Struggling Children's Book Author Killed Wife and 3 Kids Before Turning Gun on Himself: DA
Authorities in Massachusetts say the family of five found dead inside their Abington home earlier this week died when the father shot his wife and three children before turning the gun on himself.
On Monday morning, the bodies of Joseph Zaccardi, his wife Deirdre, and their three children — daughter Alexis, 11, and twins Nathaniel and Kathryn, 9 — were discovered. They had all been shot.
On Wednesday, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz announced Joseph Zaccardi was the murderer, CBS, CNN and the Boston Herald report.
Authorities received a 911 call around 7:30 a.m. Monday from a relative who went to the condo to bring one of the children to school and found the body of Deirdre, 40.
After officials arrived at the scene, they located the four other bodies in the condo.
RELATED: Struggling Children’s Book Author, His Wife and Their 3 Children Found Dead at Their Mass. Home
According to his Facebook page, Joseph, 43, was a children’s book author who appeared to be struggling with his career. At the time of his death, Joseph had listed his occupation on Facebook as “unemployed and going crazy.”
In April 2017, Joseph announced that he had published his third book, All Mixed Up, which was available to purchase on Amazon.
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Deirdre, meanwhile, worked as the office manager of EMI Strategic Marketing, a Boston marketing consulting firm, for nearly two decades.
In a statement on their Facebook, EMI said they were “deeply saddened by the loss of our longtime colleague and friend, Deirdre Zaccardi.”
Following news of the deaths, the Abington community banded together to show their support for the victims by posting green ribbons — the school district’s colors — as their Facebook photo and encouraging all students to wear green shirts on Tuesday in memory of the family.
The investigation remains ongoing, Cruz said.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
