Officer on way home from vacation describes trunk caper in Fredericksburg

Date published: 6/29/2005

UPDATE:Tamatha Parker was expected to turn herself in to authorities sometime this afternoon, but as of 4 p.m., there was no sign of her at city police headquarters.

Parker is charged with two counts of felony child abuse for shutting her children inside a car trunk in the Central Park Wal-Mart parking lot. City police spokesman Jim Shelhorse said she also might face additional charges.

The children, both 5-years-old, are still with their mother as far as police know, Shelhorse said. Two police jurisdictions checked two addresses where there were possible sightings of Parker today, Shelhorse said, but she was found at neither.

Police received a phone call last night from a woman claiming to be Parker, who said she would surrender sometime after 2 p.m. today.
- fredericksburg.com

By KEITH EPPS

Wayne Ingersoll said he had no intention of doing any police work when he stopped in Fredericksburg over the weekend to have his camper repaired.

The New Hampshire police officer said that changed when a woman came up to him in the parking lot at the Central Park Wal-Mart Saturday. She told him two small children had just been placed in the trunk of a car parked next to him.

Ingersoll stopped the driver as she was backing out of a parking spot and made her get the children--both 5--out of the trunk. He then provided information to city police that resulted in charges against the woman.

Being a police officer had little to do with his reaction, said Ingersoll, who was back at work yesterday in New Hampshire.

"I don't think any reasonable adult would have done anything differently," Ingersoll said. "The dangers of children being in a trunk like that are obvious, especially on such a hot day."

Tamatha Parker, 33, of Quantico is charged with two counts of felony child abuse. She was not taken into custody at the scene, police said, in part because the children were getting upset about the possibility of their mother going to jail.

City police spokesman Jim Shelhorse said that when police this week went to Quantico to serve warrants on Parker, she was gone.

"I don't know if she's planning to come back or not," Shelhorse said. "All I know at this point is that she's a fugitive."

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Date published: 6/29/2005