The protagonist of "The October Game" was Gaslighting his wife
He thinks of "[taking] Marion away from her, legally," as a way to hurt her more than divorce or even death. Murdering a child is not very legal. He'd previously acted the perfect host at the Halloween party, making a good impression on all the guests. So then he hides Marion, maybe convincing her it's a game, and leads his wife, who knows the kind of person he is, to think that he's murdered and dismembered his own daughter and is now passing the pieces around as a party game, thereby convincing all the witnesses that she's unstable and not fit to take custody once he divorces her. When "some idiot turned on the lights," he's disappointed that they've revealed it's not Marion's body parts before she could have a total breakdown. This would also solve the timing issue, as otherwise he did all the murder and dismemberment while everyone else was down in the cellar waiting for him. The robotic house in "There Will Come Soft Rains" hates the family
Only in the Soviet Animated Adaptation, though. Aside from abruptly dumping them out of bed each morning, the way it tries to get rid of the bird (i.e. an intruder) would at the very least seriously harm the residents.