Mother's Plan Goes Up In Smoke

"QUINCY, MA — The mother of an 8-year-old Quincy boy has been charged with first-degree murder after firefighters found the boy unresponsive in their apartment while a hibachi grill burned nearby.

"Li Rong Zhang, 39, was arraigned Friday in her room at a Boston area hospital, Police Chief Paul Keenan and Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said at a press conference at the Quincy police station. Zhang was hospitalized after firefighters found her and her son, Brandon Yang, unconscious in their 19 Yardam Lane apartment in the Germantown section of the city.

"They said firefighters had to force their way with a crowbar into the bedroom, where the boy and his mother were. A bureau was blocking the door.

"Police said there was a wok or hibachi grill in the center of the room. The grill was lit but nothing was cooking on it. Yang was found on a bed and Zhang was on the floor.

"The boy was pronounced dead at Quincy Medical Center on Thursday afternoon.

"Keenan said investigators believe the mother may have been attempting a murder-suicide.

"Yang’s 16-year-old brother first alerted authorities after coming home to find his mother and brother unconscious."

Source: PatriotLedger.com...

Charcoal & Bullets

"NOVI, MI — A husband apparently shot his wife and two young sons to death today, then drove a few miles away and killed himself by breathing in poisonous fumes from a charcoal grill he had placed in his car, police said today.

"About 11:30 a.m., Novi police responded to a home on Applebrook Drive near Nine Mile and Napier roads, where friends of a 39-year-old woman were concerned because her two sons, ages 4 and 7, had not shown up for school. The woman, who was having marital problems, had missed a scheduled appointment with a friend.

"Shortly after noon, police entered the home and found an apparent crime scene with three bodies, all dead from gunshot wounds.

"At about 2:30 p.m., the Oakland County Sheriff's Office found a suspect vehicle, a GMC Acadia, parked in a department store parking lot off Milford Road and Interstate 96. It was occupied by the 39-year-old husband, dead from an apparent suicide caused by a charcoal grill he had ignited inside the vehicle. The grill produced deadly carbon monoxide fumes.

"The deaths - believed to have occurred sometime within the past 24 hours - remain under investigation. Autopsies are pending.

"Investigators are pursuing several motives, including that the couple - who live in 2,500-square-foot, two-story brick home - apparently were having financial difficulties. The husband's business recently failed; the wife was an engineer."

Source: The Detroit News...

UPDATE:

01/16/2011 — Family was deeply in debt, facing bankruptcy...