Sonia Loja wrote her husband a farewell letter, where she also apologized for killing her children and then committing suicide: “I’m sorry, Pedro, I’m taking my children,” said her cousin about part of the content.
The 36-year-old woman had struggled for a long time against depression; had been crying for days over the closure of her illegal childcare business, according to local media reports.
The tragedy caused shock in Danbury, Connecticut, where Loja had her daycare, which he did not have operating permits, so he had an open investigation against him.
The Daily Voice in Danburi indicated that the woman of Ecuadorian origin was recently summoned twice by state authorities, due to her childcare business, which is essential, revealed Maggie Adair, director of government relations and
The problem had been going on for several weeks, according to Adair, since on Wednesday 31 in May, the office received an anonymous complaint from that child care was being provided at the dwelling marked with the number 10 of Whaley Street.
On Friday the 2nd of June, staff from the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) made a surprise visit to the house a de Loja, where he confirmed the anonymous complaint.
“OEC personnel visited the home and verified that Mrs. Loja was providing illegal care,” said Adair.
Because of this, the Ecuadorian received a Notice about the illegal operation of her child care center and was ordered to end that work, so the Tuesday, June 6, OEC personnel made another visit to verify the cessation.
That day, Loja stated that the children who were in his house were relatives.
“Additional investigative steps were followed in an effort to verify whether the children were relatives ”, indicated Adair.
On Thursday 29 in June the authorities made another visit and discovered that Loja was still operating the daycare, despite the fact that a month ago the opposite was demanded of him. The next day it was confirmed that she stopped receiving children.
The legal situation and the lack of income could have been a trigger for Mrs. Loja, who decided to take her own life and kill her children.
Junior Panjon, of 12 years; Joselyn Panjon, 10 years old, and Jonael Panjon, 5 years old, were found dead by strangulation by their mother, who later hanged herself.
The crime scene was found after Pedro Panoja, the father and husband, who called the Danbury Police for help, since he had been trying to contact his wife, but she did not answer him, according to a report by The New York Post.
“I feel terrible,” an exhausted Panjon told The Post on Friday. “There was nothing wrong with how Sonia acted”.
The devastated father saw his children on the floor and in bed, apparently killed with electric cables. The mother was hanging in the shed in the backyard.
It is stated that she had problems with depression, which were exacerbated by the legal complications of operating the daycare illegally.
“Then she was crying, she was very sad. She was like, ‘I need to work,’ but she had three kids, so she wanted to work from home. She wanted to stay and take care of her children and the other children”, said a cousin.