BY ELAINE DE VALLE AND GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES

 The mind-numbing reality started to sink in Wednesday as Yisel Placencia rushed to find emergency child care but couldn't stop crying from the constant stream of
 condolences offered by friends and strangers.

 Taking care of the grandchildren was abuela's job, a labor of love that Placencia's mother, Ada Lorenzo, faithfully discharged in her small Hialeah Gardens condominium.

 But Lorenzo, 52, is gone, the victim of a savage and unusual roadside attack in Cuba that also claimed her husband, another daughter, an 8-year-old grandson and a
 family friend under mysterious circumstances late Sunday or early Monday.

 ``Not only both my parents but my sister and my nephew,'' Placencia cried, tears streaming down her face as she raced to a day-care center. ``An 8-year-old boy? Why did they have to kill an 8-year-old boy?''

 NAGGING QUESTIONS

 The savagery of the slaughter is compounded by unanswered questions that keep Placencia and her brother, Osmani, awake at night. Who did this? Why did the driver stop the car? Was it a robbery or something else? Will the suspects be caught?

 Wednesday went by without any word of progress in the investigation by Cuban police. Placencia said her family in Cuba had not been contacted about developments, either.

 Cuba's official media reported nothing about the massacre for the third day in a row, and spokesmen for the Cuban government in Havana and Washington declined
 comment, saying only that the investigation was continuing. They would not confirm or deny reports from the island that authorities had made arrests in the case.

 Cuban leader Fidel Castro went on national television to talk about the unprecedented arrival of corn and other goods from from the United States but did mention the killings.

 The U.S. State Department said it had no knowledge of arrests or even specifics about the attacks. None of the victims were U.S. citizens.

 ``We obviously deeply regret the violent deaths of these individuals,'' a State Department official said. ``The Cuban government has indicated its intention to complete a full and prompt investigation of the crime, and we're going to stay in touch.''

 SHOT AND STABBED

 Relatives said Lorenzo and her husband, Celedonio Placencia, 60, were shot and stabbed as they traveled from Havana to their family's home in Santa Clara.

 The other victims lived on the island -- one of the couple's twin daughters, 28-year-old Yailén Placencia; their grandson Daniel Osmani Placencia Pérez; and Domingo Delgado, a family friend who picked them up at José Martí International Airport in Havana.

 The couple had flown to Cuba on Sunday to visit Celedonio Placencia's gravely ill mother, family members said. Their bodies were found along a stretch of the Ocho Vias highway near Matanzas.

 ``You couldn't have asked for better parents,'' Yisel Placencia said. ``They instilled in us a sense of family, a sense of self, a sense of accomplishment. They urged us to study.''

 HERE SEVEN YEARS

 Placencia was a nurse before the family fled the communist-ruled island in the massive 1994 rafter exodus. She now works as a medical assistant at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Funerals for the victims were held Tuesday, but it was not clear whether autopsies were done first on any of the bodies to determine the exact causes of death.

 Nor was it known whether Cuban authorities completed any of the other tests that are routine in the United States -- ballistics, crime-scene analysis, fingerprinting and more.

 Access to firearms is limited in Cuba primarily to government security forces, although some weapons are available on the black market.

 News of the assaults does not seem to have affected many travelers' plans, an unofficial survey in Miami showed.

 María Cruz, a travel agent at Servicuba in Hialeah, said the agency has not had any cancellations for tickets to Cuba.

 ``Some people have called asking questions, and they are a little scared,'' Cruz said. ``But everything has already been paid, all tickets are reserved -- nobody has
 canceled.''

 Herald staff writer Keny Feijoo and translator Renato Pérez contributed to this report.

                                    © 2001