Remains Of Dispatcher Found 3 Years After Murder

Some of the mystery over the March 2007 disappearance of Walker County (Geo.) sheriff’s dispatcher Theresa Parker has been solved: Sheriff Steve Wilson announced today that her remains were discovered by a farmer in a field in Chattooga County, about 30 miles south of her home in LaFayette. Walker and her husband Sam Parker were going through a divorce when she disappeared. Her husband denied any knowledge of her absence, and even speculated that she had run off with another man. However, 11 months later police arrested Sam Parker for murder, and he was convicted in Sept. 2009. Wilson said, “It’s difficult to report, but it’s also a day I think that the family can somehow put some closure with it.” He explained that last Monday afternoon a man looking for walking sticks on his farm property discovered what appeared to be a human jaw bone. Sheriff’s deputies and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation responded, and found more human remains. The GBI matched dental work on the jaw bone to Parker’s dental records.Wilson and Floyd County prosecutor Lee Patterson met with Theresa’s family early today to announce the discovery. Patterson told reporters, “They still…I think even now, even with what they were told today, I think they still had held out hope that she might come back.” Sam Parker is serving a life sentence. Read more about the area where the body was found, and about this week’s investigation. Read previous 911Dispatch.com news reports here. Update: Theresa Parker’s sister Hilda Wilson recalls the good times. A GBI forensic anthropologist describes her investigation here.