Grisly Discovery- Children’s Author Commits Murder Suicide Killing His Wife and 3 Kids

Joseph Zaccardi, Children’s Book Author Kills Wife and 3 Kids. Then Commits Suicide In Massachusetts

Concerned relatives called 911, when they could not make contact with anyone in the Zaccardi family. Police arrived to the Abington, Massachusetts condo where the family lived and made the grisly discovery.

Zaccardi was found dead. along side the body of his wife, Deirdre,40, Alexis,11 and 9 year old twins, Nathaniel and Kathryn. The police said this was a murder-suicide, with Joseph killing his wife and children and then turning the gun on himself.

Zaccardi listed his occupation on Facebook as ‘unemployed and going crazy”. A relative went to the home on Monday to pick up one of the children for school, and found the lifeless body of Deirdre. When Abington Police arrived, they searched the condo and found the bodies of Mr. Zaccardi and the three children all deceased.

Zaccardi released a 36 page self published book ‘All Mixed Up’ in April of 2017, which was his 3rd book. His wife, Deirdre worked for ‘EMI Strategic’ as an office manager for almost 20 years.

EMI released a statement regarding Deirdre’s death, “We are deeply saddened by the loss our our long time colleague and friend, Deirdre Zaccardi”.

Friend Of Deirdre Zaccardi Saw No Signs Of Problems Before Murder-Suicide

The community of Abington, MA, 45 miles from Boston are stunned, and saddened by the death of the family. The school where the children attended are offering counseling ‘to anyone affected by the tragedy’.

They are also passing out green ribbons to pay tribute to the family. A close friend of Deirdre’s, Sarah Wall, is trying to make some sense out of what happened. She said, “It’s going to be a long healing process, that’s for sure”.

Sarah and Deirdre met each other when both of them belonged to a support group for mothers of multiple children in 2014. Wall said the two instantly hit it off, and became fast friends.

Sarah said everyone loved Deirdre, ‘she was funny, witty, sarcastic and unapologetically herself. People were just ‘drawn to her’ Wall said. After meeting, the two would carpool to their support group meetings, Wall says she will cherish the time she had with Deirdre.

Wall recalled that she and Deirdre had children around the same age. They often would get together with their children for play dates.

Friend Recalls The Couple Were Attentive Happy Parents This Tragedy Came Out Of Nowhere

Wall says the couple were extremely attentive to their children, and always did fun things, like ‘movie nights’. They were the family that always planned ahead, and had a huge bucket list of things they did during the summer breaks.

Walls said her friend Deirdre had a very happy outgoing personality, ‘very bubbly’. Joe, she said was much more reserved, and very shy and quiet. While Deirdre spent her days at work, Joe was at home.

Wall said he ‘struggled to make a living as an author’. When Sarah Wall heard of the deaths, she immediately let the support group members know. They all wondered what went wrong, and Wall said she wonders if she missed signs.

Wall said she’s taking life ‘one day at a time now’ and trying to understand what happened’.