Found Deceased TX - Carey Parker, 23, Quinlan, 17 Mar 1991 *found in 2021*

[Bit of hope]

My sister and I have become VERY intrigued with this case. After listening to podcasts and looking at Google for information I have a few questions that maybe someone with more insight or info on the case. Her and her sister went before Feb. 21 to renew their licenses on Feb. 21, 1991 and a gray Buick skylark was impounded. The night of her disappearance someone said she left work to go straight to a party where she was seen driving down the road with a guy in his car, they came back and he came back to the party and she left in her brown Camaro. Could she have not had the money to get her car out of impound and they are looking for the wrong vehicle?

Actually I came across this case "by accident" and felt for her and her family. At this moment I don't know the exact details about her car. I looked for info about the car (not getting through everything there is) and part of your post I don't get. According to the missing persons report this is what I found.

She drove a 1980 bluish-gray Buick Skylark, which has never been recovered.

What I don't "get" is....she seemed to be riding her Buick...so my conclusion would be: she got it back after impounding. Where is the brown Camero coming from, you say this was (also?) her car? In what car was she seen driving down the road (with a male friend)?

 

[Lwhite2018]

Actually I came across this case "by accident" and felt for her and her family. At this moment I don't know the exact details about her car. I looked for info about the car (not getting through everything there is) and part of your post I don't get. According to the missing persons report this is what I found.

She drove a 1980 bluish-gray Buick Skylark, which has never been recovered.

What I don't "get" is....she seemed to be riding her Buick...so my conclusion would be: she got it back after impounding. Where is the brown Camero coming from, you say this was (also?) her car? In what car was she seen driving down the road (with a male friend)?

In the podcasts and I believe it was the last one when he went and spoke with the sheriffs department. The reporter mentioned the Buick to them and they said it was the first they heard of her having a different car other than the camaro. Now because I believe because the ex is or was a prime suspect at the time he is the one that said she drove to the party in the camaro left with a gentleman and drove down the road and they came back, he then returned to the party and he saw her leave in her brown camaro. And that was the last he saw of her. The below picture is where they talk about the arrest and impounding of the car. Saying they don’t know if she ever picked it up or not.

 

[MelindaB320]

I became interested in Carey's case while looking at the Kinslow case. I appreciate the podcast by George Hale...It really presented a lot of information! I have a few questions that maybe someone can answer. (Maybe I missed something)

1. Why has no one spoken to Todd Langford? Seems like he might be able to shed some light on the timeline of the party! and a bit more!
2. I see that Carey, Patricia, Todd, Cody, and even Glenn appear to all be pretty close in age. (1965-1969) Has anyone looked through Ford High School yearbooks to see if anyone can identify who Cactus could be? Was Todd the same Todd Langford that is in the 1984 Yearbook as Patricia Parker? I do not see Cody or Carey in that yearbook.
3. Does anyone know the first names of the friends Carey was living with when she went missing? Mr and Mrs Cotton? Has anyone spoken to them as to when they last saw Carey? Seems like if she was staying with them, they also might be able to shed some light on timeline.
4. Has anyone interviewed or spoken to Gayla Sessions?
5. Was Cullen Smith related somehow to the Parker family?
6. For a car to not have any information on it... You would think it has either been buried somewhere, ran off in a body of water or crushed at a salvage yard. Hard to believe that there is really any other options than that!

I hope and pray for the family's sake that someone comes forward to help this family find some closure! NO ONE should ever have to close a chapter of a life like this! Prayers to the family and I am so, so sorry that trying to find some answers has caused a bigger rift in the family.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Just finished reading every comment. I have not even gotten to the podcasts yet. Lord have mercy. This poor family.

 

[jexpar]

Bumping for Carey

 

[scoodyboo]

Looks like some developments, according to the Hunt County Theft Report Facebook page, per George Hale tweets. Car parts with VIN of Carey's car pulled from Lake Tawakoni.

 

[Bit of hope]

Looks like some developments, according to the Hunt County Theft Report Facebook page, per George Hale tweets. Car parts with VIN of Carey's car pulled from Lake Tawakoni.

Thanks a lot @scoodyboo for posting this!
Car Believed to Belong to Missing Person Carey Mae Parker Recovered from Lake Tawakoni on Thursday. Parker Reported Missing Since 1991. – Hunt County Theft Reports from feb. 4, 2021.

CAR BELIEVED TO BELONG TO MISSING PERSON CAREY MAE PARKER RECOVERED FROM LAKE TAWAKONI ON THURSDAY. PARKER REPORTED MISSING SINCE 1991.

Hunt County Theft Reports has confirmed that pieces of the 1980’s Buick Skylark belonging to Carey Mae Parker were recovered from Lake Tawakoni earlier Thursday. Parker has been missing from Quinlan since March 1991.

The vehicle was reportedly discovered in the lake by a private search and recovery group that was investigating cold cases.

Hunt County Sheriff’s Office was able to recover the car’s VIN number from the salvaged vehicle parts and verified that it was the car belonging to Parker.

Nothing about her body recovered from the car or the surrounding water. Maybe it's coming later? So sorry for her family.. it must be devastating.

I always thought according to the info that this car was impounded at the time??
edit to add.

 

[Find Brenda]

UPDATE: Divers discover car belonging to Parker

 

[Stella]

My thinking is she may have accidently wound up in Lake Tawakoni, there are quite a few places you could drive off the road and into the water, especially after dark. Or perhaps she and her car were put in the lake on purpose? I lived near the Tawakoni/Waco Bay area back in the mid-80's; we wanted to raise our children in a safe country environment. What a joke, it was crawling with drug dealers and low lifes. It was so bad, we took a loss on our property and moved back to Dallas. We were out that way a few years ago and it was worse than ever.

I just knew it. I'm so glad they found the car and that it appears to be an accident and not murder. RIP and my heartfelt condolences to the family.

 

[Stella]

Copy and paste didn't work. Top paragraph above is from a few years ago; they are actually 2 separate posts; sorry for confusion.

 

[Csav]

I live about 45 minutes from quinlan and a couple days ago I met a man on Facebook over market place that was interested in some tires I had for sale. His name is john "tommy" songer Jr.... He was the brother (younger I believe) of the aforementioned ex. Boyfriend. Today I met this man. This is all quite chilling for me...

 

[Csav]

I have a question about the buick skylark.. The tires did they have white walls by chance? Like a white ring around the rims on the tire itself? And are there any photos of the car mainly the head lamps and tires....

 

[TexasT]

@Csav photo of car with whitewalls .


Car Believed to Belong to Missing Person Carey Mae Parker Recovered from Lake Tawakoni on Thursday. Parker Reported Missing Since 1991. – Front Porch News Texas

 

[TexasT]

Could Carey have had an accident and driven off the road into a body of water? (This is my first thought when someone goes missing with their car.) I looked Quinlan up in Google Maps, and there's not much water around--but there are a few ponds here and there. (I know that Carey's sister is here, so my apologies in advance if this offends at all.)

Yes , It appears that’s exactly what happened.

 

[Bit of hope]

UPDATE: Divers discover car belonging to Parker

@Find Brenda Hi, was there anything about her remains found in the car, near the car in this article (can't read it myself)

 

[PayrollNerd]

@Find Brenda Hi, was there anything about her remains found in the car, near the car in this article (can't read it myself)

No, and it sounds like they are not expecting to find any. It makes me think this lake must have a tide or flow that would cause the remains to travel in/out of the lake, maybe? I am not familiar with the geography but maybe someone local can weigh in.


“Carey's car off the 751 causeway where it has rested upside down in 15 ft of water for 30 years,” Gager said. “Tonight, they were only able to retrieve half of Carey's car due to its deteriorated condition. At this time no remains were found, but honestly, I don't anticipate there to be much if any. I am really emotionally spent, but I will have more to say in coming days. Just know that I couldn't have done it without my beautiful small circle. I love each one of you.””

 

[Bit of hope]

On the find Cary MP FB page there are pictures of the car after towing it from the lake. Carey Mae Parker- Missing Person

"Carey’s 1980 Buick Skylark sit upside down in the water for nearly 30 years. As you can see, the bottom of the car is pretty much gone and deteriorated, since it was the side face up with the most exposure.
The key is still in the ignition in the start position.
Many have asked how Carey’s car wasn’t seen many years ago when the lake dried up. The area Carey’s car was found is a deeper area, and was not an area that completely dried up. Yes, there were parts of the lake that did dry up years ago, but not at this location"

I wonder what LE thinks about all this. Do they consider it an accident or something more sinister. So sad Cary's remains are not found. I really wish they did.

 

[Al Ka]

Youtube video of Andventure with Purpose recovering Carey Parker's car -

 

[mlhenn]

Carey Mae Parker – The Charley Project

Last updated February 8, 2021; details of disappearance updated.

Details of Disappearance
Parker was last seen in Quinlan, Texas on March 17, 1991. She was driving a blue and gray 1980 or 1981 Buick Skylark with Texas license plates at the time of her disappearance. She has never been heard from again.

At the time she went missing, Parker lived with friends in Quinlan and worked the night shift at Flanders PrecisionAire, an air conditioning company in Terrell, Texas. She has three children, all of whom were under the age of six in 1991. She disappeared only a few days before her son's birthday, and she had been planning a party for him. Parker left her last paycheck behind, and it was eventually mailed to her father's house. There hasn't been any activity on her driver's license since 1991.

When Parker's father found out she was missing, he told a friend who was a police constable, and the constable promised to file a missing persons report. Parker's sister also attempted to file a report with the Terrell Police Department, but the police logged it as a welfare check and not a missing persons report. It wasn't until 2010 that Parker's family found out no missing persons report had ever been filed. Her sister than filed a second police report with the Hunt County Sheriff's Office.

In February 2021, almost twenty years after Parker disappeared, her vehicle was found submerged, upside down, in fifteen feet of water in Lake Tawakoni off the 751 causeway. Authorities have been able to recover only half of it so far, and they have not found any human remains. The find is under investigation and authorities hope to uncover more evidence. Parker's family believes she's deceased.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“If I ever got one tip… I was on it,” Parker’s sister Trish Gager said. “I was determined and in a lot of ways, I feel like Cary was inside of me driving me.”

For the last 30 years, Gager searched for her sister and for most of that time, she has felt alone.

“I’ve been very angry most of my life because I feel nobody looked for her,” she said. “She hadn’t been looked for in 30 years.”

That is, until Adventures With Purpose recently came across her sister’s case. The organization travels the country offering their free car recovery services for these situations.

“So they told me… they said… go ahead and figure out in your gut where you think that we should look,” said Gager.

She recommended searching Lake Tawakoni, which is near a road her sister would take home from work. So last week, they started there in one specific area.

“It was basically the only place we had to search because the wind was too rough,” said Gager.

“And while we were doing that on our sonar just this car popped up and there’s nothing really surrounding it and when that happens we call it the feeling,” Adventures With Purpose‘s Dan Schmidt said.

“They put the bumper in the car and I looked at it, compared it to her car, in the 80s and I said ‘oh my God this is going to be her car,’ ” Gager said. “They said it went to a 1980 Buick Skylark. That’s when it hit me that it was hers.”

Along with the car they found a sticker stuck there by Parker’s son who is now a grown man.

“Her son actually was very into the Smurfs when he was five years old, which is when she went missing,” Schmidt said. “He was actually on scene later in the day and one of the parts that we pulled off of the vehicle had a little Smurf sticker we didn’t notice until he showed up.”

“You could see the initial wave of emotion going over them,” Adventures With Purpose’s Sam Ginn said. “You know after you know… over 25 years of wondering, 25 years of questioning, 25 years of not knowing.”

“I truly believe it was by Carey’s interaction with the wind,” Gager said. “She said I’m right here.”

Although her sister’s body was not found and it’s still unclear what exactly happened to her, Adventures With Purpose finally gave Gager the answers she’s been looking for.

“They gave me the relief from all the anger that I’ve had all this time,” she said. “They gave me a gift and I want this gift to go to others that have been in the same situation.”
Recovery Team 'Adventures With Purpose' Finds Car Connected To 30-Year-Old Cold Case