CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) – Marcelle Thibault was a stay-at-home mom so she could take care of her own teenage children. She volunteered to organize activities for teens at her church. She frequently threw parties at her home for her nieces and nephews. She loved kids.
But prosecutors say Thibault, who had picked up her niece and nephew for a “pirates and princesses” sleep-over party, instead drove them onto a busy highway, took them into her arms and walked into the road to be killed by oncoming traffic in a double-murder suicide that has baffled authorities, family and priests.
Thibault, 39, of Bellingham, and the children of her twin sister, 5-year-old Kaleigh Lambert and 4-year-old Shane Lambert, both of Brentwood, N.H., were killed on Jan. 11 when they were struck by two cars.
“There are not many other scenarios I can think of that are as tragic as this one,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said Friday. “It is beyond belief, it is unimaginable, it is unspeakable, and it was a horrible tragedy.”
Leone said Thibault drove her 2003 Lincoln sedan south on Interstate 495 in Lowell that night, turned the car sharply, crossed the median and northbound lanes and then began driving against traffic in the breakdown lane.
She then stopped on the right side of the road, got out of the car and removed her clothes and undressed the children, Leone said. She picked them up and walked onto the highway.
“I never saw any signs of problems,” said the Rev. David Mullen, pastor of St. Brendan’s Church in Bellingham, where Thibault was a frequent volunteer. Mullen described her as “very positive and very generous.”
Murder-suicide, he said, was “inconceivable.”
Leone said Ken and Danielle Lambert, whom he described as loving parents, would not have allowed their children to go with their aunt if they were not certain they would be safe.
Leone said Thibault had received treatment for mental illness. Paul Young, a spokesman for the Lambert family and friend from St. Michael’s Parish in Exeter, N.H., did not know the details, but said it was a “brief, isolated incident in her life” within the past year.
“She appeared to be fully recovered from that, and there was no indication of a relapse,” he said.
Leone said no drugs or alcohol were involved. He blamed her mental illness for what she did and said it was impossible to determine any motive.
“It is far too complicated, too complex a dynamic and illness for us to be able to make any real determinations about what exactly the cause was or what exactly was in her mind,” he said.
Young said Kaleigh and Shane, the only children of Ken and Danielle Lambert, were typical youngsters, full of energy and well behaved.
“They’re a great family,” Young said.
The family pleaded for prayers and privacy in a statement released through the district attorney’s office.
“This is a time of terrible tragedy for our families. We love Marci, Kaleigh, and Shane and we miss them very much,” the statement said. “We ask everyone to join us in prayer for their souls, and to help us get through this most difficult period of our lives. We ask that the media respect our privacy and allow us the time to grieve and heal as we mourn our great loss.”
The Rev. Marc Drouin of St. Michael’s Parish said Ken Lambert spoke at his children’s funeral Thursday.
“Ken’s words yesterday at the funeral, that he spoke at the end of the Mass, said it so well, that people asked how can we help you, and his response was just, ‘Love your families, love your children and be present with them because you never know when that will be the last time that you see them.”‘
He said he never saw evidence of any problems.
“To go from one situation where things are perfectly fine and normal to finding out 45 minutes, one hour, two hours later that your children have died in an accident is just complete devastation and shock,” Drouin said. “It makes it difficult because there is no explanation to what happened and what caused it to happen and that’s the worst part I think for the whole family.”
The drivers of the vehicles involved in the crashes, Jennifer Jolly, 47, of Lowell, and James Scammon, 43, of Portsmouth, N.H., were not injured. They could not immediately be reached. A person who answered a number listed to Jolly said it was a wrong number, and a man answering a phone listed to Scammon hung up.
Authorities said there would be no charges filed against them.
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Associated Press Writers Melissa Trujillo and Mark Pratt in Boston, and Stephen Frothingham in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.
AP-ES-01-18-08 1827EST
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