EARLY: SLAY PROBE FOCUS ON FUEL CAN
DA names West Brookfield victims
WEST BROOKFIELD — Investigators probing the horrific murder of a woman and her three young children are now focused on locating a discarded yellow fuel can they believe is connected to the killings that have rocked a small, tight-knit Central Mass. community.
During a press conference yesterday afternoon outside the quaint, gray Old Warren Road home that investigators have been scouring since four burned bodies were found inside Thursday, Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. identified the victims as Sara Bermudez, 38, and her three children, Madison, 8, James, 6, and Michael, 2.
Offering few details on the state of the investigation or a motive for the murders, Early said investigators were asking the public for help locating one item in particular.
“Our investigators want the public to be on the lookout for a discarded yellow fuel can,” Early said. “Police believe this can, fuel container, is missing from the home. Anyone with any information with regards to a discarded yellow plastic fuel can is asked to call the state police.”
Although Early wouldn’t say how the fuel canister may be connected to the murders, a law enforcement source told the Herald last week that the victims’ bodies had evidence of burns. Early said the deaths have been ruled homicides but declined to say if investigators have identified a suspect or determined the victims’ cause of death.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is almost finished conducting autopsies, he said.
“There’s an awful lot of moving parts in the investigation right now,” Early said, noting investigators are still processing the crime scene.
Although the bodies of Bermudez and her children were found Thursday afternoon, they are thought to have been murdered Wednesday night or early Thursday, Early said. When police responding to a request for a well-being check arrived at the house Thursday, officers found Bermudez and her children dead in an upstairs bedroom.
Early said investigators are also looking for any surveillance camera footage that may have recorded anything of interest in the area of Old Warren Road, and urged “anyone who was in the West Brookfield area and Route 9 corridor with active home or surveillance cameras or dashboard mounted cameras on their vehicles call the state police.”
While speaking to reporters yesterday, Early repeated his calls for residents to be cautious.
“We’re asking the public to remain vigilant and careful. This has been declared four homicides, anything you see out of the ordinary, please call us,” Early said. “We think the public should remain safe, careful and vigilant with regards to this investigation.”
Quaboag Regional School District Superintendent Brett Kustigian confirmed last week that two of the slain children attended West Brookfield Elementary School, saying in a statement, “Quaboag is a small, tightknit community where everyone knows each other, and this is our strength.”