Sonja Loja, 36, the mom who strangled her three kids and then killed herself, left a chilling note to her husband explaining that she took the kids with her. Neighbors reported that the woman's husband, Pedro Panjon, fainted after discovering the children's bodies. His wife left a two-page suicide note for him.
The mom killed her children, ages 12, 10, and five, inside their Danbury home on Wednesday and then hanged herself in a shed in the backyard, The Sun reports.
The father found that something was amiss when he went home from work that day. He went inside, discovered the gruesome scene, and after a couple of minutes, came out of the house and called 911 before fainting. Danbury police found Loja hanging in the shed.
No sign of violence
Panjon said he saw no signs of violence from his wife. He realized something was amiss when he arrived home from work that day, and none of the kids ran out to greet him. They would usually rush out yelling that he had arrived, then help bring his things in, like his lunchbox.
But that day, When he came home and found the door locked, he sensed something was wrong. When he saw his wife's letter, he did not have the heart to finish reading it.
The father immediately ran to a room and found his 12-year-old son, Junior Panjon, on the floor and his 10-year-old daughter, Joselyn Panjon, on the bed. His youngest, Jonael Panjon, 5, was in another room. Responders found Loja near a swing set and toys that children used in her illegal daycare operation.
On the day of the murder-suicide, she told her ten clients not to drop off their kids.
Suffering from depression
Loja arrived in the United States 15 years ago from Ecuador. According to News.com, the Connecticut mother battled depression and had been crying for days after her illegal child-care business was closed. A relative, Digna Naulaguari, 47, said that Loja's depression had gone untreated because she had no insurance and "it was too expensive to go to the doctor."
The recent closure of her illegal daycare business exacerbated her mental health condition, Naulaguari added. The closure made her so sad that she often said she needed to work. However, she wanted to work from home since she has three kids.
On Monday, Loja called her sister in Westchester County to tell her that she had not slept in days as she was "under a lot of stress." The sister promised to join her for a weekend barbeque with other family members, but she died two days after the call.
The two children who died were students of Danbury Public Schools. A team of professionals will be available at Morris Street School and Westside Middle School on Monday from 10 a.m. to noon to help family members, staff, and students process the tragedy, Hartford Courant says.
