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Frederick — Nine-year-old Elsa Rodriguez, one of four siblings found dead in their Frederick home Monday, was described by her third-grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School as an angel who was happy and had lots of friends, Frederick County Public Schools spokeswoman Marita Loose said Tuesday. Elsa's sister Vanessa, 4, was a prekindergarten pupil at the same school. Her teacher described her as a quiet child with "a smile that would melt your heart," Loose said. Vanessa recently began participating more in class and had learned to write her name and identify colors, she said. "Both teachers were very tearful this morning — they're feeling the loss," Loose said. A Hillcrest Elementary School community liaison called police to the Rodriguez family's house Monday after the girls had been absent for several days. Police found Elsa, Vanessa, their brother Angel, 3, and sister Carena, 1, dead in their beds, and the body of their father, Pedro Rodriguez, 28, hanged from a second-story bannister. Police have not found their mother, Deysi Benitez, 25. Loose declined to say when the two girls were last seen in school but said they had been absent several days. Officials at Parkway and Hillcrest elementary schools referred all inquiries to Loose. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Rodriguez family at this very difficult time," Hillcrest principal Grason Jackson wrote in a letter sent home with pupils on Tuesday. The letter included advice to help parents talk about the deaths with their children. Hillcrest Elementary teachers were given a statement to read to their classes, Loose said, telling pupils they had lost a friend and a classmate and she won't be coming back to school. Children were given the opportunity to ask questions, which teachers could answer appropriately, she said. Several grief counselors and a counseling team were called in to support teachers and parents. Loose said school officials met Tuesday morning to discuss creating a fund for the Rodriguez extended family. Benitez's sister lives in Frederick , but no related children attend Hillcrest, Loose said. Elsa didn't have a perfect attendance record and was sometimes late to school, Loose said, but her absence for several days was unusual enough to merit the community liaison's visit Monday. Elsa had attended prekindergarten at Hillcrest, Loose said, transferring to Parkway Elementary for kindergarten and part of first grade. She returned to Hillcrest by second grade. Vanessa, who enrolled at Hillcrest in November in an afternoon prekindergarten class, was usually brought to school by her mother, Loose said. Pedro Rodriguez attended parent-teacher conferences for Elsa, she said. The school system had provided "considerable community outreach" to the Rodriguez children while Elsa was in school, Loose said. She said she could not comment on services provided by the school system's Community Agency School Services program which helps families in crisis by connecting them with social service providers. CASS might assist families with joblessness, mental or other health problems and behavioral problems, she said. Calls to CASS representatives were not returned Tuesday. Second-grader Juan Ramirez, 7, who was walking home from Hillcrest Elementary on Tuesday afternoon with his father, said he hadn't known Vanessa or Elsa Rodriguez but their deaths were sad. Juan's father, Ramiro Ramirez, said he was concerned about how the deaths would damage impressions of the Hispanic community. "I'm worried about what other people may think of Spanish people. They may think we have a lot of family problems, but that's not right," he said. "It's very sad for everybody."
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