Found Deceased TX - Linda 81 & Charles "Gary" Lightfoot 82, oxygen depen, car seen Santa Rosa NM Nov 28, they left Panhandle TX to ret home to Lubbock, 27 Nov 2025

[wendybtn]

Nightmarish deaths for elderly couple who vanished while driving home

Linda, 81, and Gary Lightfoot,82, had traveled to Panhandle, Texas, to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family, but they never returned home after the celebration.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Despite the headline no cause of death is included in the article.

It says they froze to death.

 

[RedHaus]

It says they froze to death.

While the son "suspects they froze to death", that DM article states "An autopsy report is expected to be ready in two to three months." That will provide more detail, I suspect, on COD, MOD, and TOD.

Nightmarish deaths for elderly couple who vanished while driving home

Linda, 81, and Gary Lightfoot,82, had traveled to Panhandle, Texas, to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family, but they never returned home after the celebration.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Seattle1]

12/31/25

'My theory now is that they went to Amarillo after leaving Panhandle to get to I-27 to come back home,' he told the magazine.

The couple's silver car's license plate was picked up in Groom, Texas, around 7pm - roughly an hour after they should have already been home, Greg said. It was later picked up in New Mexico.

He also speculated that his mother suffered a medical complication, despite having no major health problems. He also noted that his father no longer drives, therefore, his mother was behind the wheel.

'I don't know if she was having mini-strokes or something on the way west toward Amarillo,' he told the magazine. 'They either got lost or they got overwhelmed.'

The couple had even been pulled over by police in New Mexico, Greg said. They allegedly told officers they were lost and trying to get back to Lubbock.

[..]

An autopsy report is expected to be ready in two to three months.

Nightmarish deaths for elderly couple who vanished while driving home

Linda, 81, and Gary Lightfoot,82, had traveled to Panhandle, Texas, to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family, but they never returned home after the celebration.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[LadyL]

really wish the officer had called their emergency contacts since they were elderly and lost

 

[RedHaus]

really wish the officer had called their emergency contacts since they were elderly and lost

Right! As I ended my post on prior page:

...REALLY curious what frame of mind the Lightfoots were in when that officer gave them directions in New Mexico. It is truly a shame that he may not have picked up on cognitive impairment and/or called their family to suggest they pick them up.

 

[333_OnlyHalfEvil]

Seems like nothing has changed since the similar 1997 deaths of Lela and Raymond Howard. That's disappointing.

 

[Rikissa]

really wish the officer had called their emergency contacts since they were elderly and lost

Could the police officer have asked them if he could call their emergency contacts, and they had declined? If there were no obvious signs of any kind of cognitive impairments when they asked for directions, could a police officer in the US have contacted the relatives without, or against a person's wishes?