Lufkin, TX: Names released for Lufkin couple found dead in apparent murder-suicide

By JESSICA COOLEY/The Lufkin Daily News
La Marque Police have released the names of the Lufkin couple found dead following an apparent murder-suicide Wednesday.
An employee of Ron Hoover RV park off Interstate 45 called police after finding the bodies of 63-year-old Gary Frank Parker and his 57-year-old wife, Kathleen, inside their travel trailer. The park employee entered their RV around 10 a.m. to service it, finding the gruesome scene, according to La Marque Police Lt. Kirk Jackson.
“It was apparent (Mr. Parker) shot (his wife),” Jackson said in a phone interview Thursday. “Their bodies were found on the bed inside the travel trailer. She was under the covers and he was on top of the covers, on top of her.”
A .380 was found under Gary Parker, who appeared to have shot himself in the chest after shooting his wife in the head, Jackson said. There was also a .9 mm handgun found lying on a nearby table next to a suicide note believed to have been written by Gary Parker.
“The note gave a reason, but that is not available for release at this time,” Jackson said. “The note also had contact numbers for the couple’s family.”
Jackson noted that police are not sure which of the guns Parker used to kill his wife. Both of the bodies were sent to the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy.
The couple is originally from Lufkin, but had been living at the park since November, Jackson said. They were known to travel.
The shooting was still under investigation by La Marque police Thursday afternoon.