BARRE, Vt. — The Vermont woman who police say shot and killed a social worker because she was upset about losing custody of her 9-year-old daughter is scheduled to make her first court appearance.

Jody Herring has been held without bail since shortly after her arrest Friday following the death of Lara Sobel, who police say was shot twice in the head as she came out of the Barre office building that houses the regional office of the state Department for Children and Families.

Police also believe that before shooting the 48-year-old Sobel, Herring shot and killed two cousins and an aunt in the neighboring town of Berlin.

But no charges have been filed in connection with the deaths of Regina Herring, 43, and Rhonda Herring, 48, the suspect’s cousins; and Julianne Falzarano, 73, an aunt.

Herring, 40, is to appear in Vermont Superior Court in Barre this afternoon to answer a first-degree murder charge in Sobel’s death.

On Sunday, about 300 people packed into Barre’s Old Labor Hall to pay tribute to Sobel before marching to the parking lot where she was shot.

“Lara was a beautiful, beautiful individual and she really, really cared about the kids, all the kids,” Joseph Faryniarz, a cousin of Sobel’s husband, said during the vigil. “This is a tragedy and the family is doing the best that it can.”