A former policeman allegedly killed his two-year-old and four-year-old children with a hammer at their home in the northern Italian city of Trento on Monday before hurling himself to his death.
The man's wife had left the children with her 45-year-old husband while she went out on an errand and found the them dead in the blood-splattered living-room on her return, police said.
The man, named as Gabriele Sorrentino, was later found dead at the foot of a nearby cliff. His car was parked at the beauty spot and investigators said they did not find a suicide note.
The couple's 13-year-old daughter was away on a school trip at the time of the tragedy.
Sorrentino may have had economic worries linked to a new house the couple was due to buy and had become depressed, according to investigators.
He had been working from home as a financial consultant and regularly looked after the children while his wife, a local vet, was out, investigators said.
