Police in Wardsboro, Vermont are investigating an apparent murder-suicide that occurred over the weekend, resulting in the deaths of 40-year-old Nicole Waring and her daughter, 6-year-old Dakota Waring. A second daughter, 2-year-old Grace Waring, remains missing.
On the morning of April 12, a dispatcher at the Vermont State Police barracks in Rockingham received a 911 call from the parents of Nicole Waring, who reported their daughter and two grandchildren had gone missing. Nicole had been staying with her parents and had allegedly been acting strange and despondent in the preceding days, leading them to fear for her safety.
“The parents reported the mother being last seen at their residence at 2300 hours on 4/11/08,” reads a press release issued by the Vermont State Police. “At approximately 0100 hours on 4/12/08 family members report hearing noises indicating that someone had left the residence. Upon further investigation the family members found that the mother and her two children had left the residence in an unknown direction. Family members initiated a search in the general area which had negative results.”
When state police troopers arrived at Nicole’s parents’ house they interviewed her family members and began to prepare for a formal search. State Police Sgt. Robert McCarthy then spotted Nicole and Dakota standing on the banks of a swollen brook, roughly 100 yards away from Nicole’s parents’ house.
What happened next was shocking.
“The Sergeant attempted to engage the mother in a conversation in an effort to get her away from the brook. She ignored him and failed to respond to his verbal commands. She then entered the water while holding the child. The Sergeant ran towards the woman and found her standing against a large rock in water that was waist deep along the edge of the brook. As he reached for the woman and child, the woman pushed away from the rock, entering the turbulent water carrying her and the child downstream.”
Sgt. McCarthy and other troopers ran along the bank in an attempt to rescue Nicole and her daughter, but the swift current kept them from safely entering the rough waters. Not until troopers made their way to a calmer area downstream were they able to recover Dakota’s body. The little girl was unresponsive and pronounced dead. Less than a mile from where Dakota’s body was recovered, troopers found Nicole’s body floating in the water. Like her daughter, she was unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene.
Preliminary autopsy results indicate both mother and daughter died as a result of drowning.
Despite a massive search of the area, troopers have not yet been able to locate Grace, and it remains unclear if she too drowned in the brook. According to police, Nicole’s husband was in Massachusetts at the time of the incident.
Anyone with information in this case should contact the Vermont State Police at 802-875-2112.
*UPDATE*
Searchers have recovered the body of 2-year-old Grace downstream from where her mother and sister were found.