New York City killings stemmed from custody dispute in the Netherlands

His anger burst into public view Monday night, when the police say Shields, 39, shot and killed his son, James Giacomo Shields, his ex-wife and his current wife during a custodial visit in his home. Then he turned the gun on himself, said Dermot F. Shea, the Police Department chief of detectives.

Shields, a physical therapist, and his ex-wife, Linda Olthof, 47, an actress and drama teacher, had been engaged in an expensive and protracted legal fight over their son, and he grew desperate as it weighed on his finances and undermined his second marriage. In April, he created an online fundraising page seeking $30,000 to help with legal costs of fighting for custody of the boy, who lived in the Netherlands with his mother.

“I had the perfect life a few years ago but it has spiraled out of control and I desperately need any help you can provide,” he wrote.

A woman who takes care of the property discovered the bodies in the living room of Shields’ first-floor apartment in Astoria around 9 p.m. and called 911, the police said. She had spotted the bloody scene from the backyard through the shattered glass of a sliding door, Shea said.

The boy and the two women — all Dutch citizens — had been shot in the head, and Shields had a fatal gunshot wound to his neck, police said.

The Times is not naming Shields’ wife, who was 38, because police said they were still trying to reach her family. Olthof’s family was on the way to the United States on Tuesday, police said.

Investigators recovered two loaded 9-millimeter Glock handguns in the room with the bodies. Shields had a license to keep the weapons at home. Seven magazines with about 70 rounds were also recovered, Shea said.

“What those rounds were meant for in this case will never be known,” he said.

Few people interviewed by investigators seemed to know of Shields’ problems with Olthof, Shea said. In December, the police responded to a domestic disturbance at the apartment after someone complained about a man and a woman arguing loudly, he said.

The responding officers were told that the man had left and that the woman, who did not appear to be injured, refused to give her name, he said. The officers filed a domestic incident report and left, which Shea said was the proper protocol.

But Janet Christoforous, 39, of Astoria, who lived above Shields for six years until 2014, knew something was amiss with him.

“The first week I lived there the cops were called because I heard him beating his girlfriend at the time,” Christoforous said. “And then she moved out like three days later.”

Christoforous said she also called the police on Shields a few times because his parties were too loud.

A single bouquet of flowers sat outside the doorway to the building Tuesday. Investigators in Tyvek suits went back and forth from the apartment while other officers searched Shields’ car.

Shields’ father, James Shields Sr., said Olthof had been planning to take his grandson back to the Netherlands sometime next week. His son had not told him about their heated custody battle.

“He never talked too much,” James Shields Sr. said. “He kept everything a secret.”

Olthof taught movement classes at ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem, a university spokeswoman, Marieke Lam, said. “It’s been a very big shock because she was loved and a great teacher,” Lam said. Ten years ago, Olthof acted in the Netherlands’ longest-running soap opera, “Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden,” which translates to “Good Times, Bad Times,” Lam said. She had studied in New York and worked at the Actors Studio, according to De Stentor, a Dutch newspaper.

Nick Stergiou, a freelance film production supervisor, said he knew Shields as a polite and sociable neighbor who regularly threw parties in the backyard adjoining his. Stergiou, 31, said he never attended any of the parties, but exchanged friendly greetings with Shields over the fence.

Shields was the co-founder of Score Rehabilitation, a Manhattan-based company specializing in at-home care for geriatric patients. The business name appeared on his mailbox, and he appeared to run the company from home, police said.

His online fundraiser failed to attract a single donation. In his appeal for funds, he blamed his “spiteful” ex-wife for keeping him apart from his son, saying she had returned to the Netherlands while pregnant because she was unable to find work. He said he traveled back and forth to visit the boy, who he claimed wanted to come to the United States.

Olthof had objected, he wrote, and would only allow the child to spend two weeks with his father. Shields said he could not accept that, and the two parents took their fight to court in the Netherlands, where he claimed mothers received preference over fathers.

“The financial stress of this is destroying my current marriage and life ...,” he wrote.

“How do I choose,” he continued, between “financially ruining my current relationship vs. giving up the battle for my son?”

Ultimately, he decided not to choose. Instead, police say, he used a gun to end all their lives.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

New York City killings stemmed from custody dispute in the Netherlands

NEW YORK — To some friends and neighbors, James Shields seemed to be a gregarious man who loved to throw parties in his backyard in Queens. But in private he had been seething for months over a battle with his ex-wife to win custody of their 6-year-old son, police officials said.

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