After deaths, DA seeks info and vigilance

WEST BROOKFIELD — A day after the bodies of a mother and three children were found in their Old Warren Road home here, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. urged people to “be careful, be vigilant” and report anything they saw on the road in the last few days to police.

“No matter how small or insignificant you think your information may be, if you saw someone, if you saw a vehicle on that road, we’d like to talk to you,” Early said, adding that the time frame authorities are interested in is Wednesday to yesterday.

At about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, a caller he declined to identify asked police to stop by the home to do a “wellbeing check.”

In an upstairs bedroom, they found the bodies of a woman, a 7-year-old girl and two boys, ages 5 and 2, Early said.

Authorities yesterday were awaiting the results of autopsies that were being performed, Early said, but the deaths are considered suspicious.

A law enforcement source said there was evidence of burns on all of the remains.

“Each (crime) scene is unique,” Early said. “We have a mother and three dead children; that makes it awfully complicated.”

A “distraught family member” arrived at the cordoned-off scene yesterday and was taken into protective custody and later released, Early said, but he declined to identify that person or the woman and children.

A relative said the extended family “is still in shock.”

“I was sad to hear what happened, especially for the kids,” she said, asking that her name not be disclosed.

In a statement yesterday, Quaboag Regional School District Superintendent Brett Kustigian said two of the children attended West Brookfield Elementary School.

Kustigian thanked West Brookfield police for being on hand to reassure youngsters there yesterday and Nate Solder of the New England Patriots for stopping by and “lifting spirits at a dark time.”

“Quaboag is a small, tightknit community where everyone knows each other, and this is our strength,” the superintendent said. “Today was all about supporting students, coming together as a community, grieving, displaying emotion and wondering how could something like this happen.”

Authorities declined to say whether they had received calls about the household in the past, saying that was part of the investigation.

STAFF PHOTOS BY CHRIS CHRISTO ‘BE CAREFUL’: Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., above, gives an update yesterday on the grisly discovery of a mother and three children found dead in their West Brookfield home. At left, investigators’ vehicles crowd the street.