(mouse clicks) (gentle electronic music) (suspenseful music) (phone ringing) - [Operator] 911, location of your emergency? - [Joseph] Yeah, 2 Clydesdale Lane. - [Operator] In Springfield? - [Joseph] C-L-Y-D-E-S-D-A-L-E. - [Operator] You're in Springfield? - [Joseph] Yes, Springfield, Tennessee. It's right behind Oakland Farms. - [Operator] Okay. What's going on? - [Joseph] All right, this is what's happened. We've been married 12 years. On the 4th, which would've been two nights ago at 4:00 AM, I shot my wife in the temple of her head, and I thought I'd killed her, and I put her in the freezer out in the garage. And when I checked on her tonight, she's not dead. (suspenseful music) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Today's video takes us to Springfield. No, not that Springfield. Springfield, Tennessee, a city located in the middle of the state, a little more than half an hour's ride from Nashville. According to the latest census data, it has a population of 18,782, about the seating capacity of Freedom Hall Arena in Kentucky, where this guy had his first professional fight. It's a typical suburb of America, where most residents own their homes, and schools are considered above average. It's an ideal place to raise a family. This is where the Parkers lived. 44-year old Samantha, and her husband, 45-year old Joseph. They had been married for 12 years, raised a daughter, and were everyday people living everyday life in a quiet suburb in America. That is, until one fall evening, a verbal disagreement somehow escalated into a multi-state manhunt involving the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the US Marshals. Samantha Clouse Parker was born on August 16th, 1970, in Galion, Ohio, the daughter of David and Peggy Ann. She attended Greenbrier High School, and worked at the Bakers Market convenience store for several years. She was known as an outgoing person who never met a stranger. She loved people and she loved Alabama football. Joseph Leonard Parker was a devoted husband and father. He was employed as a car salesman at a Toyota dealership in Rivergate, and was the family's primary wage earner. He was known around the neighborhood to be a very rigid, but mellow man who mainly kept to himself. Unfortunately, Joseph had fallen on hard times. He was out of work, and the bills were piling up. In addition, a foreclosure action on his house had been started, and Joseph was feeling the pressure. Then, on Friday, November 7th, 2014, at approximately 2:45 AM, Joseph dialed 911. (phone ringing) - [Operator] 911, location of your emergency? - [Joseph] Yeah, 2 Clydesdale Lane. - [Operator] In Springfield? - [Joseph] C-L-Y-D-E-S-D-A-L-E. - [Operator] You're in Springfield? - [Joseph] Yes, Springfield, Tennessee. It's right behind Oakland Farms. - [Operator] Okay. What's going on? - [Joseph] All right, this is what's happened. We've been married 12 years. On the 4th, which would've been two nights ago at 4:00 AM, I shot my wife in the temple of her head, and I thought I'd killed her, and I put her in the freezer out in the garage. And when I checked on her tonight, she's not dead. She's got a big hole in the temple of her head, and to get her body moved around in there, I think I broke her wrist. She was frozen from being in the thing she'd been in this thing 48 hours now. And this is no crank call. I need somebody to get out there and help her. I've cleared the premises. I've got away. I'm not gonna be there. But I promise you this is a legit call, and I need somebody get out there and help her. 'Cause I still love her. Just, it's hard to believe that after that, but I need to get somebody out there to help her. - [Operator] Okay. What happened that caused you to do that? - [Joseph] It's a long story, don't want to get into it. Just want to get into getting somebody out there to help her. I left the front door open. I left all the lights on in the house. So it would be kind of easy to find, it's the last house on the right on Clydesdale Lane. But I left the front door open and she's in the garage. You go through the kitchen to get into the garage. And you'll see her once you get in the garage, and she's a mess, she can't talk. I did get her to blink. Blink once means yes, blink twice means no. And so I told her I'm gonna go down the road, 10, 15 miles, and I'm gonna call 911 and get you some help out here. I thought she'd been dead two days. And when I checked on her, she was still alive. She's been frozen for two days. She's frozen solid. It's amazing she's still alive. And she's got a big, big hole in the temple of her head. I shot her with a .38 caliber handgun. And there's a big hole in the temple of her head. I didn't see an exit wound. - [Operator] What is her name? - [Joseph] Samantha Parker. - [Operator] Is she a white female? - [Joseph] Yes. - [Operator] How old is she? - [Joseph] 43 years old. - [Operator] And how long ago did you leave there? - [Joseph] An hour ago. - [Operator] And that's the last time you saw her? - [Joseph] Yeah, that's the last time I saw her. - [Operator] And she was still in the garage? - [Joseph] Yeah, she's still in the garage. I made her as comfortable as I could make her. She tried to drink a little water, she couldn't talk, couldn't move her jaw. She's in bad shape, really need to get somebody out there to help her. - [Operator] And the address is 246 Clydesdale Lane? - [Joseph] Yes, ma'am. - [Operator] Okay. What is your name? - [Joseph] My name is Joe. I'll just leave it at that. I don't want to get arrested tonight and all that. We don't have a history of domestic disputes. We've never had to call the police or nothing. We just had a real bad night a couple nights ago. I was waving the gun around, got myself in trouble. So anyway, I really need somebody to get out there and help her. - [Operator] Okay. We'll send somebody out there to her. - [Joseph] I mean, it's like, urgent. I think she's dying, you know? She had a big hole where the temple of your head is, you know what I mean? - [Operator] Right. - [Joseph] Hopefully ... I love her, I still love her. I've loved her every day I've been married to her. We just had a rough stretch here. And so anyway, checked on her and she's still alive, and now I want to get her somebody to help her that knows what're doing. But I gotta stay outta trouble too, so ... - [Operator] Okay. We'll send somebody out there. - [Joseph] All right. What was your first name? - [Operator] I'm not gonna give you my name, sir. - [Joseph] Okay. That's fine. Hey, make a note on there. I left the front door open and all the lights are on, and you go to the garage, she can't yell for you. She can't yell. But you go to the garage, and that's where you'll see her once you get into the garage. - [Operator] Okay. We'll send somebody out there. - [Joseph] She needs paramedics, she needs everything. She needs an ambulance. She needs needs trauma, she's trauma. I mean, she's a trauma patient. She might need a helicopter. So please, get them right to her. - [Operator] Okay. - [Joseph] Okay. Thank you. - [Operator] Thank you. (phone beeps) - [Narrator] Police arrived a little after 3:30 in the morning to discover the partially dismembered remains of Samantha Parker packed inside an upright freezer in the garage. Joseph was nowhere to be found. He told a 911 dispatch operator that he was traveling on I-24 heading south towards Chattanooga, Tennessee. This was verified by Springfield Police Chief David Thompson, who had Parker's cell phone pinged to Nashville that morning. A few hours later, police issued an arrest warrant, charging Joseph with Samantha's murder. The police learned that Joseph had hopped into his white 2007 Toyota Camry and threatened to travel to his former workplace, the Rivergate Toyota dealership, to kill multiple people. Apparently Joseph felt there was unfinished business there. He was armed, dangerous, and had little left to lose. The case was escalated to the State Bureau of Investigation who immediately added Parker to Tennessee's Top 10 Most Wanted list. They enlisted the aid of the US Marshals as well. According to sources, police set up command at the Rivergate Toyota dealership in anticipation of Parker's arrival. As a search helicopter flew overhead, Metro Nashville Police spotted Parker's car at 3:24 PM at the 120 mile marker and began to track it. However, they did not immediately engage in open pursuit. Eventually Parker realized he was being followed by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the US Marshall service, as well as local Tennessee and Kentucky law enforcement. The walls were closing in on Parker. Then at 4:19 PM, according to Springfield Police Chief Thompson, Joseph Parker pulled over around mile marker seven on highway I-65 in Kentucky. However, before officers could apprehend him- (gunshot blasts) Parker died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Following the shooting, police continued the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the Parkers. The Kentucky State Police investigated Joseph Parker's death and the Springfield Police Department examined the details surrounding Samantha Parker's death. On Monday, November 10th, authorities were waiting on an autopsy on Samantha, and toxicology results on Joseph. Detective Burnett, the lead investigator, stated, "I don't know if we're going to be able to determine "when he killed her exactly." He confirmed that Samantha Parker had been shot in the head, but said he wasn't sure where she was killed. "I'm not sure at this point "whether we'll be able to determine "how long she'd been in the freezer," he added. Detective Burnett described the couple's home as, "Very clean, it was immaculate. "Not a speck of dust. Spotless. "It was real estate clean." The case was closed in 2014, with neither the autopsy nor the toxicology report being made public. We may never know the root cause of the events that led to that fateful evening in November, 2014. The Parkers, especially Joseph, were a private couple who did not form close relationships in the community. One of Parker's next door neighbors, Chloe, described Joseph as a very stern man who kept to himself. "I didn't really see them go out," Chloe said. "He always parked inside the garage "and I would see him leaving in the mornings. "I rarely saw her car leave. "They were very quiet. "The kind of people who never left the blinds open." What was clear was that Joseph was under severe financial duress and coping with the effects of financial stress is essential to help men through a rough patch. Financial stress can lead to anxiety and depression. In turn, it can take a toll on relationships. Many studies have shown that men are at least twice as likely to feel the financial burden in a relationship compared to women. Men are also twice as likely than women to report needing to be emotionally strong. Although times have changed, many men still consider it an integral part of their identity to be the family's main provider. In a recent study by the Pew Research Center, nearly seven out of 10 adults claimed it's vital for a man to support his family financially if he is to be considered a good partner. One year after the death of her parents, the Parkers' daughter held a public memorial where she released balloons into the sky. When asked, she said she missed both parents equally. She stated she was aware her father had lost his job, and the house was under foreclosure. But she said, "That night was a very bad night, "and I think he just snapped." She said many people ask her why she isn't angry. And she responded, "I've learned to forgive. "The memories and moments are what you want to hold onto." (low dramatic music)