Police are baffled by the motive behind a “happy-go-lucky” retiree’s alleged axe murders of his wife and two grandchildren.

They are also at a loss to understand why the man allegedly turned on his police officer daughter, fracturing her skull before she escaped his house in Cowra.

Neither the man alleged to have committed the axe attacks nor his victims can be named due to legal restrictions prohibiting the identification of his alleged child victims.

The 69-year-old Cowra man yesterday faced Deniliquin Local Court charged with the triple-axe murder that has shocked the central western NSW town.

He also faces one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder his 31-year-old daughter.

The off-duty officer arrived at her parents’ weatherboard home in Brougham Street, Cowra, about 2pm Monday to find the bodies of her 52-year-old mother and her children, aged seven and five.

With a gashed head, she ran to her neighbours for help.

The officer yesterday underwent surgery for a fractured skull in Sydney’s Nepean Hospital before being placed in an induced coma for at least 24 hours to recover from her injuries, which are not life-threatening.

Following a statewide manhunt, her father was arrested Monday night in a motor inn in the town of Hay, 400km south-west of Cowra, after being recognised by the motel manager.

Police stormed his room when he opened the door to accept milk.

Dressed in white forensic overalls, he faced Deniliquin Local Court yesterday, showing no emotion throughout the brief hearing before Registrar Paul Barber.

He did not apply for bail, and was remanded in custody until his next court appearance at Wagga Wagga Local Court on July 7.

The father of the dead children, a former police officer, last night said he was devastated by their deaths.

The attack has baffled the accused’s neighbours, who variously described him as a normal, quiet, happy-go-lucky retiree from Sydney, who had moved to the town in the mid-1990s.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said it was too early to comment on what prompted the incident.

“That’s the question on everyone’s lips,” he said.

“We don’t know, we’re still working through that.

“We’re all at a bit of a loss (but) we will get to the bottom of it.”

Mr Scipione said the head injuries suffered by Shelly Walsh, who was stationed at Parkes, were not life threatening.

She would struggle emotionally, he added.

“Understandably she’s still quite shocked, she’s certainly trying to cope as best she can with what’s happened,” he said.

“I’m not sure that it’s fully hit home, but the tragedy is unfolding in her face.

“Her world, as she knows it, has turned upside down.”

Cowra Mayor Bruce Miller said the town of around 10,000 people was unusually subdued today.

“Usually by daybreak, there are people walking everywhere getting exercise, walking to work, but there’s just no activity in this part of town,” he told AAP.

“It’s a strange feeling.”

NSW Premier Morris Iemma extended “heartfelt condolences to the family”.