Mother Who Killed Social Worker And Three Relatives Left Threatening Voice Mail Prior To Murders, Court Hear

A Vermont woman name Jody Herring facing life in prison without parole for killing a state social worker and three relatives left a screaming message threatening to kill one of her victims just hours before the shootings were carried out, the daughter of one of the victims testified on Monday.

Tiffany Herring-Flint testified she heard her cousin, defendant Jody herring, leaving an expletive laced message on an answering machine telling Herring-Flint's mother and aunt they should stop calling the state Department for Children and families (DCF). Police say Herring believed her relatives had played a role in her losing custody of her nine-years-old daughter.

"You might want to stop calling DCF or I'm going to come there and shoot your brains out," Herring Flint said she heard Herring say on the answering machine in the house where Herring Flint's mother, Rhonda Herring, aunt, Regina Herring, and grandmother, Julie Falzarano died hours later.

Vermont DCF social worker Lara Sobel was shot and killed as she left work in Barree. Police later determined Herring had killed her relatives before she killed Sobel, although the three bodies were not discovered until the next day when Herring Flint went to the house in the Berlin, Vermont, to check on her mother and the others.

Court documents says Jody Herring was seeking revenge against those she believed responsible for losing her daughter.