Day of Reminders Her Children Won’t Return

Wendy Vernon did something Tuesday that most parents do only in nightmares: She signed documents certifying that her three children are dead.

“This is a horrible day,” she said, choking back tears and holding onto her daughter’s doll. “You can’t begin to understand. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Vernon’s children -- Amber, 12, and twin 10-year-olds Matthew and Robert -- died Saturday while visiting their father, Todd Vernon, at his home in Santa Clara. In an apparent fit of depression, Vernon, 37, fatally shot the children and his wife, Nadine, before turning the gun on himself.

Santa Clara police interviewed Wendy Vernon for about an hour Tuesday at the Buena Park mobile home she shared with the children. Part of the process, a police spokesman said, was showing her the typed, seven-page suicide note left by her former husband.

“It’s important for her to understand what happened,” Sgt. Philip Cooke said. “It was kind of a closure for both us and her. It’s just a tragedy.”

Cooke said police had interviewed Vernon to obtain more information about the children’s father in order to wrap up their investigation into the murder-suicide. “There’s indication that his new wife was going to leave him,” Cooke said. “He was not accepting the divorce very well.”

Indeed, the San Jose Mercury News on Tuesday quoted a friend of the couple saying that 39-year-old Nadine Nunes Vernon -- who made a good salary organizing trade shows for Adobe Systems and was the financial backbone of the relationship -- had chafed at becoming the family’s sole breadwinner after Todd left his job as a truck driver to spend more time with his children.

His constant presence around the house, Virginia Hamilton told the newspaper, was suffocating Nadine. Even after telling Todd to leave by January, Hamilton said, Nadine believed that he “would not leave willingly” and that “it would get ugly.”

Todd Vernon killed his children out of what his former wife described at a news conference as “spite, anger, hurt misdirected.” There were times, she said, when she had concerns about allowing the children to visit him, but “I never imagined they wouldn’t come back.” She said that there were never any clues that he would take his life.

Wendy Vernon said she hasn’t yet figured out how to cope with the loss. When she went to the grocery store, she said, she by habit bought pancake syrup for the children. Sometimes, she said, she calls out their names and looks for them around the house.

“I’m just numb,” she said. “I go in and out [of being numb and being] hysterical. I haven’t even accepted it yet.”

Memorial services are scheduled for Friday at St. Pius V Catholic Church in Buena Park, followed by interment at Forest Lawn in Cypress. A trust fund has been set up to help defray expenses. Contributions may be sent to Vernon Children’s Fund, Washington Mutual Deposit Servicing, P.O. Box 30810, Los Angeles, CA 90030-0810.