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.
