MA - Erin Pascal, 40, & 2 children, ages 4 & 15 mos., double murder/suicide, Boston, 25 Dec 2019

[watersheds]

This is my first post here so I hope I'm formatting this right. But this story haunted me enough to bring it to you all.

-

(Reuters) - A woman and two young children were found dead on Christmas Day on a downtown Boston sidewalk at the base of a high-rise parking structure, authorities said, apparently after plunging from the roof level of the garage.

Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said on Wednesday detectives had few details about what happened to the three victims, whom he said were found unconscious on the pavement and pronounced "non-viable" at a local hospital.

Asked during a solemn news conference whether the three may have jumped to their deaths, Gross answered, "I have no way of knowing that, and we definitely won't jump to conclusions or try to speculate."

But aerial footage of the scene aired by local television stations showed police investigators huddled on the rooftop around a black sport utility vehicle left parked with three of its doors open beside the wall enclosing the top level of the structure. The area around the SUV was cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape.

. . .

Woman and two children found dead on Boston sidewalk on Christmas Day

 

[Richrd]

.

++ Probable Double-Murder & Suicide ++

- Boston, Massachusetts -
- Wednesday, 25 December 2019 -

1)) NBC Boston:
2 Kids, Woman Found on Boston Sidewalk Dead in Christmas 'Tragedy'
^^^ Includes Aerial View of Vehicle atop Parking Garage ^^^

2)) Win Country dot Com:
Woman and two children found dead on Boston sidewalk on Christmas Day

3)) Google™ Supplements & Updates:
Woman, 2 kids die near Boston garage - بحث Google

Two Little Lambs
Reunited With Their Creator.​

[Contribution # 7027
Thread # 492644]
.

 

[LadyL]

I found a link that says the kids were under age 5 and there were car seats in the vehicle. That just pisses me off. It may be murder but it may be a mother murdering her children, not someone else murdering them all. Link also says this is the same parking garage a student committed suicide from jumping earlier this year.

Woman, 2 kids die after found on sidewalk near Boston garage

 

[watersheds]

LadyL, I've seen a couple of articles thus far reporting the children as young as 5/or younger than 5. MSM (CNN) was one.

 

[Tssiemer]

Tis the season.

 

[LadyL]

these links show the suv with the doors open:

2 Kids, Woman Found on Boston Sidewalk Dead in Christmas 'Tragedy'

Woman, two kids dead after jumping from top of Boston parkade

 

[Lilibet]

This is my first post here so I hope I'm formatting this right. But this story haunted me enough to bring it to you all.

-

(Reuters) - A woman and two young children were found dead on Christmas Day on a downtown Boston sidewalk at the base of a high-rise parking structure, authorities said, apparently after plunging from the roof level of the garage.

Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said on Wednesday detectives had few details about what happened to the three victims, whom he said were found unconscious on the pavement and pronounced "non-viable" at a local hospital.

Asked during a solemn news conference whether the three may have jumped to their deaths, Gross answered, "I have no way of knowing that, and we definitely won't jump to conclusions or try to speculate."

But aerial footage of the scene aired by local television stations showed police investigators huddled on the rooftop around a black sport utility vehicle left parked with three of its doors open beside the wall enclosing the top level of the structure. The area around the SUV was cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape.

. . .

Woman and two children found dead on Boston sidewalk on Christmas Day

Welcome! You formatted the thread fine. Such a sad story.

I’ve participated in a number of suicide threads here and they are always heartbreaking. I’ve received quite an education on those threads from suicide survivors who bravely post here. Depression can be intensely painful and feel endless. Often the victim believes that everyone will be better off if they are dead. In this case, she may not have wanted to leave her children motherless. Obviously she was not thinking clearly if that’s the case, but depression can send even intelligent and gifted people like Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade far, far away from rational thought.

So be kind to one another and reach out if you need help, as Andy Spade wrote recently:

Please seek help if you are feeling helpless or lost,” he wrote. “Ask friends and relatives if they are okay. This is truly important. Sometimes they won’t tell you how they are feeling but nudge them to find out.”

https://pagesix.com/2019/12/24/andy...te-on-what-would-have-been-her-57th-birthday/

 

[Damarna]

Welcome! You formatted the thread fine. Such a sad story.

I’ve participated in a number of suicide threads here and they are always heartbreaking. I’ve received quite an education on those threads from suicide survivors who bravely post here. Depression can be intensely painful and feel endless. Often the victim believes that everyone will be better off if they are dead. In this case, she may not have wanted to leave her children motherless. Obviously she was not thinking clearly if that’s the case, but depression can send even intelligent and gifted people like Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade far, far away from rational thought.

So be kind to one another and reach out if you need help, as Andy Spade wrote recently:

Please seek help if you are feeling helpless or lost,” he wrote. “Ask friends and relatives if they are okay. This is truly important. Sometimes they won’t tell you how they are feeling but nudge them to find out.”

https://pagesix.com/2019/12/24/andy...te-on-what-would-have-been-her-57th-birthday/

Thank you, dearest @Lilibet.

 

[Lilibet]

Thank you, dearest @Lilibet.

 

[Grammar]

Welcome! You formatted the thread fine. Such a sad story.

I’ve participated in a number of suicide threads here and they are always heartbreaking. I’ve received quite an education on those threads from suicide survivors who bravely post here. Depression can be intensely painful and feel endless. Often the victim believes that everyone will be better off if they are dead. In this case, she may not have wanted to leave her children motherless. Obviously she was not thinking clearly if that’s the case, but depression can send even intelligent and gifted people like Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade far, far away from rational thought.

So be kind to one another and reach out if you need help, as Andy Spade wrote recently:

Please seek help if you are feeling helpless or lost,” he wrote. “Ask friends and relatives if they are okay. This is truly important. Sometimes they won’t tell you how they are feeling but nudge them to find out.”

https://pagesix.com/2019/12/24/andy...te-on-what-would-have-been-her-57th-birthday/

I agree completely Lilibet. Depression is a horrible draining monster. Other mental disorders can cause a person to commit suicide and/or kill their children. A person in acute psychosis may hear voices telling them that they are going to harm the children. Those voices are that person’s reality at that time. A loving parent in the midst of a psychotic break may kill the children in order to save them from being tortured as promised by the voices. Life can be challenging and the addition of mental illness makes it all the more difficult.

 

[sloane7777]

I agree completely Lilibet. Depression is a horrible draining monster. Other mental disorders can cause a person to commit suicide and/or kill their children. A person in acute psychosis may hear voices telling them that they are going to harm the children. Those voices are that person’s reality at that time. A loving parent in the midst of a psychotic break may kill the children in order to save them from being tortured as promised by the voices. Life can be challenging and the addition of mental illness makes it all the more difficult.

Thank you!! Big hug for this (( ))

 

[weepingangel]

After her two children fell to their deaths from a Boston parking garage, their mother ended her life as well

The investigation has had some progress but so far names have not been released.

So far, the investigation has shown that the children fell first followed by the mother according to Rollins and that the three dead were a 40-year-old mother and her two children, ages 4 and 15 months.

 

[meanmaryjean]

After her two children fell to their deaths from a Boston parking garage, their mother ended her life as well

The children 'fell'? Seems unlikely. More like they were pushed/ thrown.

 

[Lilibet]

I agree completely Lilibet. Depression is a horrible draining monster. Other mental disorders can cause a person to commit suicide and/or kill their children. A person in acute psychosis may hear voices telling them that they are going to harm the children. Those voices are that person’s reality at that time. A loving parent in the midst of a psychotic break may kill the children in order to save them from being tortured as promised by the voices. Life can be challenging and the addition of mental illness makes it all the more difficult.

Yes. This too. Thank you. And it happens to otherwise wonderful people who would never in a million years contemplate doing this if it weren’t for the “voices” or altered reality. With a 15 month old child, postpartum depression or psychosis is even possible. The children who were killed are possibly victims of their mother’s mental illness, sadly.

Suicide is such a fraught and complicated subject. It is horrible for the survivors who have every right to feel hurt and angry. On the surface, suicide seems selfish and unloving, and perhaps it is sometimes. If this mother killed her children and committed suicide in a custody dispute, for example, (“If I can’t have them no one will”), that’s a selfish and horrible act.

And then there is the religious viewpoint that no one has a right to end the life the Creator has given them. That happens to be what I personally believe. And yet, I have known of several who share my faith and have ended their own lives. They were good people struggling with their mental health. I wish I had known and could have offered help and comfort before their hopelessness took over their reasoning ability.

In my state, assisted suicide is legal. An elderly, terminally ill friend recently went through the complicated process and waiting period required. While it’s not a choice I could make and I don’t agree, I understand and have compassion for him and for his family who supported his decision.

I write all this because I credit and appreciate members who have shared their experience here with helping me to have more understanding and compassion for those who commit suicide, despite my personal beliefs.
JMO

 

[Lilibet]

The children 'fell'? Seems unlikely. More like they were pushed/ thrown.

I expect they were. LE is probably speaking in euphemistic terms for the sake of family until the investigation is complete.

 

[weepingangel]

Mother, children who fell from Boston parking garage on Christmas Day identified

 

[Elley Mae]

WBZ-TV Chief Investigate Reporter Cheryl Fiandaca reported that, according to sources, there appears to have been a domestic dispute between the children’s mother and father. Sources said Pascal took the children from their home, and the father called police to say that she appeared to be suicidal.

Woman, 2 Children Die After Incident By Boston Parking Garage

 

[leomoon]

Incredibly terribly sad. She must have had a breaking point she reached. R.I.P.

 

[leomoon]

Besides being a wife and mom of two; she had a very important position in the business world:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-pascal-42293744

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/...-genzyme-employee-identified-as-woman-in.html
according to her LinkedIn profile. She had previously worked as a director of corporate communications at the company for over six years.

"Our hearts are with the family," a Sanofi Genzyme spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Pascal had also worked at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, according to the LinkedIn profile. A 2001 graduate of Brown University, she started her career as a reporter at The Providence Journal, the profile said.

 

[leomoon]

Seems the owners of this very high rise garage is going to have to put a fencing around the perimeter of the top floor!
West Roxbury Mother And Two Children Die In Double Murder-Suicide
It is the third suicide at that parking garage in the last eight months. In May, Alexander Urtula, 22, fell from the garage just hours before he was to graduate from Boston College. Rollins said another person died by suicide at the same location on Dec. 9.