Chapter 1: What happened to 911 operator Theresa Parker in March 2007?
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Life still goes at a small pace here in Lafayette, Walker County. You can be to work in just a few minutes, be home in a few minutes. We're located right in the heart of the Bible Belt.
In the end, David said, I have sinned.
Being able to go on Friday night to watch your children play football or watch your daughter cheerlead as I did, that's what small towns are all about.
She was the middle sister and I was the youngest. Teresa loved everybody. She loved family. That was the most important thing to her. You think of the best sister you could have and she was, definitely.
She's one of our own. You see her? She's 911 dispatcher. She's that person on the other end of the radio. When you're in need, she's there.
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Chapter 2: How did the community react to Theresa Parker's disappearance?
I hope they find her in good health.
Every morning when I open my eyes, I think about her. You know, at night when I lay my head down to go to sleep, I think about her. You know, Teresa, where could you be?
I don't believe that she would have just vanished off the face of the earth.
We knew that this was not the typical missing person case in Walker County. This was going to be bigger than Walker County when it was all said and done.
It was the first day of spring, March 21, 2007, a time of new beginnings for Teresa Parker, according to her sister, Christina Hall. She was at my house Wednesday night for about an hour, and we talked, and she wanted me to go to her new place. The 911 dispatcher and her police officer husband, Sam Parker, after 13 years of marriage, were divorcing.
The marriage was playing itself out, but it wasn't in a bad way.
Teresa was getting ready to move into her own apartment near her sister and nephews. She was just so excited to be closer and be able to help us out with them and spend more time with them. But when the sisters said their goodbyes that Wednesday night, Christina says something was different. When I hugged her that night, I just got this, the emptiest feeling, and it was really strange.
The sisters didn't talk at all the next day, Thursday, and Christina figured Teresa was just busy cleaning her new place. But by Friday morning, March 23rd, that empty feeling in her gut was back. I just woke up and felt like I had this black cloud over me, and I'm not usually like that. And I thought, I'm gonna talk to Teresa. She always made me feel better. Teresa didn't answer her phone.
Christina went to work, still hoping she'd hear from her sister at any moment. But every time the phone would ring, I'd check the ID to see if it was her. Could it be Teresa? Yeah, I thought, well, she'll be calling any time since I'd left her a message, because it was odd that she didn't call me right back.
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances surrounding the day Theresa went missing?
Mr. Parker advised us that the last time that he saw or talked to Teresa was approximately 7.30 on Wednesday, March 21st, when she was loading up her vehicle and taking things to her new apartment.
But according to the phone records, Sam Parker had called Teresa several times in the early morning hours. On that Thursday, she disappeared.
And in fact, there were two telephone calls. We believe that Mr. Parker was trying to get in touch with her. He denied making any additional telephone conversations.
Now that's bizarre behavior for a seasoned police officer who would know you'd pull the phone records.
I don't know if he forgot about them or if he was trying to cover that fact up. I'm not sure.
Then the crime scene specialist examined Teresa's Toyota 4Runner.
He turned around to me and said, we've got blood back here.
But I knew it was on then. And there was more. The back of the 4Runner had been obviously vacuumed.
You could see the vacuum marks.
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Chapter 4: How did Sam Parker's behavior raise suspicions during the investigation?
You're trying not to laugh.
I'm trying very hard not to laugh. If she's somewhere and she wants to be there,
If she's happy, then fine. You know, I don't care. Is it possible that she could still be walking around alive, that she just wanted to get away? No. It just doesn't make sense, and it's not a reasonable theory. Sam Parker murdered her, disposed of her body, and obviously it doesn't bother him that her family still cries for her every day.
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I've heard my whole life that she invented the margarita.
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Everyone is obsessed with it. They blog about it. They all have their own theories.
At Susie's Sunset Cafe, the breakfast crowd is buzzing about the Sam Parker trial, and everyone has an opinion. I don't know where she's at, but she's not dead. You don't think she's dead? I don't think she's dead. So you think she's still alive? I do. With no body, no crime scene, and no murder weapon, prosecutor Lee Patterson has an uphill battle.
You wish that you had everything, but that's not how a case works. And we felt like, even though we didn't have a lot of forensics, that we had a lot of other stuff that was really good. Defense attorney David Dunn. How unique is this in that there's no body?
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