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‘A Shock and Unexpected’: Missing Couple Found Dead Near Their Car After Thanksgiving Visit
Greg Lightfoot began to worry when his parents failed to make it back to their Lubbock, Texas home on November 27.
Earlier that day, Linda and Gary Lightfoot had driven roughly three hours to Panhandle to celebrate Thanksgiving with family which was a routine trip they had made before.
As evening fell and there was still no sign of them, Greg reached out to relatives to see if anyone knew why they were delayed.
“I called and asked how the day went,” he tells PEOPLE, explaining that no one recalled anything unusual. Family members told him the couple appeared fine when they left.
When Linda and Gary didn’t return home that night, they were reported missing. Five days later, authorities discovered their bodies in a remote area of Quay County, New Mexico, several hours from where they lived.
“Tragically, both individuals were found deceased at the scene,” the Quay County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, adding that the investigation into their deaths was ongoing.
“It was certainly a shock and unexpected,” Greg says. “We’re handling it one day at a time, basically. We’re just trying to get through it as best we can.”
As he tries to piece together what happened, Greg believes his parents may have altered their route after leaving Panhandle.
“My theory now is that they went to Amarillo after leaving Panhandle to get to I-27 to come back home,” he says.
Greg notes that his mother did not have any known serious health issues but suspects something may have gone wrong while she was driving. His father, he adds, no longer drove.
“I don’t know if she was having mini-strokes or something on the way west toward Amarillo,” he says.
Greg thinks his parents may have become disoriented or overwhelmed and attempted to turn back toward Panhandle, missing a crucial turn and continuing on to Groom instead. After realizing they had gone too far east, he believes they turned around once more but were unable to correct their course.
They were later found together beside their vehicle, its trunk open. Greg says there is a theory that his mother died first, noting that she was discovered with a jacket placed over her face and torso.
“We assumed my dad did that,” he says.
While autopsy results have not yet been released, Greg says it is believed his parents ultimately froze to death.
Gary, a military veteran who later spent decades working in law enforcement, and Linda, who built her career in banking, had been married for 62 years at the time of their deaths.
“My parents were always interesting, fun people, very personable,” Greg said. “They liked to travel. They liked to help people out when they could, whether it was coworkers or friends or people they just met.”
Looking back, Greg describes his parents’ Thanksgiving visit with relatives as a bittersweet moment. The opportunity for them to spend time with loved ones was a “mixed-blessing,” he explained.
“It was nice that they got to see everyone and have a good experience to sort of say goodbye, even though they didn’t realize that that was what was happening.”
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