Investigators from the Essex County District Attorney’s office and other law enforcement agencies are still trying to determine why Andrew Robinson, 56, shot and killed his wife and 12-year-old son before turning the gun on himself last week in the family’s Andover home.
“Nothing really to report now,” Glen Johnson, a spokesperson for Essex County D.A. Paul Tucker, said Monday. The office has not made any updates since issuing a news release Thursday afternoon and holding a media briefing that morning.
Investigators believe Andrew Robinson shot and killed his wife Linda, 55, and his son Sebastian shortly after the 911 call was placed from inside their $2 million Porter Road home at 3:21 a.m. Thursday. A funeral mass has been scheduled for Linda and Sebastian Robinson at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. John’s in Danvers, where Sebastian was a sixth grader.
According to a recording of dispatchers talking to officers on scene, a man’s voice yelling “Just kill me now!” could be heard on the 911 call. Officials have not said who placed the call.
If you or someone you know needs help, call 9-8-8 or the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting ‘Home’ to 741741 anytime.
Media reports since Thursday have portrayed the family as intensely private, noting Linda Robinson was a “doting mother” and a respected financial executive for North Andover-based Sema4 before leaving the company at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
“Linda was an extraordinarily private individual,” Mark DiSalvo, president and chief executive of Sema4, told the Boston Globe. “But for those who she wished to allow into her life, and I count myself as one of those individuals, she was extraordinarily open in terms of the intimacy of the crisis moments and the joyful moments in everybody’s life.”
Disalvo said Linda Robinson was also an “attentive, loving, close mother” who would bring Sebastian to work when he was younger. As he grew older, she homeschooled Sebastian for a period of time and started to find it difficult to balance her career and family. She also struggled with the death of her mother in early 2020.
More coverage on Andover News:
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Andrew was Linda Robinson’s second husband. He left his job at Channel Building Co. in Wilmington about six months ago. It’s not clear if either Andrew or Linda Robinson took new jobs after leaving Channel and Sema4.
DiSalvo told the Eagle-Tribune Andrew Robinson was “an equally private person.”
Linda Robinson’s father said he and other family members had rarely seen her or her family since the coronavirus pandemic.
“They went out and bought a big freezer and filled it with food, they hooked up the house with electrical generators,” Joseph Hachey told the Globe “No family meetings. I would ask my son, ‘Have you seen your sister?’ And he would say [jokingly], ‘Who? Linda went into hibernation’.”
Police had not been called to the home before, but Andrew Robinson had a license to carry firearms that expired last February. He was last known to own two guns.
Sebastian Robinson was a sixth grader who played cello at St. John’s in Danvers, where classes were canceled Thursday and Friday. The school held a prayer service Thursday and is planning more memorials for this weekend.
“As I’ve talked with his teachers this morning, the description they’ve continually offered is he was a very gentle soul who felt very grateful to be a part of the Prep community, had a tremendous friend group and was very connected to our music program, to our campus ministry program, and just someone who was very well-loved as a gentle soul,” Hardiman said.