Nightmarish cause of death revealed for elderly couple who vanished while driving home from dinner on dark and icy night
Linda, 81, and Gary Lightfoot,82, had traveled to Panhandle, Texas, to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family, but they never returned home after the celebration.
An elderly couple who went missing on Thanksgiving were found apparently frozen to death in their vehicle hours away from their home days after they disappeared.
Linda, 81, and Gary Lightfoot, 82, vanished on their way back from Panhandle, Texas, where they spent the holiday with family.
The couple went to church in the morning and had lunch afterward, taking photos with their family members.
Around 3pm, they packed up their belongings and a plate of leftovers and desserts and went off toward their home in Lubbock.
They hoped to complete the roughly three-hour drive before dark, but never made it.
Around 6:30pm, Barbara Scheller began texting her sister Linda's phone, but she wasn't replying.
'Hey, did you make it? We didn’t hear back that you made it home,' she recalled sending to Linda, she told Wave 3 News.
Eventually, she got in contact with their son, Greg, who confirmed the elderly couple never made it back to Lubbock. The family reported them missing.
Linda and Gary Lightfoot, aged 81 and 82, had traveled to Panhandle, Texas, to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family, but they never returned home after the celebration. Five days later, they were found dead
The next day, their vehicle was spotted in New Mexico on a camera. Cellular data detected from the vehicle was last picked up around 11am near Santa Rosa, New Mexico, according to News Channel 10.
The family believed they made a wrong turn and headed West toward New Mexico instead of South to Lubbock.
Five days later, on December 2, a farmer called police after spotting the couple's vehicle on his property in Tucumcari while he was attending to his cattle.
Officers responded to the scene, finding the Lightfoots' dead bodies lying in the back of the car, which was located roughly three house away from Lubbock.
Linda's body had a 'fur-like jacket' placed over her face according to a police report viewed by the Daily Mail.
The vehicle had a flat tire, the trunk was open, and it was still shifted into drive, according to News Channel 10. The car's battery was also drained.
Police do not suspect foul play, as neither body had signs of trauma and there was $311 in cash and a loaded firearm inside, the police report said.
Neither had a phone on them as Linda had forgotten hers at home, Greg told .