Former O’side resident killed in Vermont

A Vermont woman upset because she was losing custody of her 9-year-old daughter shot and killed a social worker who was born and raised in Oceanside. Lara Kim Sobel, 48, died suddenly on Aug. 7 in Barre, Vt.

Forty-year-old Jody Herring pleaded not guilty to charges that she shot Sobel twice as the social worker left the Department for Children and Families in Barre. Police also believe she shot three of her family members to death. Herring was charged with first-degree murder in the Sobel shooting, but there are no charges yet in the death of her relatives.

Sobel was born in Oceanside on Feb. 26, 1967, the daughter of Alex and Bobbi (Schwartz) Sobel, and received her B.A. and master’s degrees from the University of Vermont. She was a caseworker for the state’s Department for Children and Families.

She is survived by her husband of 15 years, Timothy Faryniarz, and two daughters, Julia and Elahna Sobel-Faryniarz, all of East Montpelier, Vt., her parents, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Oceanside; and her sister, Lauren Sobel Shapiro, of West Orange, New Jersey.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the following charities: Camp Tel Yehudah, Prevent Child Abuse, Beth Jacob Synagogue in Montpelier and the Central Vermont Humane Society.