Children's Book Author, Family Found Dead in Home

A relative who arrived at a home in a Boston suburb Monday morning to take children to school made a horrifying find downstairs: The body of their mother, 40-year-old Deirdre Zaccardi. After the relative called 911, police found the bodies of the family's three children—11-year-old Alexis and 9-year-old twins Nathaniel and Kathryn—elsewhere in the Abington home, along with that of father Joseph Zaccardi, 43, the Boston Globe reports. All five had been shot. At a press conference Monday, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz did not disclose whether the deaths were a murder-suicide, but said the community is not in danger. The family did not have any known history of domestic issues, Cruz told reporters.

"A crime occurred in that building and three little children are gone forever as a result of this," Cruz said. "This is a horrible, horrible event," he added. "I think when something like this, unimaginable like this happens, there’s always going to be more questions than there are going to be answers." The New York Post reports that Joseph Zaccardi was a struggling children's book author, whose books included "All Mixed Up" and "Sammy the Once Sad Caterpillar." On Facebook, he listed his employment status as "Unemployed and Going Crazy," according to the Post. People reports that Deirdre Zaccardi worked as an office manager for a Boston marketing consulting firm. A spokesperson for relatives said they wanted to be left alone to grieve their "unfathomable loss." (More Massachusetts stories.)