Deirdre Zaccardi and Joseph Zaccardi murder suicide: What led to an Abington, Massachusetts family being shot dead at their family condo home? Husband and wife found dead along with their three children. Father’s Facebook wall offers potential clue.
Authorities have yet to say what led to two adults and three children being found dead in an apparent murder suicide in a Massachusetts home Monday. Three elementary-aged children and two adults were found with gun shot wounds at the family condo home prosecutors announced.
The five family members were found in an Abington, Massachusetts, condominium complex at about 7.30am by a relative who showed up to take the children to school, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz said.
Police confirmed that Deirdre Zaccardi, 40, was found first by the family member, who immediately dialled 911.
The other victims, 11-year-old Alexis Zaccardi, nine-year-old twins Nathaniel and Kathryn Zaccardi and their father Joseph Zaccardi, 43, were found at another location inside the home.
All five family members were believed to have died Sunday overnight.
‘It’s a crime, a crime occurred in that building. Three little children are gone forever,’
The Patriot Ledger reported that the relative called 911 after Deidre was found unresponsive and bleeding on a couch.
Police were said to have found Deidre’s body first, in the downstairs area of the home, before finding the bodies of the three children and their father, Joseph. The locations of the other bodies were not revealed.
There were no other people in the condo unit.
‘It’s a crime, a crime occurred in that building. Three little children are gone forever,’ said Cruz, who also noted it appears they died of gunshot wounds.
‘People are going to wonder why,’ Cruz added. ‘We need to try to do something and reach out to people who need help better than what’s going on.’
Although he did not state whether anyone who was in the home was a licensed gun owner, Cruz said that police anticipated they would find a weapon or weapons inside the home, according to the Boston Globe.
Cruz said there is no threat to the public, but would not elaborate further on what happened at the scene, saying it’s still under investigation.
These are the 3 children who were killed in the apparent murder-suicide at a condo townhouse in #Abington. The older sister has been id’ed as 11 yo Alexis Zaccardi. 9 yo twins are Nathaniel & Kathryn. Their parents Joe & Deirdre were also killed. All suffered from gunshot wounds pic.twitter.com/hg5io1ROTh
— Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) October 8, 2019
‘Unexpected and unexplainably tragic loss.’
Abington police Chief David Majenski said there was no history of domestic violence issues with the family.
It’s unclear what time, how, or in what order the victims were killed.
The medical examiner’s office will determine cause and manner of death, which CBSN Boston called an apparent murder-suicide.
All three children attended Abington Public Schools, Superintendent Peter Schafer said in a message to parents that was shared with the media.
He called the deaths an ‘unexpected and unexplainably tragic loss.’
‘This morning we were informed of the unexpected and unexplainably tragic loss of the Zaccardi family,’ Schafer wrote.
‘Their presence touched so many lives and there are no words to express the sadness we feel.
‘The response in the schools today will vary depending on the building and age level of our students. Due to the students’ access to information with cellphones, media and social media, at the high school and middle school the faculty and staff informed the students in small groups that, ‘We are heartbroken to share with you that the Zaccardi Family, an Abington family, died unexpectedly last night. There are three young students of this family in our district. At this time, we do not have any other details about what happened. This was an unexpected event, which deeply saddens all of us’. ‘
This is FB page of Joe Zaccardi, 1 of the 5 family members found dead in their #Abington condo. Under works for – Zaccardi wrote “unemployed & going crazy.” He described himself as teddy bear w/an old soul. 2nd pic is of Joe w/his wife Deirdre. pic.twitter.com/1gHEQWrrzN
— Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) October 8, 2019
Joe Zaccardi: ‘Unemployed and Going Crazy’
Perhaps in a potential clue as to the Abington murder suicides a regard of Joe Zaccardi’s Facebook page revealed the father posting, ‘unemployed & going crazy.’ The man who listed himself as an author of multiple children’s books described himself as teddy bear w/an old soul.
An April post revealed the 43 year old man posting, ‘I am proud to announce that my third children’s book, All Mixed Up, has been published and is now available to purchase on Amazon.con. Purchasing a copy will obviously help to promote the book, but simply spreading the word about its release would be extremely helpful too!
Deirdre Zaccardi was a long-time employee and office manager at EMI Strategic Marketing, according to a statement issued by company president Campbell Edlund, obtained by the Boston Globe.
Edlund wrote that ‘Deirdre was a lovely person—a trusted employee and valued friend to all of us at EMI,’ who had worked with the company for almost 20 years. She was said to have taken the previous Wednesday off to celebrate the twins’ birthday.
Unclear was whether the family were undergoing financial strain.
The victims’ relatives put out a statement through the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office.
‘Today our family has suffered an unfathomable loss,’ they said in the statement. ‘As we attempt to make sense of the enormity of this event, we respectfully ask that the media respect our family’s wishes to be left alone as we grieve our tremendous losses in private.’
Abington, a town of about 16,000 people, is about 20 miles south of Boston.
