A woman charged in the slaying of a social worker in the northeastern US state of Vermont is also “the alleged perpetrator” of the deaths of three relatives whose bodies were found on Saturday, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said.
The three women found dead at a home on Saturday morning were an aunt and two cousins of 40-year-old Jody Herring, the governor said at a news conference on Saturday night after returning from vacation in Canada upon hearing of the deaths.
Herring was arrested on a murder charge in the death of Lara Sobel, who was gunned down after work on Friday outside a state office building in Barre.
Sobel handled a case for the state Department for Children and Families in which Herring lost custody of her nine-year-old daughter, authorities said.
Herring was in custody, pending an arraignment today. It was not clear if she had a lawyer who could comment on her behalf.
“I think all Vermonters are as shocked, dismayed, horrified and grief-stricken as all of us are,” Shumlin said. “I cannot remember, in my lifetime, four people being murdered by the same alleged perpetrator.”
He said the investigation into the deaths of Herring’s relatives was ongoing and he declined to release any additional information.
Police said at least two of the women appeared to have been shot.
Shumlin and law enforcement officials said at the news conference that there was no reason to believe there was a continuing threat related to the incidents.
Authorities on Friday night said that Sobel had just left an agency office on Friday afternoon when she was shot twice. The child remains in state custody, officials said.
Vermont Department for Children and Families Commissioner Ken Schatz said Sobel’s shooting was “a heartbreaking tragedy.”
He said Sobel “had been providing public service for children and families for more than 14 years.”
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