"I was invoking the presence of the Lord in that moment," he said.

Grayson, a member of the Frederick Police Department's volunteer chaplain corps, arrived Monday afternoon to provide support to officers, including detectives who were investigating the deaths of Elsa, 4-year-old Vanessa Rodriguez, 3-year-old Angel Rodriguez and 1-year-old Carena Rodriguez. Their father, Pedro Rodriguez, 28, was found hanged from a second-floor banister; their mother, Deysi Benitez, 25, is missing.

"Just being there, they can see there is stability in this world," Grayson said.

Seeing Carena's tiny body carried down the stairs was particularly moving, he said.

The children's body bags were open as they were brought to the ground floor, and he saw each child's face before their bodies were wrapped for transport to the medical examiner's office.

Grayson has been leaning on his peers in the past week.

"I need to keep telling people just to let it out myself," he said. "I've talked to at least 20 other ministers just to get it out."

He and his wife have driven to the Danielle Drive home at least once a day since Monday to pray for the family and the community.

Grayson, who lives in Frederick and joined the chaplain corps in 2004, is pastor at St. Jude African Methodist Episcopal Church in Germantown. The five-member corps is available to officers seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

"The way people acted and reacted was with the highest degree of professionalism, even as horrible as the scene was," he said.

While Grayson spent Monday afternoon praying for those who died, another corps member drove to the Frederick home of Benitez's sister, Maria Benitez.

Through a translator, the Rev. Richard Dyson, pastor at Mt. Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Brunswick , told Benitez police had found the bodies of her brother-in-law and nieces and nephew. He didn't immediately tell her Pedro was found hanged from a second-story banister.

Upon hearing the news, Benitez yelled and cried, as many people do when learning of the unexpected death of a loved one, Dyson said.

"This is not an easy situation," he said. "We all know we're going to die, but something shocking like this is a heavy load to deal with."

Police brought Benitez's husband home from work to be with her, and the couple hugged and cried together. At one point Benitez tried to run out of the home after pleading with police to take her to see the children.

"It's a natural reaction to such a shocking thing," said Dyson, a pastor for 22 years and member of the corps for nearly 10.

Dyson waited and prayed with Benitez in a white police van for several hours outside the home Monday. She wasn't allowed inside because of the condition of the bodies and the ongoing investigation.

He said when notifying families of a death, which he has done many times in his ministry, he prays with and for the survivors.

"You sit with them and try to make them comfortable," he said. "You let them know the Lord will help them in their moment of grief."