A close friend of a Massachusetts woman who was killed in a family murder-suicide earlier this week says she did not see any signs of trouble, as authorities confirmed that Joseph Zaccardi fatally shot his wife and three children before turning the gun on himself in their Arlington home.
Deirdre Zaccardi’s friend Sarah Wall told People magazine that the Zaccardis appeared to be a happy family, and that the couple doted on their three children, 11-year-old Alexis and 9-year-old twins Nathaniel and Kathryn.
The women met through a support group for mothers of twins and multiple births, and Wall told the magazine that Deirdre was a fun-loving, active woman.
“They were always doing things,” Wall said of the Zaccardis. “They were that family that had a summer bucket list.”
A family of five was found dead of gunshot wounds in their Abington, Massachusetts, home in an apparent murder-suicide. They have been identified as Joseph Zaccardi, his wife, Deirdre, and their 3 kids: https://t.co/b1X2BvPDYd pic.twitter.com/tEP46aIMKz
— Heavy.com (@HeavySan) October 8, 2019
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Deirdre had worked for many years as an office manager at EMI Strategic Marketing in Boston, while Joseph was a struggling children’s book author who was otherwise unemployed.
Wall told People that while Deidre was funny and outgoing, Joseph was relatively shy. She never saw any signs of martial discord and now says that she and others who knew the family wonder if they missed signals of the tragedy that was to come.
“We all questioned that yesterday, we did,” Wall said.
“We cried and we screamed and we questioned and we talked … But it was just the tip of the iceberg and we will never understand why this happened.”
A relative called police on Monday morning after they arrived to the Abington home to pick up the children for school, and saw Deirdre’s body on the couch. It is unclear at this time where in the home police found the bodies of the other family members, but all are believed to have been shot.
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