NC couple sought in killing of wife’s co-worker nabbed by U.S. marshals in Phoenix

HICKORY, N.C. — Federal marshals in Arizona have located a North Carolina couple on the run since a fatal January shooting at the wife’s workplace.

Tangela Parker and her husband, Eric Parker, were arrested Tuesday morning at a home in Phoenix, according to WSOC-TV in Charlotte. Details of the arrest have not been made public.

Tangela Parker was wanted for first-degree murder in the Jan. 13 killing of Phelifia Michelle Marlow, 51, of Hickory. Tangela Parker and Marlow were colleagues at TCS Designs, where Marlow worked as an upholsterer, her obituary stated.

Eric Parker is accused of being an accessory after the fact. Authorities allege that he drove his wife away from the scene after the shooting.

>> Related story: N.C. couple subject of manhunt after wife kills co-worker following workplace dispute, police say

Police were called around 2:30 p.m. the day of the shooting to the nondescript TCS building, where they found Marlow suffering from gunshot wounds. She was rushed to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, where she later died.

“Tangela and Eric Parker were last seen leaving the business in a beige 2019 Honda CRV displaying North Carolina tag FAM5669,” authorities said in a news release. “They should be considered armed and dangerous.”

Phelifia Marlow’s husband, Justin Marlow, told the Hickory Daily Record that his wife and Tangela Parker got into a “very silly” argument the week before the shooting over moving some tables at the plant. The dispute resulted in Tangela Parker being reprimanded and sent home for three days.

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Marlow and the couple’s 19-year-old daughter, Makayla Marlow, told the newspaper that Tangela Parker, who other co-workers described as “aggressive and argumentative,” bullied Phelifia Marlow, who went by her middle name. Makayla Marlow said she often could hear Parker yelling at people in the background when she spoke to her mother on the phone.

As days of searching turned into weeks, and the Parkers failed to return to their Alexander County home, local officials brought in the U.S. Marshals Service’s Fugitive Task Force. The marshals service was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the couple’s capture.

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After the shooting, Makayla Marlow described her mother as her “best friend, (her) rock and (her) support system.” She and her father said Michelle Marlow, who is survived by another daughter and two grandchildren, was well-loved.

“This woman didn’t only hurt her family and friends,” Justin Marlow said of Tangela Parker. “She hurt a community.”

The Marlow family gathered Tuesday after learning of the arrests, WSOC-TV reported. Makayla Marlow visited her mother’s gravesite, where she left some balloons.

“My mom was — I know this is going to sound biased — the greatest person on the planet,” she said.

Michelle Marlow is survived by her husband, two daughters and her grandchildren.


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