She was a child when her mom was murdered before her eyes. Twenty years later, she’s opening up in first media interview
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RIGBY – Miquel Peck couldn’t shake the bad feeling she was having.
It was Jan. 31, 2004 and the 7-year-old girl, who lived with her dad in Salt Lake City, was in Rigby visiting her mom, Karen Cummings. Miquel’s parents had recently been divorced and she was spending the weekend with her mom. It had been a while since she’d seen her and she was excited.
Miquel had arrived late with her mom and grandma. Cummings was insistent about going to Gregg Whitmore’s (her fiancee) house, despite Miquel’s desire to sleep at grandma’s and visit Whitmore the next day.
“For whatever reason, I had a horrible feeling,” Miquel, who is now 28, recalls in an interview with EastIdahoNews.com. “I was like, ‘No, let’s go stay with grandma. It’s late. Let’s get home.’ My mom wanted to go to Gregg’s. I wanted to be with my mom so I went with her. My grandma tried to talk her out of it, but my mom insisted.”
Twenty years later, Miquel now wishes her instincts had been wrong. In just a few hours, her mom, along with Whitmore, would be murdered. Miquel saw the killer and made the initial 911 call to first responders.
Miquel held her mom tightly as they watched a movie together. She gave her mom one last hug before going to bed around 1 a.m., not knowing she was embracing her for the last time.
The murder
Court documents obtained from the Jefferson County Courthouse indicate Shana Parkinson, Whitmore’s ex-wife, entered his home at 236 West Second South on Feb. 1 around 2 a.m.
Everyone inside was asleep and Parkinson made her way to Whitmore’s bedroom, where he and Cummings were sleeping. There was a scuffle and by the time police arrived, Whitmore was lying dead in the kitchen with multiple stab wounds in the upper chest and abdomen.
Cummings died in the room where Miquel was sleeping. She’d been stabbed in the center of her chest, back and right shoulder. Police reports say she had severe cuts on her wrist as well, “almost clear down to the bone.”
It was just before 3 a.m. when Miquel called 911, according to court records.
Miquel shares more details about what she saw that night.
“I remember my mom making lots of noise outside of my (bedroom door), banging, yelling. That’s when I turned on the light in the bedroom I was staying in. I sat back on the mattress because I didn’t know what was going on,” she says.
Less than an hour later, Miquel says her mom crawled into her bedroom, covered with blood.
“She laid on the ground, rested her head on my mattress and took her last breaths,” Miquel recalls.
Miquel was shocked and scared for her life.
Moments later, the killer, who Miquel later identified as Parkinson, made eye contact with Miquel in her room.
“I looked at her and said, ‘Please don’t!’ That’s when she left,” says Miquel.
She called out for Whitmore, but heard only silence.
Miquel made her way to the phone on the kitchen counter and saw Whitmore’s dead body on the floor.
She grabbed the phone, ran back to the bedroom, got in the closet and called 911.
“It took them (emergency responders) quite a while to find me because I didn’t know (the address),” says Miquel. “I told them to call my grandma.”
Miquel’s grandma arrived at the house to get Miquel at the same time police arrived.
Parkinson was later found at a gas station in Madison County “covered from head to toe with blood,” according to court documents.
She’d been located after Madison County law enforcement got a call about half an hour after Miquel’s 911 call.
Police identified Parkinson from Miquel’s description of her.
Parkinson was treated at Madison Memorial Hospital, where doctors determined “there was no way … the amount of blood on her” came from one person.
“The doctor also stated that (Parkinson) did not seem to be totally coherent,” police say in court documents.
Parkinson was arrested and taken into custody.
Following a two-week trial in May 2005, Parkinson was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder. She was sentenced five months later to 27 years to life in prison.
The motive
In 2012, the Rigby homicide was featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Deadly Women,” a documentary series relying on dramatic re-enactments to delve into the minds of female killers. At the time, the series deemed it one of the most heinous murders committed by a woman.
In an interview last year, retired Rigby Police Chief Larry Anderson said Parkinson’s motive was anger towards Whitmore. It had been a bitter divorce and she was upset that he’d left her.
Whitmore’s younger sister, Connie Allen, introduced Parkinson and Whitmore to each other. She provides additional details about their relationship that led up to the murder.
“Gregg was a victim of domestic violence. He had been abused … by Shana. That is why he finally got away from her,” Allen says. “She had some mental illnesses (tied to) alcohol abuse and prescription drugs.”
Allen says Parkinson stalked Whitmore following their separation and divorce. It got progressively worse over time. Allen reports Parkinson was calling Whitmore 400 times a day at one point. She cites instances where Parkinson slashed Whitmore’s tires, bashed in his car and “terrorized his house” by starting a bonfire in the backyard and burning his personal things.
Parkinson was nothing like this at the time she and Whitmore met, and Allen says she was surprised when all of this came out.
EastIdahoNews.com reached out to Parkinson, who is housed at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center, to get her perspective. After multiple attempts to arrange an interview, we were ultimately denied access.
Through emails, Parkinson claimed she did not remember the murder. Communication was cut off before we could get an explanation. We reached out again and she said she would respond. We did not get a response in time for publication, but will update when she gets back to us.
Meanwhile, Jodi Johnson — Parkinson’s friend who has known her since junior high school — says she doesn’t believe Parkinson committed the murder.
“I think she was there, but there’s no way she did it,” says Johnson. “The little girl (Miquel) said that as Gregg was running down the hallway, he kept saying, ‘Ken, stop it!’ with his hands over his head,” a detective said during the investigation, according to Johnson.
Police reports make no mention of anyone else in the house that night. Though Miquel was only seven at the time, she is absolutely certain what she saw and heard.
“There was no one else there. It was just her,” says Miquel. “I obviously had no idea who (Parkinson) was (at the time). I had never seen this lady. I just saw my mom dead on the floor.”
Miquel didn’t see Parkinson again until she was in court during the trial. Still reeling from her mom’s murder, Miquel was excused from testifying, but says seeing Parkinson again was a terrifying experience.
‘I couldn’t imagine living in the same world where she is free’
Witnessing her mom’s murder has had longterm side effects for Miquel. She’s been in and out of therapy through the years and had a long journey of healing and recovery.
Today, Miquel lives in Missouri. She is married and has two kids of her own.
There isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t think of her mom.
“I miss her smile,” Miquel says. “She had such a warm hug and lit up the room with her presence.”
After 20 years in prison, Parkinson has a possibility of parole in 2031.
Miquel feels Parkinson’s sentence was too light and the idea of her getting out of prison doesn’t sit well with her.
“That weighs heavy on me … and it angers me, too,” says Miquel. “I couldn’t imagine living in the same world where she is free.”
“As I’ve tried to heal throughout the years, it comes back to this point where I have to worry about this again and relive it all,” she adds.
WATCH OUR INTERVIEW WITH MIQUEL IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.