A Michigan woman who drove her car into a river, killing herself and twin daughters, had been talking about being “sad and lonely,” a family member said.
The bodies of Ineza McClinton, 44, and 9-year-old twins Angel and Faith McClinton were recovered Monday and Tuesday from the Kalamazoo River. Police released their names Wednesday.
McClinton was “having some difficulties in her life,” another daughter, Tishyron McClinton, told TV station WWMT . “She was talking about how she was tired, sad and lonely. Never in a million years would I thought she had a plot or a plan.”
Kalamazoo police said two more girls were let out of the car before it went into the river Monday at Verburg Park. Their relationship to Ineza McClinton was not immediately known. Capt. Brad Misner declined further comment.
“We’re still in the middle of the investigation,” he said.
Ineza McClinton and the twins lived in Grand Rapids, 50 miles (80.4 kilometers) north, but had family in the Kalamazoo area. Tishyron McClinton said she was among relatives Monday night.
“She had something to tell me, but when I asked her what it was, she couldn’t really get it out,” Tishyron McClinton said.
Candace Miller, who lived across the street in Grand Rapids, recalled how Ineza gave her daughter a pair of sandals.
“I don’t know what was going on to cause her to do that,” Miller said of the deaths. “You would never have seen it from the outside. … My daughter played with them every weekend.”
Jeanette McClinton wonders why Ineza, her sister, didn’t seek help.
“I want my mom back. I want my sisters back,” Tishyron McClinton said. “It’s a very hard pill to swallow.”
