Vacationing mom killed in home with unharmed kids, ME cops say. Investigation underway

A mother was vacationing with her boyfriend and two young children before she was found dead at her family’s home in Maine, according to police.

Now authorities say Jennifer Lingard, 41, of Massachusetts, was killed, Maine state police announced in an Aug. 31 news release. That homicide designation comes months after her body was discovered inside the house in Lovell with her unharmed children on Feb. 24,

Two days later, her boyfriend Sami Daou, 31, was found dead from a drug overdose at his home in Newport, Rhode Island, roughly 220 miles south of where the couple had been vacationing, on Feb. 26, the release says.

An autopsy has ruled Lingard’s death as a homicide after toxicology results were recently received, according to police. An investigation is ongoing.

Authorities have not named any suspects as of Sept. 1.

Maine state police spokeswoman Shannon Moss told McClatchy News that Lingard did not die from a drug overdose.

Lovell is roughly 70 miles southwest of Augusta.

This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Vacationing mom killed in home with unharmed kids, ME cops say. Investigation underway."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.