Custody Battle Led Astoria Dad To Triple Murder-Suicide: NYPD

ASTORIA, QUEENS -- A 39-year-old man is believed to have killed his wife, ex-wife and 6-year-old son before taking his own life in a triple murder-suicide in Queens over what appeared to be a nasty custody battle, police said Tuesday.

Police identified James Shields Jr. as the suspect behind the tragic shooting that unfolded Monday night inside a first-floor apartment in Astoria. A housekeeper for the eight-unit building on 30th Drive near 23rd Street called 911 after spotting the bloody aftermath from the backyard just before 9 p.m.

The two dead woman - identified as Shields' 47-year-old ex-wife and 38-year-old current wife - and his six-year-old son, identified as James Giacomo Shields, were found shot dead inside the apartment, police said.

Shields' was later found in the building's backyard with a gunshot to his lower chin and two fully loaded glock pistols nearby, police said. Initial reports indicated his throat appeared to have been slashed, but NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told reporters Tuesday that was likely just blood from the gunshot.

"There was no throat slashed to my understanding," he said.

Shields also had seven magazines with about 70 rounds of ammo on him in addition to the fully loaded guns, police said.

"What those rounds were meant for, or in case of, may never be known," Shea said.

Police suspect the shooting stems from a bitter custody battle between Shields and his ex-wife, identified as Linda Olthof. Shields created a GoFundMe page titled, "Child Kidnapping" in April to rant about the dispute, claiming his ex-wife, who had custody of their son, was raising him in the Netherlands and would only bring him to the U.S. twice a year.

"There's some self-reported statements that his life was spiraling out of control," Shea said in reference to the GoFundMe post, which was removed from the site Tuesday afternoon.

"Financial and custody seem to be the primary reasons behind this tragic incident."

Police believe Olthof last brought their son to visit Shields in the U.S. on July 21. A friend who flew in to join her a few days later grew worried when he couldn't get reach Olthof and called her sister in the Netherlands, who "Googled New York" and saw the Astoria slayings, Shea said.

"(She) believed when she saw those stories that something had befallen her sister," he said.

The identity of Shields' current wife is still being withheld while police try to track down her family.

Shea said a neighbor called police to report a domestic dispute in the apartment in December, but the man had left by the time police arrived and a woman who answered the door refused to give them any information.

"It was the first time a call was made but not the first time (neighbors) heard fighting," Shea said.

Lead photo courtesy of @kylenbutton/Twitter