Mayor In Murder-Suicide Faced Spending Review
A Dallas-area mayor blamed for killing her daughter, and then herself, had faced a review of her city-related spending. A memorial service was scheduled Friday for Coppell, Tex. Mayor Jayne Peters and her 19-year-old daughter, Corrine Peters. Police discovered the two bodies Tuesday night at the family's house after the mayor missed a city council meeting.
The Dallas Morning News reported Friday that, hours earlier, City Manager Clay Phillips asked the city attorney to investigate the mayor's use of her city-issued credit card. Phillips declined to release an estimate of alleged questionable charges since October.
Texas Mayor and Daughter Apparent Murder-Suicide
Records show the Peters home, appraised at nearly $423,000, was posted for foreclosure last July, but never made it to auction.
The mayor's husband died in 2008.
A statement on the city's website says the memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church in Coppell, a city of about 40,000 located 15 miles northwest of Dallas.
A bizarre suicide note - apparently written by the mayor - was taped to the door of her suburban home when police arrived. The typed missive warned of a grim scene inside.
Three other notes were found at the house. But they did not offer an explanation for the deaths, only instructions for managing family affairs, such as care for the dogs, Coppell Deputy Police Chief Steve Thomas said Wednesday.
Bob Mahalik, mayor pro tem who is now acting mayor of the city, said he had a gut feeling something was wrong when the usually prompt mayor didn't show up for the meeting Tuesday night.
"But nowhere in your wildest dreams did you think it would be that far not right," he said.
Thomas said a semiautomatic handgun was used in the shootings, and there were no signs of a struggle.
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