Man Accused of Murdering Wife, 4 Kids

(Mason, Ohio) A 34-year-old married, father-of-four, Michel Veillette, was charged yesterday with five counts of murder and one count of arson in the deaths of his wife, Nadya Ferrari-Veillette, 33, and four children, Jacob and Mia, both 3, Vincent, 4, and Marguerite, 8.

Police and fire squads were called to the Veillette residence about 10 P.M. Friday to find it ablaze, an apparent arson in which an accelerant was used.

The Warren County coroner said today that Nadya Ferrari-Veillette died from multiple stab wounds while her 4-year-old son, Vincent, likely was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation. Accelerant was used to start the fire, he said.

Toxicology tests, due from Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab in six to eight weeks, could confirm the cause for Vincent’s death, Dr. Russell Uptegrove said.

Uptegrove wouldn’t say how many times Ferrari-Veillette was stabbed or the location of the wounds. The knife was recovered from the Brackenview Court house, where accelerant was used to start the fire, he said.

The causes of death of the other three Veillette children may be released in two days, when toxicology tests are finished, said Hamilton County Coroner O’dell Owens.

"The key will be toxicology," Owens said. Police have said that none of the children were stabbed.

The autopsies are being split between counties, because Ferrari-Veillette and Vincent died at the scene in Warren County while the other three children died at Bethesda North Hospital in Hamilton County. Warren County has Montgomery County Coroner’s Office in Dayton perform its autopsies.

The children -- 3-year-old twins Jacob and Mia, 4-year-old Vincent and 8-year-old Marguerite -- were so badly burned that a strong smell of smoke lingered long after they were pronounced dead at Bethesda North Hospital Friday night.

Michel Veillette, a self-employed contract engineer, survived the fire. He was found sitting in the front yard of the residence when authorities arrived. Like his wife, he had stab wounds. Veillette is in serious condition at University Hospital in Cincinnati. No motive for the deaths has been disclosed.

Inexplicably, the Veillette tragedy is the third report in less than a week where four children in one family were murdered. On Wednesday, it was reported that a crack-addicted father, Lam Luong, threw his four young children into the Intracoastal Waterway along the Gulf Coast. On Saturday, it was reported that a Washington, D.C., mother, Banita Jacks, is responsible for the strangulation and/or blunt trauma deaths of her four children.

I pray there's no more.