Indexes
November 2nd, 2009
November 8th, 2009
November 7th, 2009
November 6th, 2009
November 5th, 2009
November 4th, 2009
November 3rd, 2009
November 2nd, 2009
The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.
- Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
- I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (73)
- David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (70)
- The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (60)
- Universal health care solves big problems (54)
- Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (35)
- Stuck in neutral? Hardly! (35)
- Words from our forefathers (27)
- City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks (24)
- Majority cannot deprive the minority (23)
ADVERTISEMENT
'We believe that he was lying in wait'
Murder-suicide victim had filed for divorce, reconnected with high school sweetheart
Barbara Abbott had filed for divorce after 22 years of marriage, reconnected with her high school sweetheart and was planning a lengthy motorcycle trip with him.
Her soon-to-be-ex-husband was angry, and he had allegedly threatened to harm her.
And so, San Joaquin County Sheriff's investigators believe, Gary Abbott left the Turlock home they still owned, rented a car in Nevada and tracked his estranged wife to the Lockeford postal box she listed as her mailing address.
"We believe that he was lying in wait, waiting for her to get her mail," Sheriff's Deputy Les Garcia said Thursday.
As powerless shop owners gaped, Gary Abbott, 58, opened fire on Barbara Abbott, 49, at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday. After she fell to the ground, he fired several more rounds into her back and head, according to witnesses.
Then Gary Abbott, who had purchased the gun just two months earlier, turned the weapon on himself.
"I heard three shots, saw the smoke from the gun and ran to get my gun," said Greg Wright, co-owner of the Lockeford Bluffs shopping center, on Highway 88 at the north end of town. By the time he returned, Gary Abbott had shot himself in the head.
Wright, who later reviewed video surveillance footage and found that the whole incident had been recorded, said Gary Abbott fired at least six times. Wright gave the video to Sheriff's investigators and said he had no intentions of ever releasing the graphic footage to the public.
Co-owner Julie Morin was the first to deliver the news to Barbara Abbott's boyfriend, who has lived in the Lockeford area for years. He and Barbara Abbott had dated while in high school in Rio Vista three decades ago, and they reconnected a few months ago, Wright and Morin said.
Morin's teenage grandchildren loved the soft-spoken woman. One day Morin told Barbara Abbott, "If (your boyfriend) picked you, you must be OK."
She replied: "Yeah, I'm not going to let him go this time."
Nobody quite remembered when Barbara Abbott moved to Lockeford, though several business owners said she'd been in the area for a few months.
On Dec. 31, she had filed for divorce in Stanislaus County Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. The matter soon became nasty, though Barbara Abbott never requested a restraining order, and her attorney said she never mentioned anything about weapons.
"He had been very angry with her and was acting very spitefully toward her and physically threatened her in front one of their children not long ago," her Modesto attorney, Daniel Whitlock, said Thursday morning. "But I didn't think it would go this far."
Gary Abbott's attorney, Leslie Jensen, was out of the office Thursday and did not return a message.
The Abbotts were last in court Feb. 19 for a hearing regarding economic issues and spousal support, according to court records.
That same month, Gary Abbott purchased and registered a .380-caliber handgun, Garcia said.
On Wednesday, Barbara Abbott stopped by Mailboxes and More, where she had a mailbox and checked it a couple times a week, owner Mark Andris said.
Lockeford isn't a large community, and neither is the mailing store, where Andris personally calls mailbox owners when they receive a package that won't fit in the box. In fact, he got a package for Barbara Abbott on Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after her death.
Andris happened to be away from the store when the shooting happened, but as soon as he heard the victim was a light-skinned woman with dark red hair, Andris knew who she was.
This week she had talked to him briefly about a motorcycle trip she planned to take with her boyfriend, Andris said. Morin said the couple were scheduled to leave April 30 and travel for about three weeks — the next divorce court hearing was scheduled for May 19.
Barbara Abbott sometimes mentioned her children, Andris said, and her attorney said they were over the age of 18, meaning that custody was not an issue in the divorce.
Two young people arrived at the shopping center mid-Thursday, looking at the driveway where orange paint still marked where investigators had collected evidence. Minutes before their arrival, a van delivered a floral wreath the property owners had ordered, and it was soon sitting beside a bouquet of red roses.
The young woman and man declined to comment. She left behind a note that read, "I love you. I wish you weren't gone. You were everything to me. You will never know. Love, your little girl."
Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.
Search for Ads 
Today’s Print Ads 
RSS Feeds
Reader Feedback
kes wrote on Apr 12, 2008 8:26 AM:
mskod2008 wrote on Apr 11, 2008 5:17 PM:
awobs wrote on Apr 11, 2008 5:13 PM:
mskod2008 wrote on Apr 11, 2008 4:20 PM:
mskod2008 wrote on Apr 11, 2008 4:17 PM:
mskod2008 wrote on Apr 11, 2008 3:18 PM:
Comments on this story are now closed.