On February 14, 1964, 40-year-old Judith E. Cox committed suicide by shooting herself in the head in basement of the family home at 421 Carolyn Drive in the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood of Falls Church after fatally shooting three of her four children: 14-year-old Danny, 11-year-old Laurie Beth, and 4-month-old Timothy, and mortally wounding the fourth, 2-year-old Joe.

The gun with which she committed the act was found still clutched in her right hand and a series of rambling notes in the other when her body was discovered by her husband, Jefferson Elementary School principal Thomas J. Cox.