Published: January 24, 2006 12:10 am      

Suspect in murder case identified, commits suicide

GREENVILLE — A bizarre homicide case came to an even stranger and more tragic end over the weekend, as the prime suspect in the murder of a Tennessee woman, whose body was dumped near Greenville in late December, committed suicide.

Authorities believe Dawn Janetta Carpenter was murdered in her home in Friendship, Tenn. by her younger brother, who brought the body back to Hunt County before getting rid of it. The Texas Rangers are also checking to see if Lance Dion Carpenter may have murdered his mother in Houston.

Dawn Carpenter was shot and killed, and early on the morning of Dec. 28 her body was dumped on a rural county road north of Greenville.

It took several days for investigators from the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Rangers to identify Carpenter, 41. Her identity was later confirmed through a combination of fingerprints and dental records. Carpenter had been shot in the face with a high-powered weapon and investigators had believed she was killed somewhere else and her body left at the location, due to the lack of evidence at the site.

Hunt County Sheriff Don Anderson said the investigation by the sheriff’s office, Texas Rangers and authorities in Tennessee led straight to Carpenter’s family home.

“We found some incriminating evidence, enough that we know the murder was committed there,” Anderson said.

Dawn and Lance Carpenter, 37, lived in the home in Friendship with their mother, Pansy Sparks. Lance Carpenter had told investigators Dawn was last seen at the home shortly before Christmas.

Pansy Sparks was scheduled to undergo cancer Treatment at M. D. Anderson hospital in Houston. She and Lance Carpenter were in a hotel room on Christmas Day, the day before she was to be admitted.

Anderson said Lance Carpenter called “911” that afternoon and said her mother had stopped breathing. Sparks was taken to the hospital, where she was placed on life support and died Dec. 29.

After Sparks had been admitted, Lance Carpenter apparently drove the more than 500 miles back to Friendship, Tenn., where he killed his sister, then drove back toward Houston, carrying the body.

“He told investigators that when traveling between Houston and Tennessee, he drove through Greenville,” Anderson said.

Hunt County District Attorney F. Duncan Thomas spoke with investigators from the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee Friday, who told him blood was found inside the van Lance Carpenter was driving.

“From what I understand, he told them it was his sister’s blood,” Thomas said.

A search warrant was ordered for the residence and Lance Carpenter was scheduled to come to the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office Friday for an interview. When he failed to show, sheriff’s investigators went to the residence Saturday to serve the search warrant and found Lance Carpenter had committed suicide through self-inflicted stab wounds.

Anderson said the Texas Rangers office in Houston has been alerted, “and they are following up on any possible leads involving the death of the mother.”

As for a motive, Anderson said Sparks left behind “several thousand dollars” in a retirement account.

“But we’ll probably never know for sure,” Anderson said, commending the work of all the agencies who participated in the investigation.

“It was a cooperative effort and involved a lot of leg work,” Anderson said.