Neighbors noticed a small - but very suburban - sign that something was wrong at New Jersey insurance executive David Grodnick's $1.7 million home before he killed his wife and daughter and turned the gun - his immaculate landscaping suddenly stopped.

 I thought the house was number one in the [neighborhood for] maintaining their lawn. I think a couple of months or more they were not maintaining it. It was very unusual. It disturbed me,  said neighbor Mian Helaly, who lives a few doors down from the Grodnicks in the tony community of Skillman, about 55 miles from Manhattan.

Grodnick, 61, executed wife Lora Grodnick, 62, and daughter, Sloane Grodnick, 24, at their home sometime before Oct. 2 when cops discovered the trio dead inside the home.

7 Mian Helaly (pictured), a neighbor of David Grodnick, said he saw an eerie sign that things were off in the months before the murders. Lone Pine Press for NY Post

7 The Grodnick family's house seen on Oct. 8, 2026. Lone Pine Press for NY Post

But for years, they appeared to be the picture-perfect family - if the landscaping at the Wild Azalea Lane nearly 6,000-square-foot home was anything to go by.

 This couple used to keep their lawn very neat. They were spending a lot of money planting new trees and whenever I would do my morning walk, I'd say hello,  the 73-year-old neighbor said, noting both David and Lora worked on their landscaping.

 All of a sudden, I noticed that in recent months they were not focusing on the lawn,  said Helaly, who works in the import-export business.

 The grass was growing out. They were not trimming the trees. 

7 David Grodnick, senior vice president and underwriting counsel for Land Services USA, shot his wife and daughter before killing himself. VSCO/Sloane Grodnick

7 Sloane Grodnick (left) and her mother Lora Grodnick (right) were killed by David in their Skillman mansion in early October. Instagram/Lori Grodnick

7 Sloan Grodnick seen in a photograph from 2019. Obtained by NY Post

 It stuck me like something was not right, not going their way,  he said.

When Helaly heard about the killings he said it was 
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