PANHANDLE, Texas (KFDA/Gray News) — A couple from Texas disappeared on their way home from celebrating Thanksgiving with their family. Five days later, they were both found dead next to their vehicle, far from their intended destination.
Linda and Gary Lightfoot, ages 81 and 82, went missing Thanksgiving Day after spending time with family in Panhandle, Texas. After leaving their family gathering, they failed to make it back to their home in Lubbock, Texas, more than a two-hour drive south.
On Dec. 2, the couple was found dead near their vehicle on a ranch near Tucumcari, New Mexico — nearly three hours away from their intended destination of Lubbock.
Barbara Scheller, Linda Lightfoot’s sister, recalled her last moments with the couple as they celebrated Thanksgiving at the Church of Christ in Panhandle after arriving that morning.
“We ate lunch and had some fellowship, took some pictures and visited,” Scheller said. “And then they were planning to leave to go back to Lubbock by 3 p.m., so they would have plenty of time to get back to Lubbock before dark.”
Scheller added, “They left, we said our goodbyes. They took a little to-go plate and their dessert and got back in their car to go home, and then it was later that evening, probably about 6:30 p.m. we were texting her phone, ‘Hey, did you make it? We didn’t hear back that you made it home.’ And their son who was in Lubbock … called and said they hadn’t made it back yet.”
Friends and family reported the Lightfoots missing that evening. The next day, their vehicle was spotted in New Mexico.
“So, we’re all just, this whole time really, just trying to piece together pieces of information and none of it was really making sense at that point,” Scheller said. “We started to obviously get more and more concerned and getting more and more law enforcement involved.”
The couple was supposed to travel south to get home, but they appeared to mistakenly travel west and ended up in New Mexico.
Their son, Greg Lightfoot, told People his parents did not have a phone on them — they forgot it at home — and he believes they got confused on the road and couldn’t find their way home.
He believes their path home was possibly complicated by construction, missed turns and even a medical episode of some kind.
On Dec. 2, a farmer called police about a vehicle found on his property. Responding officers found the vehicle and the bodies of Linda and Gary Lightfoot.
The police report said the car’s battery appeared to be drained, the trunk was open and the gear shift was still in “drive.”
The front driver-side tire was flat and shredded, indicating it had been driven while flat.
Their belongings were still in the vehicle, including cash and a firearm, indicating they were not victims of a robbery or any foul play.
A police report said there were no visible signs of trauma to either person.
The Quay County Sheriff said an official cause of death has not yet been determined. However, the police report shows temperatures reached the lows 20s that weekend, not including the wind chill.
Greg Lightfoot told People it’s assumed his parents froze to death.
Greg Lightfoot said there’s a theory that his mom died first, since she was found with a jacket over her face and torso. Greg Lightfoot said he assumes his father covered his mother after she died.