P.C. FL: More on Elaine Parent Case...
Slimpickins
Officials identify suicide victim as murder suspect
By DAVID ANGIER
The News Herald
St. Lucie County officials confirmed Monday that the woman who killed
herself in a Panama City home was the person they were seeking in connection
with a brutal murder.
"We've identified our material witness," said Nora Pfeiffer, a 19th Circuit
State Attorney's Office investigator. The 19th Circuit includes St. Lucie
County and is based in Fort Pierce.
Elaine Antoinette Parent, 59, shot herself Saturday night at 449 S.
MacArthur Ave., where she rented a room. She'd been living there under the
name Darlene Thompson. Police said she shot herself in the chest with a
.357-caliber Magnum revolver after officers asked to talk to her.
A Bay County Sheriff's Office investigator on Monday matched fingerprints
from the body to Parent's known prints.
St. Lucie County investigators spent Monday in Bay County looking over
Parent's personal items and her remains. They were conducting interviews
into the evening and were expected to stay overnight.
Panama City police went to the residence Saturday after the television show
America's Most Wanted aired a story earlier that night profiling the search
for Parent. Investigators have been on her trail since 34-year-old Beverly
McGowan's body was found on July 19, 1990.
Pfeiffer said Parent had not been charged with McGowan's murder and was
being sought as a witness.
She said investigators were looking for a woman named "Alice" immediately
following McGowan's death. McGowan told her friends and family that she'd
taken in a new roommate named Alice.
It wasn't until 1996 that an investigator determined that Alice was actually
Parent.
Pfeiffer said Parent flew to London a few days after McGowan's body was
found. Since then, she'd been tracked to California and Miami. She'd been
known to use a number of aliases.
McGowan's body was mutilated in an attempt to conceal her identity, police
said.
Panama City Police Department Cmdr. Mitch Pitts said investigators were
hoping to find more information on Parent's movements through her personal
items. But, he said, she lived a Spartan life that was suited to someone who
was on the move and ready to move on quickly.
Among the items officers found in Parent's room was a newspaper article
about a new device that would be used at the airport for identifying known
fugitives.
Pitts said Parent wouldn't allow anyone to photograph her and didn't
associate with neighbors. She lived with a woman in the MacArthur Avenue
home, but that woman didn't know anything about her background.
Parent also had dyed her hair and had a mole removed from her face.
"She was a clever lady," Pitts said. "I'm amazed that anybody could have
spotted her."
Parent paid her rent, but Pitts said no checks or cash were found in her
room. He said it's possible she had an "escape kit" where emergency funds
were stored and could be located quickly.
Pitts said investigators were trying to determine who called America's Most
Wanted with the tip. Anyone with information on Parent is encouraged to call
the police department at 872-3112.
Pitts said police believe Parent had been in Bay County since at least
August.
The writer can be contacted at dan...@pcnh.com