An awful blank look, like spaced out look
From the end of the article about mom driving the kids into the drink:
"She had this look on her face..... I can't describe it. It was just an awful blank look, like spaced out look."
Nobody home. Evil? Drugs? Post-partum? Brains are such delicate, fallible things to have a mind in.
Thanks to Heaven the kids were okay. And may the mom get the help she needs.