Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
Jayne Peters -- Coppell, Texas Mayor -- Found Shot to Death with Daughter; Murder-Suicide Investigated
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 11:45 am
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| Corinne Peters' friends say she'd been arguing with her mother ever since her dad died of cancer in 2008 |
But friends didn't see it as anything more than two women battling the grief of losing a huband and father.
That changed yesterday when the normally punctual Jayne didn't show up for a meeting at City Hall, and never called to say she would be late. Police were dispatched to the mayor's home. Jayne and Corrine were both found dead, shot in the head.
Since there was no sign of forced entry, police are going on the initial assumption that it may have been a murder-suicide. They're not speculating which woman did the shooting, and they're still not ruling out that it could have been a double-homicide. But there's little doubt the two women had struggled after Donald Peters' death.
Their relationship had become rocky. Corrine confessed to friends that she'd had to delay her freshman orientation at the University of Texas due to mom's visits to the doctor. Jayne didn't seem to be in dire health, nor was it immediately apparent if her health had anything to do with the killings.
Jayne, a software developer on the side, showed no signs of emotional turmoil to her friends and colleagues. But one never knows what happens behind closed doors.
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| Friends describe Corinne Peters as a bubbly, ever-smiling young woman who hoped to become a dentist |
Though that doesn't end the investigation, it seems pretty clear that Peters first shot her daughter in the head and the neck, then went upstairs and turned the gun on herself. Police won't say if they found signs of a struggle.
When they first arrived at the home, they found a note taped to the door -- along with a key -- warning officers they'd find something horrific inside. The warning would prove accurate.
Corinne was found shot to death downstairs. They mayor had shot herself in the head upstairs.
Police found four notes written by the mayor with instructions on how to deal with the aftermath, one even detailing how to care for the family's two dogs. The notes don't seem to have provided any reason for the killings. Or at least if they did, detectives aren't talking.
The slayings came a surprise to Jayne's friends and colleagues. While Corinne confessed to friends that she often fought with her mother, the mayor is described as stoic and guarded with her feelings, someone more inclined to help another than reveal any problems in her own life.
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| Corinne talked excitedly about attending the University of Texas. But mom may have been stringing her along, since the school had never even received an application |
It's now clear the mayor had deep financial problems. Last year, a bank started foreclosure proceedings on her home, but that was halted for undisclosed reasons.
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| Corinne's mom failed to downsize her affluent lifestyle, though it was clear the family could no longer afford it. |
Then she started using her city-issued credit cards for purchases that were clearly outside the boundaries of city business.
The city manager had been asking her about $4,000 in questionable charges since last November. There was a $1,700 bill from a suburban Dallas rental car agency. Another $500 spent at a grocery store, and $300 spent at an upscale teen clothing store.
Though the mayor hinted that her husband hadn't left them in sound financial shape upon his death, it seems she had decided to keep up with the Joneses in this affluent suburb rather than downsize to reflect her new economic status.
It also seems she kept their increasingly dire financial position from Corinne. On her Facebook page, Corinne told of repeated attempts to attend freshman orientation at the University of Texas, only to be delayed by mom's doctor appointments. But the school shows no indication that she ever applied. Our guess is that Jayne had been stringing her daughter along, failing to tell her that she didn't have the money for college.
And that calls into question the notes Jayne left behind after killing Corinne. They speak of mom and daughter being unable to get past Donald Peters' 2008 death. But if you add up all the facts, it appears that Jayne's deceptions were closing in on her, and she decided to kill herself and her daughter to avoid bankruptcy and the embarrassment of being caught stealing from the city.
In one note found in the kitchen she wrote: "My sweet, sweet Corinne had grown completely inconsolable. She had learned to hide her feelings from her friends. But the two of us were lost, alone and afraid. Corinne just kept on asking, 'Why won't God let me die?' We hadn't slept at all and neither one of us could stop crying when we were together."
She also requested that there be no funeral, that mother and daughter be cremated together, and that paramedics should not resuscitate Jayne if she was found alive after shooting herself.
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| Corinne's mom appeared to be lying to her about a car she'd been given for graduation and attending the University of Texas |
"My sweet, sweet Corinne had grown completely inconsolable," Jayne Peters wrote in a suicide note found in her home. But that trauma now seems more about discovering her mother's lies than the death of her father two years earlier.
If Corinne was in the depths of despair in the weeks leading up to her murder, she surely wasn't acting like it. She'd been driving a new Hyundai Sonata, which was a graduation gift from her mother, she'd told friends. In reality, Jayne had simply rented it using a city credit card.
Corinne also wrote repeatedly on Facebook about her excitement over attending the University of Texas this fall. She'd missed a number of appointments to attend freshman orientation due to her mom's doctor appointments, and was scheduled to attend another session the day she died.
But it now looks like Jayne's lies caught up to her that morning. Neighbors saw Corinne haul stuff to the car at 6 a.m. on the morning of July 12. About 15 minutes later, mom was seen carrying the items back into the house.
An hour later, Jayne returned the Hyundai to an Avis location. By this point, she may have already killed Corinne.
An autopsy revealed that Corinne was shot sometime between the morning of July 12 and 7 p.m. the next night. But the report doesn't seem as if Corinne willingly died. She was shot in the back of her neck from a few feet behind her. The bullet traveled through her neck and out her cheekbone. She was found in the laundry room with towels wrapped around her head.
Police don't know how long it took Jayne to eventually turn the gun on herself. According to the autopsy, she might have spent almost two days in the house with her dead daughter before finally killing herself.
Tags: Texas
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