Home Scandal and Gossip Why? Noel Bankhead Idaho mom drives off cliff with three children

Why? Noel Bankhead Idaho mom drives off cliff with three children

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Noel Bankhead Idaho mom
Pictured Idaho mother Noel Bankhead and her three children who died after driving off a cliff into the
Noel Bankhead Idaho mom
Pictured Idaho mother Noel Bankhead and her three children who died after driving off a cliff into the Lucky Peak Lake.

What led to Noel Bankhead an Idaho mother driving off a cliff with her three children in a murder suicide? Had been observed accelerating towards the cliff. 

A coroner’s inquiry has ruled that 40 year old BoiseIdaho woman, Noel Bankhead who last year drove her sports utility vehicle with her three children inside, off a cliff before crashing into a reservoir did so in an apparent deliberate murder suicide.

In a statement released Friday, the Ada County Coroner’s Office deemed the deaths of Bankhead and her three children as a deliberate murder suicide reported the Idaho Statesman.

The crash occurred before 7 a.m. June 2, 2016, on the north side of High Bridge on Idaho Highway 21.

Killed along with their mother was 13 year old daughter Anika Voermans, 11-year-old son, Logan Voermans and 8-year-old daughter, Gwyneth Voermans.

All four bodies were recovered in the reservoir after Bankhead drove her Land Rover off a 50 foot (15 meters) cliff, with the vehicle sinking 40 feet (12 meters) in Lucky Peak Lake.

The cause of death for all four family members was determined to be from drowning associated with blunt force trauma.

Noel Bankhead
Pictured, Idaho mother Noel Bankhead with two of her children.
Noel Bankhead
Anika Noel Voermans, 13, Gwyneth Grace Voermans, 8, Logan Robert Voermans, 11, were killed after their mother, Noel Bankhead, 40, drove herself and her children off a cliff into the Lucky Peak Reservoir on June 2, 2016. (HANDOUT)

Noel Bankhead murder suicide: Retribution for her husband leaving her? 

At the time, witnesses told of observing Bankhead driving northbound on Idaho state highway when she turned off and positioned the car toward the cliff, before suddenly accelerating.

The absence of skid marks led investigators to the belief that the mother had intentionally driven off the cliff.

Toxicology tests found no medication or alcohol in Bankhead’s system.

Police say investigators spent over a year trying to get data from the Land Rover’s water-damaged Event Data Recorder, which measures things like speed, braking, acceleration, and fault codes, but were not able to do so, despite sending it Land Rover’s European offices twice.

Sheriff’s spokesman Patrick Orr declined to comment on Bankhead’s motive. 

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the mother had previously self harmed herself or the children, and whether the move to drive off the cliff had been a sudden impulse or something the moribund woman had long contemplated?

Bankhead was a paralegal and legal secretary. She and her former husband, Robert, were both graduates of Cambridge High School, having got married in 1995. They divorced three years ago. The cause of split wasn’t clear.

Bankhead’s obituary described her as an avid runner and full-time working mom who had worked in the legal field for more than 20 years.

Obituaries described her children as active and curious with various interests and hobbies.

Noel Bankhead
Pictured, Noel Bankhead’s three children with their father, Robert. The former couple had gone through a recent divorce, leading to some commentators on the web wondering if the murder suicide was retribution?
Noel Bankhead
Pictured Noel Bankhead’s three children with their father, Robert.
Noel Bankhead
Noel Bankhead drover her Range Rover off a 50 ft cliff into the Lucky Peak Lake reservoir below.

Noel Bankhead
Commemoration for Noel Bankhead and family.
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