LONDONDERRY — The tight-knit Londonderry community is reeling after the tragic incident a week ago that shook a small neighborhood and left the four children of Suzanne and Binh Vernet orphaned.
The Vernets' neighbors in the pretty cul-de-sac bordering one of Mack's apple orchards on Adams Road are too distraught to talk yet about the incident ruled as a murder-suicide. But, they have quietly gathered fresh flowers into vases — one from each home — and placed them on and around a granite bench by the road where Suzanne Vernet used to sit each afternoon waiting for her children to come home from school. A note on each arrangement reads, "With all our love," with the name of a Fiddlers Ridge household.
On Wednesday evening, Oct. 22, police responded to a 911 call from one of the Vernet children at 4 Fiddlers Ridge Road. Suzanne Vernet, 46, was severely injured and airlifted to a Boston hospital where she died the next day. Her husband Binh Vernet, 48, fled the scene triggering a day-long manhunt. He was found dead Thursday, Oct. 23, in Rehoboth, Mass.
On Tuesday, the Attorney General's office released the results from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Massachusetts which determined that Suzanne Vernet's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and that Binh Vernet died as a result of hanging himself.
None of the four children were injured and they are staying with family in Massachusetts.
Londonderry police have had no prior relationship with the Vernets, according to Chief William Hart, but the Attorney General's office said said there appeared to have been some prior tension between the victim and defendant.
"We are looking into the extent of this," Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeff Strelzin said on Tuesday.
The children attended three schools in the Londonderry district and were involved in hockey, cheerleading and dance. The two oldest girls attended the Melissa Hoffman Dance Academy and have been part of the school's dance community for 11 years.
"They have such an extended family here that we had a gathering last Friday night for all of us to come together and talk," Hoffman said. School personnel from Londonderry High School, including Principal Jason Parent,came to the meeting as well.
"I was so touched that they came," she said. "It was huge."
Hoffman said that the outpouring of sympathy from the community in general has been amazing.
"Suzanne was a beautiful person inside and out and a dedicated mom, putting her kids first," she said.
Hoffman, herself a parent of four children in the school district, was one of a dozen parents who attended a private meeting held at the high school Tuesday evening to help parents cope with the tragedy and to gain guidance on how to talk with their children. School counselors and administrative staff have kept their doors open for students and parents since the incident.
Twenty school personnel including Superintendent Nate Greenberg, principals from Matthew Thornton, Londonderry Middle School and Londonderry High, and counselors made themselves available for the meeting.
"We came to provide whatever services or supports the children of our district may need," Greenberg said.
While the press was not allowed to attend the meeting, Greenberg scheduled a conference immediately following the meeting which Hoffman and another parent, Andy Stahly who is a neighbor of the Vernets, attended.
"I have two children at Matthew Thornton," Stahly said.
"The school has been so proactive with providing counseling and information."
During the private meeting, counselors gave parents guidance as to how to talk with their children and to make individual decisions about children attending any services.
Londonderry Middle School Principal Andrew Corey said he has been getting so many calls and e-mails from parents and others in the community asking what they can do to help.
"We all feel helpless at times like this," said Matthew Thornton Principal Carol Mack.
Mack said that during the Haunted Harvest scheduled this Saturday at the elementary school, the PTA will collect money for the Vernet Family Children's Fund. The school district and organizations that the children belong to are also brainstorming ways for future fundraising and will soon be setting up a Web site though the school district.
Melissa Hoffman's Dance Academy is having its annual bake sale fundraiser at Mack's Apples on Saturday, Oct. 31 from 9 am. to 3 p.m. and Hoffman said this year's proceeds will go to the Vernet family.
Contributions in Suzanne Vernet's memory can be made to the Vernet Family Children's Fund, P.O. Box 541073, Waltham, Ma 02454.
