Staten Island Father Drowned Children, Then Killed Himself

Tales of voodoo and secret families are coming to light as police investigate the tragic drowning deaths of two Staten Island children, apparently at the hands of their father who then threw himself in front of a subway. After working a 3pm-11pm shift at a nursing home, Francoise Mercier found her 5 year old son and 2 year old son dead in a bathtub in their Daniel Low Terrace apartment at 11:40pm. A few hours earlier, her companion, Frantz Bordes, had thrown himself in front of a Q train at Church Avenue and was decapitated. Police found a suicide note on Bordes and more suicide notes at home, with Bordes claiming Mercier's family was using voodoo on him. Bordes' brother said that Mercier's mother used voodoo to cause his headaches, while Mercier's brother said that was untrue and that Bordes had threatened to kill the children before.

Mercier told the NY Daily News said that Bordes had two children and a wife in Haiti, and that she only found out recently about a third family he had in Queens. Mercier, who had asked a neighbor to check on the house when she didn't get an answer (after Bordes killed the children and left to kill himself), also wailed, "Why did he kill mine? He has two others here and two in Haiti. Why did he kill mine?... Why didn't I have a warning? I didn't see any signs. If I only saw signs." Police, who had originally suspected Mercier of killing her children, believe the kids were drowned; though the tub was dry, the 2 year old's diaper was soaked with water.