Few Clues in Texas Mother-Daughter Suicide

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Police, as well as friends and family, are having a difficult time piecing together why the mayor of a suburban Dallas town would apparently shoot her 19-year-old daughter to death, then take her own life.

Jayne Peters, 55, was appointed mayor of Coppell, Tex., in May 2009, had served on its city council since 1998, and was known by her community as a spirited, cheerful public servant. She was also known as a devoted mother to her only child, Corinne, whom she was left alone with after the death from cancer of her husband, Donald in 2008.

“When I talked to her last Friday she was telling me she had found a place for her daughter down at the University of Texas (at Austin) and she was taking her to New York for a graduation present after high school,” Grady Smithey, a friend told the Dallas Morning News regarding his last conversation with Peters.

But police having ruled the deaths a murder-suicide have yet to understand why it happened. No clues were in the vicinity. No signs of struggle or forced entry were found in the house. Three notes placed sporadically through the house have not been released, but officials say they shed little light on the reasons for the tragedy. Instead, they were simply instructions on what to do with the family pets.

Still friends say that fear and anxiety, particularly after the death of Peters’ husband could be behind it all. “I think Jayne basically got through that period better because she was so interested in being sure that Corinne got through it well,”  said Smithey.

Susan Wentworth, a high school friend of Corinne’s,  agreed. “Corinne was concerned for her mom and what was going to happen to her when she went to school. I think Corinne’s mom was kind of afraid to live by herself.”