TERRELL, Texas – The Terrell Police Department is investigating an apparent suicide of a reported missing woman from Richardson, Texas, at the Tanger Outlet Center on Saturday afternoon, May 24, 2014.
TERRELL, Texas – The Terrell Police Department is investigating an apparent suicide of a reported missing woman from Richardson, Texas, at the Tanger Outlet Center on Saturday afternoon, May 24, 2014.
At approximately 3:30 p.m., on Saturday, a witness called the Terrell Police Department with a concern for welfare for the woman, identified as 49-year-old Teresa Frances Romero, who was sitting in her locked car in the outlet center's parking lot and did not appear to be breathing.
When officers arrived, they broke the passenger window to gain access to the vehicle and discovered Romero was deceased. According to a release from the Terrell Police Department, Romero appeared to have been dead for several hours.
Romero was found with a large butcher knife “clutched in her right hand, lying in her lap” and a single stab wound to the abdomen, according to the Terrell Police Department. Her death has been tentatively ruled a suicide by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office.
Romero was reported missing and possibly suicidal to the Richardson Police Department on Saturday around noon. Romero reportedly left her Richardson home on Friday night at 9 p.m. The Richardson Police Department put out a Region I teletype notification for law enforcement agencies to be on the look out for her 2008 Hyundai Sonata.
Terrell Police Department investigators and forensic units were at the scene Saturday collecting evidence. Kaufman County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Johnny Adams pronounced Romero dead at the scene before she was taken to the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office.
Terrell Police Investigators traveled to Richardson, Texas, to make the death notification and to interview family members who reported her missing.