UPDATE 1-Deaths of Boston mother and children likely murder-suicide, official says

The deaths of a 40-year-old woman and her two young children who fell from a Boston high-rise parking structure on Christmas Day were apparently a murder-suicide, the local district attorney said on Thursday.

"The evidence suggests" that the mother, Erin Pascal, jumped to her death after causing her 4-year-old daughter and 16-month-old son to fall to their deaths, said Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins. The deaths of the two children "were likely" murder, she said. Pascal, her daughter, Allison, and her son, Andrew, were all of Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood.

"Today is an extremely sad day as we begin to put together the pieces of a tragedy that took place yesterday, on Christmas," Rollins said at a news conference in Boston. The deaths, she said, "highlight the invisible struggles" with depression or other mental ailments that many people suffer from. "Most importantly, I want to extend my sincere condolences to this family," Rollins said.

She said the two children fell first, followed by Pascal. The investigation is ongoing. There have been no suicide notes found and no known complaints about the mother, Rollins said.

The prosecutor described the scene as "awful" and especially heartrending because it happened on Christmas. "There were children's shoes and adult shoes. Just belongings from the children and the mother strewn upon the street. The impact of the fall was visible from the street," Rollins said.

Aerial news video of the scene showed police investigators huddled on the rooftop around a black sport utility vehicle with three of its doors open beside the wall around the top level of the structure. The area around the SUV was cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape. The victims' vehicle was found at the parking structure, with one child seat facing forward and the other backward, Rollins said on Wednesday.

The parking garage, which appeared to be about nine levels high, is adjacent to a transit station near the Northeastern University campus.