December 26, 2008 NJ tree deaths has brother at loss for words Play video

(NECN) - Authorities in New Jersey are trying to figure out what caused a 40 foot tree to fall on a Massachusetts family's car on the way to a Christmas celebration.

Joel Baudouin of Arlington and his elderly mother, Marie Vernet of Boston, were killed in the accident early Christmas morning on the Garden State Parkway.

Baudouin was driving in the center lane of the Parkway in Bloomfield when the accident occurred. They were traveling to his brother's house.

"Right now, I'm shell shocked," Neil Baudouin said. "I don't even know the feelings -- I cannot even describe them."

Baudouin and his mother were pronounced dead at the scene. His two daughters, ages 11 and 13, were injured -- one with a broken leg and the other with minor injuries.