Jody Herring's three relatives were found dead a day after police said she shot veteran social worker Lara Sobel with a hunting rifle.

Three people who are related to a woman who is accused of shooting a social worker after losing custody of her daughter were found dead in their Vermont home on Saturday. burlingtonfreepress.com

Family members told the Burlington Free Press that they discovered the bodies of sisters Rhonda Herring and Regina Herring and their mother, Julie Ann Falzarano, in their home in Berlin, Vermont. They had been shot to death. The two sisters were cousins of Jody Herring, who has been accused of shooting veteran Department for Children and Families worker Lara Sobel just after she left the DCF office building Friday afternoon. After shooting the social worker in the head at close range with a "high caliber" hunting rifle, Police Chief Tim Bombardier said Herring was quickly detained by people in and around the building, preventing any more casualties.

Sobel was pronounced dead at the scene. Sobel had been involved in a case in which a judge ordered Herring's 9-year-old daughter into state custody, Burlington Free Press reported. She worked at the DCF for 14 years and is survived by a husband and two daughters. Herring will be arraigned on Monday on a homicide charge, Bombardier said. Officials told the Burlington Free Press that police are investigating if there is a link between Sobel's murder and the deaths of Herring's relatives.

facebook.com Slain social worker Lara Sobel with her family.