Local News

Children Hit On I-495 Were Killed By Aunt

LOWELL, Mass. (WBZ) ― The Middlesex District Attorney's Office says a woman purposely walked her niece and nephew into oncoming traffic on I-495 in Lowell last week.

Marcelle Thibault, 39, of Bellingham, her 5-year-old niece Kaleigh Lambert and her 4-year-old nephew, Shane Lambert, both of Brentwood, New Hampshire, were killed on Jan. 11 when they were hit by oncoming traffic.

"We believe that Ms. Thibault took her niece and nephew and walked with them into oncoming traffic on Route 495, tragically resulting in the deaths of the two young children while taking her own life in the process," District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a statement.

Investigators said Thibault stopped on the right side of highway after driving the wrong way down 495 the night of the accident.

Thibault then got out of the car and removed all her clothes and the children's clothes. She held both children in her arms and walked out onto the highway.

Police said the three were hit in the right or middle lane by one car, then hit again by another.

"It is beyond belief. It's unimaginable. It's unspeakable and it's a horrible tragedy," Leone said at an afternoon press conference. "There are not many other scenarios I can think of that are as tragic as this one."

The children were pronounced dead at Lawrence General Hospital.

Thibault was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital from Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and pronounced dead.

The district attorney's office said Thibault had a history of mental illness and added that drugs and alcohol were not factors.

Leone said Thibault did not leave a suicide note, and the family told authorities she appeared fine when she picked up the two children.

Leone is a veteran prosecutor and is accustomed to tragedy. However, this horrific murder-suicide affected him deeply.

"I'm a husband and I'm the father of two small children myself -- a little boy and a little girl," he said. "And when you have to consider the facts and the unimaginable tragedy like this, you don't separate out the personal and the professional."

Thibault was a stay-at-home mother of two teenage children. 

WBZ spoke with a family friend in New Hampshire about the tragedy. Paul Young said Thibault's and Kaleigh and Shane's family is suffering tremendous grief and sharing their loving memories of the children.

"I've heard stories from their parents the past few days about all the things they did -- hitting baseball and playing with dolls," Young said. "They were just great little four and five year old kids."

Young said Thibault had a brief period of problems withing the past year, but that she appeared to the family to be fully recovered and that there was no sign of relapse.

"Everything was perfectly normal by all accounts," he said.

Young said the community has rallied around the family, offering them support.

"They're getting a lot of outpouring and love from a lot of people throughout the community and that is what is going to get them through," he said.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)