BOSTON — A mother who killed her two young children and then herself in Boston on Christmas Day had worked as reporter at a Rhode Island newspaper before working at a Massachusetts biotech company.

The Providence Journal reports that Erin Pascal was a two-year reporting intern in the newspaper’s South County bureau from 2001 to 2003.

The newspaper reports that Pascal – then Erin Emlock – graduated from Brown University in 2001.

Former Journal reporter Tracy Breton, who taught Pascal at Brown and kept in touch with her for some years after, recalled her as a “serious” and “intense” reporter who loved interviewing people.

Former Journal reporter Jennifer Jordan, who had kept in touch with Pascal over the years, said Pascal seemed to enjoy her current company, where she had moved up rapidly through the ranks.

After the Journal, Pascal went on to work in the biotech industry in nearby Massachusetts, most of it at Sanofi Genzyme in Cambridge.

The 40-year-old Boston resident was named company’s director of corporate social responsibility and community relations in October, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Authorities say Pascal and her children – Allison, 4 , and Andrew, 15 months – fell from the top of a parking garage near the MBTA Ruggles Station.