Friends of Maria Claudia Lutz and Fernando Manrique have spoken out about the couple’s relationship following their death alongside their two autistic children and the family dog this week in a suspected murder-suicide.
It is believed that Manrique gassed the family in their Northern Beaches home on Monday, and friends are now revealing that the couple were on the verge of separation amidst disagreements about how to raise their children and Maria struggling to cope.
It has been claimed she was calling family services “nine times a day” and was often left alone to care for 10-year-old Martin and 11-year-old Elisa while their father spent increasing time overseas on business. She was given help for five hours per week from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but friend Peta Rostirola tells The Hearald Sun that Maria “even felt guilty for taking that, she was just the most selfless person.”
“Maria was so anxious and depressed that if the Department of Family and Community Services called to change an appointment or cancel then it threw her,” another friend told The Daily Telegraph.
“She would ring them sometimes nine times a day to confirm they had cancelled or changed things – or to ask for extra help. She felt completely alone and was a broken woman and depressed.”
Friends also said that Lutz had expressed wishes to move back to Colombia with her children so she would have more help from family members.
“Maria was doing everything alone,” they added.
“How she found the time to keep the house spotless with everything else she was doing was beyond me.”
According to The Herald Sun, Maria described her children to friends as “very special little angels” who taught her to look at the world “differently.”
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