On a summer afternoon in Barre, Vermont, the life of Lara Sobel, a 48-year-old White female social worker, was brought to a tragic and abrupt end. On August 7, 2015, as she was leaving her office at the Department for Children and Families she was confronted by Jody Herring, a 40-year-old woman who had recently lost custody of her nine-year-old daughter in a case that Sobel had been involved with. Herring, armed with a hunting rifle, shot Sobel twice, killing her in the parking lot.
The brazen attack was witnessed by several people who quickly intervened, tackling Herring and holding her until law enforcement arrived.
The investigation into the shocking murder of the dedicated 14-year veteran of the DCF soon revealed an even greater tragedy. Before driving to Barre to ambush Sobel, Herring had committed a horrific act of violence against her own family. Earlier that day, she had gone to the Berlin home of her relatives and shot and killed her two cousins, 43-year-old Regina Herring and 48-year-old Rhonda Herring, as well as her 73-year-old aunt, Julianne Falzarano. Herring reportedly believed her relatives had played a role in her losing custody of her child. The discovery of the three additional victims turned a targeted killing into a chilling quadruple homicide.
In the aftermath of the killings, Jody Herring was arrested and faced multiple charges. During her arrest, she was described as calm and even laughing. She was charged with one count of first-degree murder for the death of Lara Sobel and three counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of her family members. In July 2017, Herring pleaded guilty to all charges. Her defense attorneys pointed to a lifetime of trauma and abuse as mitigating factors, but the prosecution highlighted the planned nature of the attacks. Ultimately, Jody Herring was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for her deadly rampage.
