Supplemental Statement to Statement to Sheriff Danny Dominguez September 16, 2013.

I last saw my daughter, Melaney, on Monday, August 5, 2013. She stopped by to drop off the mail after work and talk about something about a piano I wanted moved. She came by the next two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, but I was asleep. I have disturbed sleep patterns, I get very tired some days and Melaney knew that. On Monday, she seemed fine, I asked about work and she answered briefly. There was no indication that she was depressed. I expected to talk to her on Thursday. I knew she and her husband, John Rayburn, would be going to hear LBS and some of their friends would be there. John Rayburn called me at 1:03 a.m. on Thursday, August, 8, 2013. He told me that Melaney was missing and that the train had struck someone and that he was scared. I left immediately and went around to the Mesa crossing and went by their house, not finding anyone home. I was going to meet John at the engine when I noticed lights near the Russell Street crossing. I pulled in front of the crossing, and went to see if there was someone I could talk to. I started calling, Hello, and two Border Patrol agents came up to me and asked me to return to my car. I told them my daughter was missing. They asked me to describe her, and I said she was tall, thin, with dark brown hair. They asked the last time I had seen her, and I said, a few days ago. And that she had gone by my house, but I was sleeping and so she had left. The Border Patrol asked me to go back to the car. John waited at the engine, and I waited at the Russell Street crossing. I called his friend, David Jurado, who went to be with John. His friend, Rose Lewis Anderson stayed with me. We waited for about two hours. Eventually, John was brought to where I was, and we were told by the Deputy Sheriff that it was Melaney who was struck by the train. They had her phone, which was handed to Rose, and her purse, which was handed to me. The purse had a broken strap, and in it were money, a credit card, lip gloss, and a receipt for the Lost Horse. The receipt showed a time of 8:19, but the register at the Lost Horse is 3 hours and 42 minutes slow, so the time would have been 12:01 a.m. when Melaney was cashing out.

Walking the Tracks on August 9th, 10th, and 11th Throughout a three day period, several family members, including Byron Ellington, Joaquin DelCanto, Anna Clemson, Osiel Cantu, Daniel Cantu, Joanna Cantu, Isaiah Shankar, Tori Cantu, Diana Cantu, our mother Elizabeth Cantu, and Annette DelCanto Ellington, all walked the tracks for what amounted to hours. During that time, they found blood, body matter later confirmed by Justice of the Peace Cinderela Guevara to be brain tissue, and on the tracks approximately 20 feet east of where Melaney's body was found, Tori Cantu found Melaney's broken pair of eyeglasses, the left wing and eye frame only. John Rayburn, Sr. and his son, Paedric Rayburn, went over the scene recording a video, but I do not recall what date that video was made.

Melaney was a very deliberate person. She was successful, goal oriented. She did not get that way by making impulsive decisions. She hated the idea of physical danger and was never a thrill seeker. She did not have the physical fortitude to not flinch or cringe at a train coming at her. She was a compulsive planner. It was not characteristic of her personality to do something like lay herself on tracks and wait for a train. We found her internet browsers were open when we checked her computer. She was in the middle of an online application for an executive position for a health facility in San Antonio. She had mail unsent, and an uncashed check, and she was in the middle of organizing wedding gifts and thank you notes. She had sent me a draft resignation letter to proofread just before going out that night. The resignation letter said she would be resigning October 4th from the clinic. She and John had made plans to leave Marfa for Austin or another city. She was happy to be starting back on the road to furthering her education with graduate studies. Melaney was always extremely intelligent. We could tell it in her as an infant. She grew to love learning and when she was in 7th grade we moved to Austin, Texas so she could attend the Austin ISD Magnet Program for the Gifted and Talented. Her application was accepted easily and she went on to graduate from the Liberal Arts and Science Academy Magnet Program for the Gifted and Talented, at LBJ High School in Austin. She took a double strand of AP classes in liberal arts and science and math and graduated with a GPA of 4.5. She was 10th in her class, so you can imagine the competition in the school. She was always diligent in her studies, a true scholar. I never pushed Melaney to achieve, she had the drive and ambition herself. In her senior year in high school, Melaney received dozens of requests from many universities like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Colombia, and many others, asking her to apply to their universities. She chose the University of Chicago for many reasons, but first because they have one of the best sociology departments in the world, and second because they are a need blind school, always the planner, she was trying to keep a top tier education in financial reach. She graduated from U of Chicago in 2008 with honors. While she was in high school, part of the requirements for being a member of the National Honor Society was a commitment to volunteering. She began volunteering in the Austin domestic violence shelter when she was a sophomore in high school and continued until she graduated from college. She traveled to volunteer in facilities located in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Upon graduation, she wanted to serve her country and volunteered for the Peace Corps. She was accepted quickly. Although most applicants must wait six months to a year, Melaney knew within just two months that her application would be accepted and processed. She left for St. Lucia in the eastern Caribbean in September 2008. She was known as the only PC volunteer who went into the shantytowns to talk with the families of her students. Some of these students she took to chess tournaments. She felt she accomplished very much with the different projects she initiated and considered her service her most proud accomplishment. When she left the Peace Corps in 2010, she came to Marfa, primarily because the economy was in the middle of the financial crisis, but also to help me. I had become disabled because of my physical sensitivity to many medications. My medication had affected my ability to work and continued to cause problems for me. Here in Marfa, she met John Rayburn, who she met in early 2011 and married on May 26, 2013.

They were very much in love. It was instant attraction for them and their love grew as they both realized they were both goofy nerds, and that they suited each other so well. The pain that I feel for the loving life she cannot live overwhelms me often. They were having fun, busy planning their life together and making plans to leave Marfa so she could continue her academic studies. Melaney was brilliant, beautiful and a very caring person. Melaney was not a thrill seeker and could not have done this to herself. She could not have accomplished so much in her life if she had been impulsive instead of a planner. She loved us too much to do this to herself and to us.

Sylvia L. Parker

Questions Sheriff Dominguez told my son, Jesse Parker that all of his deputies were in training that night and he was the only officer on duty. What training were the deputies in that night and where? Why did you tell my son an autopsy would be performed? Did you tell Judge Guevara that my son asked if Melaney had been assaulted? Did you discuss with her any of my sons questions? What did you mean by your phrase, no further investigation is needed? Judge Guevara said that you were both keeping an open mind from the beginning, but Mark Baeza said he pleaded with you to not call it a suicide because he had serious concerns. Judge Guevara kept assuring us that an investigation was ongoing. What did that investigation consist of? Do you understand that by telling us to consider hiring a private investigator that you are saying anyone in Marfa who does not have money has no chance at justice and no chance for investigation? Why didnt you ask for help if the investigation was too difficult for you and your department? Why didnt you ask the Texas Rangers or the DAs office for help? What proof did you have, other than Melaney was lying on the tracks, to make the assumption that she committed suicide? Why did you assume she was alive when the train ran over her?