The Guilderland police responded, and soon began sealing off the crime scene, later assisted by the New York State Police, whose detectives were seen the following morning combing through the area behind and near the house. The scene soon attracted a considerable media presence, due to it being the first quadruple homicide to occur in the Capital District, as the metropolitan area around Albany, Schenectady and Troy is known. American Chinese-language media, such as the newspapers World Journal and Sing Tao, widely read among recent immigrants, also sent reporters to cover the case. Police were slow to release information, and much of what was reported in the early days of the case came from relatives of the Chens who talked to the Chinese media at a news conference in New York City's Chinatown. Chen's brother told reporters there that his brother's body had been found on the first floor of the small bungalow, while the other members of the family were found upstairs, covered by a blanket. He denied an early report that they had been shot, and later details emerged that the victims had been beaten with a hammer; later accounts said they were stabbed as well. The crime stunned Guilderland, normally a quiet suburb. "I've never seen anything like it", said Carol Lawlor, the town's police chief. She had grown up not only in the town but in the neighborhood where the Chens lived, which made it affect her even more. Impromptu memorials of flowers, candles and other mementoes were started not only at the house but the boys' elementary school. Funeral services were held in Chinatown a month after the killings, to allow relatives from China to obtain visas and flights in order to attend. The family was laid to rest at All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, in the New York City borough of Queens. Investigation Local law enforcement officials said later that the investigation progressed very slowly during its first 48 hours, a crucial period. "There were so many cultural impediments, language barriers and an overwhelming sense of fear", among the members of the local Chinese immigrant community detectives attempted to talk to, Albany County district attorney David Soares recalled later. The family offered a $5,000 reward, and Soares promised that, to the extent he could, his office would not initiate any actions that would result in deportation against anyone who had information to share,