Maria Claudia Lutz and children Elisa and Martin were gassed in suspected murder suicide. Photo / Facebook
Maria Claudia Lutz and children Elisa and Martin were gassed in suspected murder suicide. Photo / Facebook
The parents of little Elisa, 11, erected a fence around their northern beaches home after she escaped earlier this year, it has been revealed.
She was gone for five hours before anyone found her. On Monday, Elisa, her brother Martin, 10, and her mother and father Maria Claudia Lutz, 43, and Fernando Manrique, 44, were all found dead.
Their bodies were discovered inside their Davidson home, north of Sydney. Police suspect the family, originally from Colombia, was poisoned in a murder-suicide after gas canisters were found around the home.
Elisa pictured with her father Fernando Manrique, who is believed to have killed his family. Photo / Facebook
A friend of the family, who did not wish to be named, told Bogota-based The City Paper, the escape added pressure on the family who wanted to return to Colombia but couldn't because "the children could not travel due to their health issues".
Police were yesterday dismantling the sinister network of hidden pipes used by Manrique to gas his family.
Detectives are investigating the source of the poison found in gas canisters as family members in their home city of Bogota, Colombia, revealed the couple was on the verge of divorce.
Lutz was last seen on Friday after picking the children before having a coffee with other mothers.
Elisa and Martin. Photo / Facebook
BOC gas employees yesterday inspected the property which was rigged throughout the roof to deliver the deadly fumes in what a police source described as an "extensive, elaborate and well planned" operation.
Police are leaning towards the fact that the Drake Business Logistics company executive acted alone but have not been able to rule out the possibility of a murder-suicide pact with his wife.
"We may never know whether she knew what was happening, we just don't know," a source said.
Police are also investigating "domestic tension" between the couple as relatives' tributes on Facebook pointedly made no mention of Manrique.
A source close to Lutz, who wished to remain anonymous, has told The City Paperthat the relationship between the couple was "at times very tense due to the stress of bringing-up the children".
The source said Manrique had "become very distant" and that his wife felt "very alone" but they could not confirm that she was filing for divorce and custody of the children.
Computers were seized from the house to see if Manrique had been researching the gassing and for any hint Lutz knew about it.
Maria Claudia Lutz and children Elisa and Martin were gassed in suspected murder suicide. Photo / Facebook
LOVING MOTHER A FIGHTER TO THE END
It was her fight that won Maria Lutz the most admiration; a selfless, dogged determination to give some level of normalcy to her two severely autistic children.
That much was abundantly clear yesterday as friends and relatives of the devoted 43-year-old mother honoured her with tributes and praise.
As the Colombian Consulate makes arrangements to fly relatives to Sydney to identify the bodies of Fernando Manrique, his wife Maria and their two children, Maria's grief-stricken sister Ana Lutz took to Facebook to pen her despair, writing: "No one can say anything different than you being a warrior, always fighting for everyone!
"My cute doll ... One more angel in heaven, an angel given to their children, life!!"
The deaths of the couple and their children Elisa and Martin, have left family and friends reeling.
Maria's sister described her as a 'warrior, always fighting for everyone'. She is pictured here with son Martin. Photo / Facebook
Maria had previously told of the sleepless nights and battles she endured raising two children who both struggled with non-verbal autism, but frequently told friends they were "my life".
The couple, who left Bogota for Australia and have no immediate family in the country, arrived in Davidson in northern Sydney in 2005.
Close friend Peta Rostirola described Maria as "selfless" in the battles she fought raising autistic children: "You faced life head on with all the challenges it threw."
Maria campaigned tirelessly for children with autism and often volunteered at St Lucy's school's fundraisers.
St Lucy's principal Warren Hopley honoured the woman who "touched the lives of so many". "We are all struggling to come to grips with this profound tragedy," he wrote.
"Elisa, Martin and Maria have been such a source of inspiration for us all at St Lucy's over the years.
"I have been bombarded with expressions of support and love. Maria touched so many people's lives."
