A hairstylist and mother-of-three who had gone missing in Alabama was found shot to death inside a car trunk on Tuesday, just hours after her ex-husband’s suicide.
Police believe Greg Scott, a 63-year-old psychologist from Selma, killed 35-year-old Mary Elizabeth Timmons Scott before turning the gun on himself in a murder-suicide amid a custody battle.
The victim’s relatives, including her sister, had reported Timmons Scott missing along with her and Scott’s two young daughters on Monday.
Family drama: Alabama psychologist Greg Scott, 63, (left), committed suicide on Tuesday after allegedly shooting dead his ex-wife, Selma hairstylist Mary Timmons Scott, 35 (right)
Missing: On Monday, Timmons Scott’s family had reported her missing along with her two daughters (pictured together)
Concerned family members wrote on Facebook that the couple’s two daughters had spent the weekend with their father, and suspected that Scott may have tried to lure his ex-wife to his house by falsely claiming that one of the girls was ill, according to an Al.com report.
On Tuesday, police were notified that the two missing girls were safe with their paternal aunt in Birmingham.
At around 8.30am on Tuesday, officers with the Birmingham Police Department discovered Greg Scott dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in front of a funeral home in the 8500 block of Zion City Road.
When police interviewed the missing mother’s daughters, one of them said that ‘daddy shot mommy’ and left her in a field, according to The Natchez Democrat.
Before noon, officers had come upon Timmons Scott’s body in the trunk of a car, which had been abandoned in a wooded area off of Dallas County Road 540, not far from her ex-husband’s home.
Police found the divorced mom’s body locked inside the trunk of a car in Selma
The couple’s daughters (pictured with their mother) were found safe in their aunt’s home in Birmingham
Timmons Scott is also survived by her 15-year-old (pictured together in 2015)
The 35-year-old woman, who had two children with Scott and an older son from a previous relationship, died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to police.
Police said Greg Scott was a psychologist who worked at a mental health center in Selma. Timmons Scott worked as a hairstylist at Cuttin’ Loose salon.
The couple married in 2013 and split earlier this month, reported the station WSFA.
They had been locked in a legal battle over the custody of their girls, who were living with their mother.
Following the suspected murder-suicide, detectives found out that on Monday, Greg Scott had filed paperwork seeking to transfer custody of his daughters to his sister in Birmingham.
Mary Timmons Scott’s 15-year-old son resides with his father in Birmingham.