PARKER, Colo.—A Colorado woman slain at a McDonald’s parking lot and the death of her ex-husband later appear to be a murder-suicide, Parker police said.
The woman was shot Tuesday, and a witness said her children were inside the restaurant at the time. Court documents from earlier this year identify her as Donna Royer, The Denver Post reported Wednesday ().
Parker police said they later found Royer’s ex-husband, 53-year-old Mark Steven Royer, dead near his truck at a trailhead not far from a high school. Officer Dawn Cashman said Wednesday that investigators were awaiting the results of autopsies.
The Royers divorced last year and Donna Royer moved out of the Parker home the couple lived in with their two daughters. Court records show she got a protective order against him in April after alleging domestic violence. She said she was receiving threating phone calls and emails.
In her request for a protective order, she said her ex-husband’s emails and phone calls had “changed significantly and he has become more threatening.” She said Mark Royer once confronted her and her new boyfriend at a Starbucks and threatened her boyfriend’s life.
The Denver Post reports that Donna Royer worked at the Parker Recreation Center, helping cancer patients as part of her job as a fitness and rehabilitation counselor.
Mark Royer worked as a senior professional research assistant at the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, according to the college. He resigned from CU on Aug. 31. The college said his research dealt with public health and drug abuse.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
