Douglas Glenn Parker
A Dalton man accused of shooting his mother and sister recently was arrested for threatening to kill his mother and himself when they tried to break him of a prescription drug addiction, records show.
Doug Parker, 54, has been charged in the deaths of his mother, 71-year-old Edna Sue Fields, and his 45-year-old sister Becky Wade. The two were found dead Friday in Fields' home in Ranger, Ga. Parker and his wife, Janet Kay Parker, had been staying in the home for about six months, neighbors have said.
On Saturday, the Parkers were arrested in Cherokee County, N.C., in separate incidents, but both were charged with trafficking opium or heroin.
They have since been transferred to the Gordon County Jail.
On May 19, Wade called deputies to Fields' home, saying that Doug Parker had grabbed their mother by the neck and pushed her, according to a report from the Gordon County Sheriff's Office.
Fields said she and Janet Parker had been fighting about money, and she told the Parkers to move out of her home, the report states.
After Doug Parker fell asleep, Fields called her daughter, telling her that she hurt her surgically repaired back in the fight. She asked Wade to help her get the Parkers out of her home, and Wade called the sheriff's office for backup.
"Ms. Fields stated she just wanted me to tell her how to get Mr. Parker out of her house so she can return home," according to the report, written by Deputy Glenn Prine.
Wade told deputies that Parker had been mad at her because he believed she called his doctor to take him off an unnamed medication after he became addicted.
"Mr. Parker told [Wade], he had best not be around her, because he wanted to look in her eyes and ask her if she called his doctor about his medication and would most likely kill her," the report states.
Wade told authorities that Parker had threatened to kill himself and his family members before. However, she thought her brother was "out of his head because of his addiction," the record says, and she told police she didn't take his death threat seriously.
Sixteen days later, officers found Wade on her mother's bed, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Fields was on the floor in another room with several gunshot wounds.
The police report from the shootings said Doug Parker was likely on drugs at the time, and physical evidence at the home linked the shooting to him.
Family members are sure that he's guilty.
"This was my uncle, he killed my mother and grandmother! Everyone has always been terrified of him ... I hope he rots in jail!" Wade's son, Justin Middlebrooks, commented on the Times Free Press website.
Attempts to reach Middlebrooks and other family members for comment have been unsuccessful.