Texas mayor murders teenage daughter, kills self

Mayor of Coppell, Texas Jayne Peters shot and killed her 19-year-old daughter before turning the gun on herself Tuesday night.

Friends of Peters, 55, sent police to check on the mayor after she failed to attend a scheduled city council meeting. It was then that the bodies of both women were discovered at their Coppell home. Jayne and daughter Corinne, who was set to attend the University of Texas at Austin as a freshman this fall, were found shot in the head. There were no signs of forced entry.

The local medical examiner has ruled the elder Peters’ death a suicide, and friends and Coppell say the mayor’s depression was not immediately apparent to those who knew her. Acting Coppell mayor Bob Mahalik said:

“She enjoyed what she was doing as mayor and she was good at what she did,” said Mahalik, who last saw Peters waving and passing out candy at the city’s July 4 parade. “She attended almost everything, every ribbon-cutting, speaking at the schools, the chamber, regional meetings.”

Both women were predeceased by Peters’ husband Don, who succumbed to cancer in 2008.