James H. Steen Jr. faces two counts of second-degree murder.
Pulaski, NY – The Oswego County Sheriff’s Office Monday afternoon tentatively identified the victims of Sunday’s double homicide in Pulaski as Charles Carr Jr. and Victoria L. Steen.
The preliminary identifications came 19 hours after Sheriff Reuel Todd informed family and friends that Carr and Steen were believed to be the man and woman found dead at the Villager Apartments.
Investigators discovered the bodies after James H. Steen Jr., Victoria Steen’s estranged husband, surrendered following a seven-hour standoff there with police. He has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and is being held without bail at the Oswego County Correctional Facility pending further legal action, Todd said.
The Onondaga County Medical Examiner will compare fingerprint records before making a final positive identification of the victims, Todd said.
Both victims died of gunshot wounds, Todd said. Officials are fairly certain that they died during the early moments of the incident, but that was not apparent during the standoff, he said.
Todd had declined to identify the victims Sunday night, but Carr’s father, Charles Carr Sr., had told reporters earlier in the day that his son and Victoria Steen were being held hostage by James Steen.
James H. Steen Jr. Officials identified Steen, 39, of of 91 Hogsback Road, Central Square, as the suspect late Sunday.
Monday, Todd spoke of the tragedy that had unfolded.
“Three kids are involved here,” Todd said. According to relatives, two are the Steens’ children and the third is Victoria’s child from another relationship. “Three families are involved here. Some of them are relatives on both sides. The whole thing is a tragedy when you figure that lives are ruined all the way around.”
Victoria Steen, 29, who lived at the Villager Apartments at 9 Lewis St., Pulaski, was a stay-at-home mother, said her half sister, Amber House.
“She was a loving and caring person and she was a good mother,” House said. “She lived for her kids and only her kids.”
Carr, 21, lived at the Colosse home of his father, Charles Sr., and mother, Debbie, said his cousin, Ann House.
Her cousin was a handiman who treasured his independence, Ann House said.
“He was a great kid,” she said. “He got along with everybody.”
Amber House said Victoria and James had been undergoing a rocky divorce after more than three years of marriage and a longer relationship, but said Sunday’s events took her by surprise.
Victoria Steen and Carr had been seeing each other about six months, Ann House said.
Todd said James Steen had been charged with misdemeanor menacing and endangering the welfare of child in March after he allegedly choked Victoria at his residence on Feb. 28. He said he knew of no official complaints involving the Steens and Carr prior to Sunday.
According to a witness, Victoria Steen, accompanied by a man and a child, returned to her apartment about 11:30 a.m. The witness, an upstairs neighbor, told investigators he started hearing banging, crashing and a child crying a few minutes later, followed by two bangs that sounded like shotgun blasts.
Charles Carr Jr.The witness said he heard a third bang as he talked to Oswego County 911 and the yelling from downstairs stopped. As the witness looked out a window, the child emerged from the apartment crying for his mother. The witness said a plainclothes policeman rescued the child, whom he thought was a girl, but Todd said the rescuer may have been a civilian and that the child was the Steens’ son.
Sheriff’s deputies, Pulaski police, state police and officers from other agencies surrounded the building and evacuated residents from its 11 other apartments while Steen remained barricaded in Victoria’s apartment. Police, relatives and Steen’s lawyer negotiated with him by telephone. Steen surrendered, unarmed, sometime between 6:30 and 7:15 p.m., Todd said.
Steen was arraigned Sunday night in Pulaski village court and ordered held without bail pending a hearing or a presentation to the grand jury, Todd said. The investigation is continuing, he said.
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