Gail Parker's family should have celebrated her 69th birthday yesterday.
Instead, Parker's husband of 27 years and her only child, spent the day remembering the petite, stylish woman whose body was found in the Tucson desert almost 18 years ago.
"There's nothing more horrific than having someone you love more than anyone in the world murdered," said her daughter, Danielle Parker, who writes for The Huffington Post. She has shared her mother's story in the Post, on CNN and through other national news outlets over the years. A $100,000 reward is in the offering for anyone with information that can help solve the case.
"I'm doing everything I can. I'm pulling out the stops. It's been something that's haunted my life for almost 18 years. It's still as raw today as it was then," she said.
Gail Parker, a 51-year-old magazine writer, had been taking medication for manic depression, but stopped when it caused weight gain. As a result, her behavior spiraled out of control. In early March 1993, her husband called an ambulance to take Gail to Kino Community Hospital on East Ajo Way, where her psychiatrist had promised to meet her. However, the doctor never came and the hospital staffers would not admit her. Instead, they let her walk out the door, said her daughter. The family later received a settlement as the result of a negligence lawsuit.
On March 6, about 15 hours after Parker left the hospital, her body was found by three young bicyclists in the desert near East Broadway and South Houghton Road, 11 miles from the hospital. She had been struck on the head with a blunt object. Her purse and jewelry was missing. She was last seen alive about 1:30 a.m. at a convenience store on East Golf Links and South Harrison roads. Later that same day, her Mobil credit card was used at a Phoenix gas station. A month later, a fisherman pulled Parker's purse from a lake near Kanab, Utah, just north of the Arizona border on U.S. 89.
Status
Parker's case was last reviewed in November 2008, but there are no suspects or new evidence, said Sgt. Matt Ronstadt, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department.
Danielle Parker, a journalist who has experience covering crime, doesn't think detectives worked the case hard enough during the first 24 hours after her mother's death. Nor did they adequately follow up on leads, including a convenience-store security videotape and three viable suspects. "Right from the beginning they screwed up the investigation," she said earlier this week. She also wonders why the FBI didn't get involved in the investigation "since the case crossed state lines."
In their own words
Gail Parker was a homemaker who volunteered at a Tucson hospital and read to the blind.
"She was made to be a mother," said Danielle Parker, who was 25 when her mother was killed. "She was nurturing, caring, loving. My friends loved coming over to my house. She made my friends feel like her home was their home. She was hip and she knew the music that I liked. She'd learn all the songs and she'd sing along. Even if she didn't like it, she was interested because it was important to me. There was not a thing she wouldn't do for me.
"I do the best I can to emulate her and make her memory live on by being the most loving and compassionate person I can be," said Danielle Parker, who last year co-founded Children of Murdered Parents, a support group she hopes to expand nationwide.
About the series
Anyone with information is urged to call 88-CRIME. Tips also can be submitted online at www.88crime.org; or by text message at 274637, then enter tip259 plus your text message.
Contact reporter Kimberly Matas at kmatas@azstarnet.com or at 573-4191 if you have been a victim of an unsolved crime or if you are related to a victim.
