Man accused in fatal shooting of family angry, jealous of wife

COLUMBIA (AP) — A man suspected of fatally shooting his wife and daughter and critically wounding his son showed no remorse when questioned after his capture, Maury County authorities said.

Parker Ray Elliott, 42, gave the impression after more than two hours of interviews of an angry man determined to harm his wife, investigators said Tuesday.

Elliott is suspected of forcing his way inside ex-wife Freda Elliott’s house in the Culleoka community last Thursday and shooting her, his 18-year-old daughter, Rachel, and his 15-year-old son, Seth. Rachel died at the scene, while Freda Elliott died Saturday at a Nashville hospital. Seth was originally in critical condition but has improved.

Elliott attended his daughter’s graduation from Mount Pleasant High School on May 27 even though he had a history of abusing his family, divorced his wife a year ago and lived with his mother in Franklin County, authorities said.

“I think it’s been building up, and his daughter’s graduation was another piece of the puzzle,” said Detective Sgt. Shane Hunter, who interviewed Elliott along with other investigators at the Maury County Jail.

Freda Elliott’s restraining order against her ex-husband had expired a week before the shootings.

“He gave no motive,” Sheriff Enoch George said. “But he was mad because Freda was doing well and he wasn’t.”

Parker Elliott’s mother, Ruby, accompanied her son to Rachel’s graduation.

“It hurt him that nobody would talk to him,” she said Tuesday. “And he’s been depressed, he didn’t have no money, he didn’t want to live with me and he was afraid they’d cut his check out.”

Parker Elliott received a monthly disability check of nearly $1,300 from his former employer, Shipper’s Paper Products in Mount Pleasant, where he had been employed for 17 years.

Ruby Elliott said he did not know her son’s intentions Thursday when he told her he was going to Columbia “to take care of the problem.”

“I figured Freda would put him in jail,” she said.

After shooting his family, Elliott eluded authorities until police received a tip from someone who saw him fleeing a remote house in a heavily wooded area of Maury County, near the Giles and Lawrence county lines.

After his arrest and questioning, Elliott was placed in an observation cell in the booking department of the Mary County Jail. Correctional officers can monitor him there with a remote-controlled camera mounted on the cell’s ceiling.

Elliott declined an interview at the jail Tuesday.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday before Maury County General Sessions Judge Lee Bailey.

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Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com