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Copyright © 2015 Albuquerque Journal

One of the last times Danny Nevarez saw his neighbors – a father and his 7-year-old daughter – they brought him a slice of sheet cake from her birthday party on Saturday.

Three days later the father and daughter were both dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

Police were called to a home on Diez Y Ocho in southeast Rio Rancho on Wednesday evening by a woman involved in a child custody dispute, Lt. Paul Rogers said.

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The woman was at the home to pick up her daughter from her ex-husband, but was unable to contact him.

The adult son of the ex-husband answered the door and told officers that his father was sleeping, so they told him to wake his father up.

“A short time later, he returned to the door and stated that his father and sister were dead,” Rogers said in a statement.

Officers found the 56-year-old man and his daughter dead inside. Rogers said both victims had visible wounds, but detectives haven’t confirmed the cause of their deaths.

Rio Rancho police interviewed the man’s son and released him, and they do not expect to make any arrests in the case.

Rogers said in an interview that evidence at the scene strongly suggests the deaths were a result of a murder-suicide, and police are awaiting for confirmation from medical examiners.

The names of the victims have not been released, pending notification of the family.

Deflated balloons marking the upper-middle-class cul-de-sac for the weekend party were still attached to a street sign near the home Thursday.

“They had a birthday party on Saturday, and everyone was happy,” Nevarez said. “I didn’t see any problems over there at all.”

Nevarez, who is also the family’s landlord, said the family has lived in the house for about six months.

He said he spent time with the father Tuesday.

“He was fine, we worked on the roof, he borrowed my truck to go to the dump,” Nevarez said. “All that time he was talking to me about his divorce from his wife. He gave a job up in Vaughn so he could come to town and be with his daughter every night.”

A close friend said the man was worried about losing custody of his daughter.

“I talked to him on Sunday,” Carolyn Lutgen said. “He’d just lost another job because he had to take care of (his daughter). His whole life was (the girl). He was afraid to go to court and become a weekend dad.”

Lutgen said she’d never known the man to be anything other than an adoring father, buying his daughter a kitten for Christmas and playing with her.

“He was like a kid, they just did everything together,” Lutgen said. “He went to every school play. He just liked sharing the fun things she was doing, and how smart she was and how well she was doing in school. When she was younger she loved pony rides, and he wanted to buy her a pony.”

The girl attended a private school in Rio Rancho and both Lutgen and the neighbors describe her as outgoing, friendly and bubbly.

“She was a pretty little girl, nice, and friendly,” Nevarez said. “You could tell she wasn’t afraid to talk. She told me she was going to build a garden.”

Nevarez said he would often see the man’s son walking his dog.

“He was very quiet, religious, vegetarian, stayed to himself,” Nevarez said.

Nevarez said the son worked during the night and slept during the day. According to the son’s Facebook, he had attended Rio Rancho High School and Central New Mexico Community College.

“I feel sorry for the son,” Nevarez said. “Now he’s going to have nightmares.”