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Debt A Factor In Family Deaths

Woods Faced Foreclosure, Owed At Least $460,000

April 22, 2009|By Matt Zapotosky , The Washington Post

Billotti-Wood's father broke into their house on Washington Street on Saturday morning and discovered all five bodies, Jenkins said. The children were still in their pajamas. Wood left six separate notes, four individually addressed to his wife and children and one note apologizing to his mother, father and sister, Jenkins said.

The sixth note, which Jenkins described as a suicide note, described the family's financial troubles, Wood's day-to-day stresses and his continuing battle with depression, authorities said. In that note, Wood said that he was taking medications and that they were ineffective, Jenkins said.

Police seized anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs from the house, Jenkins said. He said toxicology tests will reveal whether Wood was using the drugs. Wood and Billotti-Wood moved to Middletown last summer, after a brief stay in West Virginia, authorities said. Billotti-Wood was raised in Middletown, and according to friends and postings on her blog, she was excited to be closer to friends and family.

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The parents of Wood and Billotti-Wood released a joint statement yesterday.

"Chris and Francie shared a love for each other that was evident in their daily lives and interactions with others," the statement said. "Their devotion to their children was apparent to anyone even modestly acquainted with the family. ... We will always remember the sound of their laughter. And we rejoice in the knowledge that we will see them again someday when our Heavenly Father calls each of us home to his side."

Washington Post reporters Dan Morse and Steve Hendrix and Post researchers Meg Smith and Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this article.

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