a real estate agent in Wilmington, said the killings had touched many there who are going through hard times financially. “In Wilmington, a lot of people don’t have jobs and they need help,” she said. “It’s so sad.”

Los Angeles man kills his 5 children, wife, self

Police find the family shot to death at their home in the Wilmington neighborhood. The couple had recently been fired from a Kaiser hospital after a misconduct probe, sources say.

By Richard Winton, Andrew Blankstein and Ari B. Bloomekatz

January 28, 2009

Watching his family's new, two-story home being built in 2001, Ervin Antonio Lupoe appeared to be riding a wave of hope and excitement. He dropped by each week to check the progress, one construction worker recalled.

But in what authorities believe was a gruesome burst of anger after he and his wife lost their jobs, the burly 40-year-old X-ray technician turned that same Wilmington home into a family tomb, officials said Tuesday.

Armed with a handgun, Lupoe evidently roamed room to room starting as early as Monday evening, fatally shooting his wife and five young children -- including two sets of twins.

Early Tuesday, Lupoe faxed a bitter, rambling two-page letter to a local television station blaming his employer for his actions. Though his wife and children were already dead, he also called the station threatening to kill his family, investigators believe. He followed this up with an incongruous call to police saying that he had returned home and that "my whole family has been shot."

Before police and firefighters arrived, he turned the weapon on himself, authorities believe.

Amid record job losses and economic distress for millions of families, the killings struck a chord.

"This was a financial- and job-related issue that led to the slayings," said Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Kenneth Garner. "It's a grisly scene."

But evidence was emerging Tuesday evening that the couple had been fired after an investigation into misconduct and had not been laid off as part of cost-cutting.

Kaiser Permanente confirmed in a statement that Lupoe and his wife, Ana, were recently terminated from employment at the health network's West Los Angeles Medical Center. Hospital officials declined to provide details, saying only that they were cooperating with investigators and "deeply saddened' by the deaths.

The letter received at KABC-TV shortly after 8 a.m. said Lupoe and his wife had made a suicide pact. It referred to an investigation into employment misrepresentation in connection with a child care issue. (The probe involved allegations of fraud, according to sources familiar with the inquiry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry was ongoing.)

"So after a horrendous ordeal," the letter said, "my wife felt it better to end our lives, and why leave our children in someone's else's hands. . . ."

The letter claimed that a Kaiser supervisor suggested Lupoe shoot himself, an allegation that Kaiser denies. The letter also said the hospital did nothing to help the family, "knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years with no place to go."

"Oh lord, my God," the letter concluded, "is there no hope for a widow's son?"

The portrait of Lupoe remained sketchy. His 83-year-old grandmother, Josephine Lupoe, who sobbed as she learned of her grandson's death, said he was largely consumed by work.

"Every time I called him, he was at work," she said. "He worked all the time."

Lupoe had been at the West Los Angeles hospital about 10 years, and Tuesday's events shocked co-workers, said emergency services employee Vic Tuvera, 58.

"We saw him happy," Tuvera said. "I knew him as a good person and a good worker."

Ana Lupoe, a medical technician, was remembered as "a sweet lady. Always smiling with everybody," said Hamlet Narvaez, 40, a Kaiser transportation worker. She was "always talking about the kids," he said.

The family's crisis apparently began coming to a head about two weeks ago, when the couple were let go. About the same time, Lupoe showed up to check the three older children out of Crescent Heights Elementary School, not far from the hospital.

The father said the family was moving to Kansas, recalled Principal Cherise Pounders-Caver. She said she had gotten to know the family well since becoming principal three years ago and had no indications of problems.

They were "very caring about the education of their children" and joined in a December program at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood against community violence.

Police said Lupoe was found in an upstairs room with the three girls: 8-year-old Brittney and twin 5-year-olds Jaszmin and Jasseley. A revolver was by the father's side, and a suicide note was found nearby, police said. The twin 2-year-old boys, Benjamin and Christian, along with their mother, were found in a nearby bedroom.

Investigators strongly suspect the case was a murder-suicide. But they said they would continue reviewing physical evidence to rule out other possibilities.

Lupoe was born in Georgia and later lived in the Bay Area's Santa Clara County, where he went to high school, records and interviews show. The couple more recently lived in Los Angeles, where court records show he sought a restraining order after a confrontation with a neighbor.

His grandmother, who lives in Atlanta, said she hadn't seen Lupoe in recent years. "The last conversation we had was he called me to let me know that his wife was -- they were expecting boys, twins, real soon," she said.

"He was excited. We all were excited because -- having two sets of twins!

"I do know he loved children because he said so."

Tuesday killings come three months after a murder-suicide in Chatsworth. Karthik Rajaram of Porter Ranch fatally shot his wife, mother-in-law and three sons, before taking his own life. Authorities said Rajaram was distraught after seeing his finances wiped out by the stock market plunge.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday noted the "perils and dangers" of the economic crisis.

"Whatever was the cause of the desperation that triggered this violence, there's help out there," he said. "There's nothing, no option so horrible that can make you do something as horrific as this."

Ervin Antonio Lupoe Kills Wife, 5 Kids, Himself After Being Fired

By Thomas Watkins - HuffingtonPost.com

January 27, 2009

LOS ANGELES — A man fatally shot his wife, five young children and himself Tuesday after he faxed a note to a TV station claiming the couple had just been fired from their hospital jobs and together planned the killings as an escape for the whole family. "Why leave our children in someone else's hands," Ervin Lupoe wrote in a letter posted late Tuesday on the KABC-TV Web site.

The station called police after receiving the fax, and a police dispatch center also received a call from a man who stated, "I just returned home and my whole family's been shot."

Officers rushed to the home in Wilmington, a small community between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, about 8:30 a.m., apparently within minutes of the killings. Officers could still smell the gunshot residue in the air.

Although the fax asserted that Ana Lupoe planning the killings of the whole family, police Lt. John Romero said Ervin Lupoe was the suspect. A revolver was found next to his body.

Ana Lupoe's body was found in an upstairs bedroom with the bodies of the couple's twin 2-year-old boys. The bodies of an 8-year-old girl and twin 5-year-old girls were found alongside Ervin Lupoe's in another bedroom.

All were shot in the head, coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter said.

It was the fifth mass death of a Southern California family by murder or suicide in a year. Police urged those facing tough economic times to get help rather than resort to violence.

"Today our worst fear was realized," said Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner. "It's just not a solution. There's just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this."

Ervin Lupoe removed three of the children from school about a week and a half ago, saying the family was moving to Kansas, the principal told KCAL-TV. Crescent Heights Elementary School Principal Cherise Pounders-Caver said nothing seemed to be troubling Lupoe at that time; she did not ask why the family was moving.

Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles released a statement confirming both Lupoe and his wife had worked there; both were medical technicians.

"We are deeply saddened to hear of the deaths of the Lupoe family," it said in a statement.

In his letter, Ervin Lupoe claimed he and his wife both had been fired and that she suggested they kill themselves and their children, too. Police described the fax but did not release details.

The letter indicated that Lupoe and his wife had been under investigation for misrepresenting their employment to an outside agency in order to obtain childcare. He claimed that an administrator told the couple on Dec. 23: "You should not even had bothered to come to work today you should have blown your brains out."

The couple complained to the human resources department and eventually were offered an apology but two days later the Lupoes were fired, according to the letter.

At the bottom of the note, Lupoe wrote, "Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?"

The Kaiser Permanente statement made no comment on the claims in Lupoe's fax.

"It looks like they might have had grounds for his termination ... it wasn't that he was laid off as a result of the economic situation," police Capt. Billy Hayes said.

Lupoe's fax identified his children as Brittney, 8; 5-year-old twins Jaszmin and Jassely; and twins Benjamin and Christian, ages 2 years and 4 months.

Winter said the children were ages 2 to 8 but his agency would not release the names. He said that although the father's family had been notified, relatives of the rest of the family had not been located.

The two-story home, much larger than its one-story neighbors, sits in front of a railroad track in Wilmington, a small community about 18 miles south of downtown. A children's playset stood in the backyard.

On his Facebook page, Lupoe posted photographs of a daughter at karate class, and of a fancy tub and wash basins in an apparently remodeled bathroom.

Retired truck driver Jaime Solache, who lives a few doors down, said many of these newer, larger homes in the neighborhood had gone into foreclosure. The Lupoe house, which has a sign hanging above the driveway reading "The Lupoe's Pad," is about 6 years old, Solache said.

News of the killings sent shivers through the community, and several neighbors came to the yellow police tape to watch a steady procession of officials enter and leave the home.

"This area right here is quiet, calm," said Armando Chacon, who lives one block north. "People like to sit out at weekends and barbecue. Other than this, no problems at all."

In 1994, Lupoe was charged with carrying a concealed firearm but it was either dismissed or not prosecuted, court documents show.

Lupoe got a state license to work as a security guard in 1989 and a permit to carry a gun as a security guard in 1993 but both expired in 2007, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.

Bob Pierce, a Long Beach attorney who represented the Lupoes in an auto accident, said the case did not involve any serious injuries and the family was expected to receive "well below $10,000," he said.

Lupoe called Monday to find out when the money might be coming, Pierce said. Pierce told him that it might be another week or two "and he said 'no problem.'"

The region has been shook by several recent mass murders.

On Dec. 24, a man dressed up as Santa Claus invaded a Christmas Eve party and killed his ex-wife and eight of her relatives. The man later killed himself.

In October, an unemployed financial manager despairing over extreme money problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and himself in their home in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley.

In June, five members of a Turkish-American family, clad in black, were found dead in an upscale home in San Clemente. Investigators say it was apparently a suicide pact but the reason is a mystery.