Police said four children and two adults were found dead inside a Harris Avenue apartment.
MECHANICVILLE, NY — Six people were found dead Tuesday evening inside a Harris Avenue apartment after officers were called for a welfare check, Mechanicville police said, launching a local and state investigation into one of the city’s most serious death cases in years.
The dead included four children and two adults, police said Wednesday. Their names were not released while authorities worked to notify family members. Police had not announced a cause or manner of death, and officials said the case remained under investigation with help from New York State Police and the medical examiner process.
Officers responded around 6:20 p.m. Tuesday to the apartment near Harris Avenue after a request to check on the people who lived there. The apartment is part of the John S. Moore Homes complex, a public housing property on the south side of Mechanicville. A neighbor told a local television station that the welfare check was requested because no one at the home had been heard from since June 9. Police said there was no known threat to the public after the bodies were found.
Investigators remained at the scene late Tuesday and returned Wednesday morning. Evidence technicians, New York State Police and the coroner’s office were seen processing the apartment as officers blocked off the area. Police had not said whether anyone was in custody, whether weapons were found or how long the six people had been dead before officers entered the home. “The cause and manner of death remain under investigation and will be determined through the appropriate investigative and medical examiner process,” police said in a written statement.
The discovery shook Mechanicville, a small Saratoga County city north of Albany where neighbors described the scene as quiet before police arrived. Authorities confirmed that children lived in the apartment, and the Mechanicville school district made counselors available to students after the deaths. One neighbor said the loss was difficult to process because of the children involved. “Very upsetting,” the neighbor said. “It’s just having a little guy and knowing that there’s just four little babies that are no longer with us.”
Police said the next steps include identifying the six people, notifying relatives and determining how each person died. The medical examiner’s findings are expected to guide the investigation, along with evidence collected from the apartment and interviews with neighbors or others who had contact with the family. Officials have not released the ages of the children or adults, their relationships to one another or the events that led to the welfare check beyond neighbors’ concerns that a resident had not been seen for days.
State Police are assisting Mechanicville police as the investigation continues. Officials said more information would be released as it becomes available, but they have kept many details private while relatives are notified and investigators complete the first stages of the case. The apartment remained the center of the inquiry Wednesday as authorities worked to build a timeline from the last known contact with the household to the moment officers found the six bodies.
The case remained active Wednesday, June 24, with no public threat reported and no official ruling on the deaths. The next major update is expected after police complete family notifications and receive preliminary findings from the medical examiner process.
Author note: Last updated Wednesday, June 24, 2026.