COPPELL, Texas (AP) - Four notes were found at a home where the mayor of an upscale Dallas suburb apparently shot her 19-year-old daughter to death before fatally shooting herself, police said Wednesday.

An envelope taped to the front door of Mayor Jayne Peters’ home contained a key to the house and a typed note warning police they would find something unpleasant inside, Coppell Deputy Police Chief Steve Thomas said.

Three other notes contained instructions for managing family affairs, such as taking care of the dogs, but did not provide explanations for the deaths of Peters and her 19-year-old daughter, Corinne.

“It appeared to me that there had been some thought,” Thomas said.

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Texas mayor apparently shot teen daughter, self

“It appeared to me that there had been some thought”

Seriously? He said that?

The woman left 4 separate notes and the Coppell Deputy Police Chief actually said, “It appeared to me that there had been some thought”?

Dude, you are a genius! There was “some thought” put into this? Ya think?

Police found the bodies Tuesday after the mayor failed to show up at a city council meeting. They said the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Wednesday that the case should be officially classified as a homicide-suicide investigation.

“Forensic tests (and) procedures performed point to Corinne being the victim in this tragedy, with Mayor Peters subsequently taking her own life,” police said in a statement. “Both of the fatal injuries are a result of a single gun shot wounds.”

This is a terrible tragedy. I always hate to see or hear of a story like this. We recently had a very similar situation occur here in Rowlett, Police confirm Rowlett judge killed by husband in murder-suicide. What is it with the domestic violence in our elected officials and their families?

“Everybody in the room is like, ‘Did we miss a sign?’” Bob Mahalik, mayor pro tem who is now acting mayor of the city, said of council members’ reaction to the deaths. “It’s hard to wrap your arms around it.”

Missed a sign? Maybe, but don’t go blaming yourselves for this. You’re not your brothers keeper, and there is no way to tell what evil and darkness is lurking in the heart and mind of a human being.

The mayor’s husband, Donald Peters, died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 58.

Jayne Peters was a contract software developer who served as mayor of Coppell, a city of about 40,000 located 15 miles northwest of Dallas, for the past year. Her term was to expire in 2012. She had been a council member since 1998.

There are underlying motives here, an untold story. There has to be. Regretfully, Peters took that story to the grave with her I’m afraid. I can’t, and won’t even begin to speculate as to the root causes of this.

“She enjoyed what she was doing as mayor and she was good at what she did,” said Mahalik, who last saw Peters waving and passing out candy at the city’s Independence Day parade. “She attended almost everything, every ribbon-cutting, speaking at the schools, the chamber, regional meetings.”

Todd Storch, of Coppell, had known Peters for about a year. When his 13-year-old daughter died in a skiing accident in March, Peters was there for him and his family and later took a spot on the foundation he formed in his daughter’s name to increase awareness for organ donation.

“She was just one of those rocks that was always there. We kind of grieved together,” Storch said.

Apparently, folks either didn’t know Peters as well as they thought they did, or, there were some issues that were buried so deep that no one could have guessed that she had something like this in her.

In any case, I have seen several sites with comments about guns, anti-gun comments, Dems, GOP people, neo-con, Texas this, that and the other, but nowhere in this do I see a political issue, and I can spin politics into almost any conversation.

What I see is a troubled woman that just happened to BE a politician, and the pressures of life were more than she could handle. Tragically, she resorted to suicide as an answer to her problems, and she murdered her daughter in the process.

Deserved or not, Rest in Peace!