Lafourche mother kills her children

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Amy Hebert, 40, allegedly stabbed her two children to death Monday morning in a neighborhood one police officer described as being a great place to see Christmas lights.


“This is an incomprehensible tragedy that is unprecedented in our area,” said Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre.


Concerned when Hebert didn’t show up for work, a co-worker dropped by Hebert’s house at 118 St. Anthony Street in Mathews, a home in sight of Central Lafourche High School’s stadium lights, which tower above a field of green sugarcane.

Her vehicle was parked in her carport and the doors were locked from the inside, but no one answered the door. The co-worker then contacted an unnamed family member, who lived nearby.


Shortly before 9:30 a.m., the family member contacted the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, concerned after not seeing activity at the home and believing the children had not made it to school.


An off-duty deputy arrived on the scene first. The family member and the deputy broke into the home through a back window, Webre said.

Once inside, the off-duty deputy quickly identified the area as a crime scene and removed the family member. Other deputies arrived and secured the scene.


Deputies discovered Hebert, conscious, under the covers in her bed with her two children, Braxton, 7, and Camille, 9.


Several kitchen knives were discovered in the area of the bedroom, Webre said.

“I don’t know if one or more knives were used,” he noted.


Deputies determined the children were deceased, appearing to have died from stab wounds. The official cause of death will be determined by autopsies.


Hebert sustained allegedly self-inflicted knife wounds to her wrists, neck, chest and abdomen, but survived.

Webre reported she didn’t say anything to the officers related to the homicide, but did not expand on what she did say to the deputies.


Hebert was secured and taken to the Ochsner St. Anne Hospital by ambulance.

Hebert remains unresponsive in the Intensive Care Unit. Webre described her condition as “touch and go” as of press time Monday.

The last reported contact with Hebert and her children before the incident was around 7 p.m. Sunday, the night before the murders. She and her children were seen speaking to a neighbor.

The family and friends of Hebert described her as being depressed, but never imagining she would be capable of such an act.

“In speaking to friends and neighbors, there was absolutely no indication that Hebert was capable of such an act,” Webre said. “All indications are that Hebert was a caring mother devoted to her children. Nevertheless, all of the evidence indicates that Amy Hebert killed her two children and, if she survives, she will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder.”

Webre said Hebert is the suspect based upon the fact the doors were locked from the inside and other indications at the scene the crime could only have been committed by one person.

The sheriff refrained from giving details, citing the potential prosecution of Hebert.

The father of the two children has been divorced from Hebert for over a year, but they shared custody of the children.

Webre said there was no indication Hebert had any history with law enforcement at all.

She worked as a para-professional at a local elementary school and was described by those who knew her as being very active in her church. And she was local to Lafourche Parish, having lived in Thibodaux at one point.

The sheriff’s office contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Behavioral Crime Unit for assistance in investigating the murders, Webre said.

“As of now, based on the people we’ve talked to, we’ve not developed a specific motive and may never, but it’s going to be a long laborious process,” he added.

Webre said he was surprised to learn the FBI has at least 190 documented cases of parental/child homicide.

Lafourche mother kills her children