The Latest: Family of slain social worker asks for privacy
BARRE, Vt. (AP) — The latest in the investigation into four deaths in Vermont, including a state child protection worker (all times local):
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9:45 p.m.
Vermont officials have read a statement from the family of state social worker Lara Sobel, who was fatally shot after leaving her job.
In the statement released Saturday, Sobel's family thanked the community for its kindness during their ordeal and asked others to respect their privacy.
The family said that it hopes that the tragedy "can create awareness of the dedicated professionals who devote so much of their energy to ensuring the welfare of children."
Jody Herring has been charged in the shooting death of Sobel on Friday. She is to be arraigned Monday.
Sobel handled the case in which Herring lost custody of her 9-year-old daughter.
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9:40 p.m.
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin says the woman charged in the shooting death of a state social worker is also "the alleged perpetrator" of the slayings of three relatives whose bodies were found Saturday at a Berlin home.
Shumlin says at a news conference Saturday that the three victims found Saturday were an aunt and two cousins of 40-year-old Jody Herring, who has been arrested on a murder charge in Lara Sobel's death.
Herring is being held without bail and is to be arraigned Monday.
Shumlin said the investigation into the deaths of Herring's relatives was ongoing and declined to release any additional information.
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8:30 p.m.
Police say a Barre woman accused of shooting a Vermont social worker to death is to be arraigned Monday on a first-degree homicide charge.
Barre Public Safety Director Timothy Bombardier says 40-year-old Jodi Herring is being held without bail, charged in the Friday death of Lara Sobel. He says Sobel was shot twice outside a state office building.
Meanwhile, three women authorities say are related to Herring were found dead Saturday morning at a home in neighboring Berlin, and state police are investigating.
Authorities say Sobel had handled a case for the state Department for Children and Families in which Herring's 9-year-old daughter was removed from the home.
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3:50 p.m.
Vermont state police say they're investigating the deaths of three people related to a woman arrested a day earlier in the fatal shooting of a state social worker.
Three bodies were found on Saturday morning at a home in Berlin, with police saying at least two appeared to have been shot. Police say the Berlin victims, all female, were related to Jody Herring, who police say fatally shot a state social worker in neighboring Barre late Friday afternoon.
Authorities said that victim, Lara Sobel, had handled a case for the state Department for Children and Families in which her alleged killer's daughter was removed from the home.
Gov. Peter Shumlin said it's not believed there's a continuing threat related to the incidents.
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12:21 p.m.
Vermont police are investigating three deaths at a home in Berlin.
WCAX-TV reports that authorities say they found the bodies Saturday morning after concerned relatives called to say the people who lived in the home had not been heard from.
Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn said police are investigating whether the deaths are connected to the fatal shooting of a social worker in neighboring Barre on Friday.
Authorities say a Department for Children and Families worker was shot and killed outside a state office building by a woman who was upset about losing custody of her daughter.
Police did not provide any information about the condition of the bodies found Saturday.
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