Parker Mays (27) was living a seemingly charmed life with his family in Overland Park, Kansas. His father, psychiatrist Kevin Mays, mother Tamra and his two sisters Chloe and Layne all lived close by, and by all accounts, seemed to be a close family.
A quick search of Parker’s name on google brings up his social media accounts –
Parker’s Instagram – https://instagram.com/goodnightparker
Parker’s posts are unusual, to say the least. He posted many ramblings and often commented back and forth to himself on his posts.
Parker’s rants were often commented on by his family.
In the above post, Parker is asked if he is going to visit his grandfather.
In February 2018, Parker was arrested during a ‘Defend the Flag’ protest. He was charged with Criminal Damage. Lawrence Police Capt. Troy Squire said at the time that Mays kicked a truck, climbed on top of it, fell off and kicked it again.
His social media rants continued after his arrest and throughout 2019.
On January 14, 2020, Parker was arrested again. This time for the unthinkable. He was arrested on suspicion of murder after his sister Layne Mays was found dead by their mother, Tamra.
Layne’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/coppertop1479
Layne was 22 at the time she died, and by the looks of Parker’s mugshot, she fought back HARD.
Police have not yet revealed Layne’s cause of death.
Layne was an established showjumper and her instagram shows a massive contrast in lifestyles to Parker.
According to her obituary, Layne was also a talented cellist and artist.
Interestingly, her family included Parker in her obituary and also included the following quote:
Layne would like us all to remember her with the following quote she so cherished: “Family, where life begins, and love never ends”.
Parker is currently being held on a $1 million bond.
Parker was set to appear in court on Friday January 17, 2020, but at the time of writing, no further public updates were available.
People who knew Parker have started commenting online.
We will update this blog as soon as more information comes to hand. We are currently discussing this case in our group – please join us! Facebook.com/groups/TrueCrimeSociety
From what little I can glean, Parker was arrested in Lawrence, not in Overland Park. Don’t know if he was living in Lawrence, or in Overland Park. I completely do not understand the news blackout on this murder. Why is he charged with premeditated murder? What is the evidence that he planned it out? Why was his obvious mental illness not dealt with? I get the concept of family, but I don’t understand letting someone have access to the home and family when someone is dangerous. Sounds as though his father had access to all the mental health resources he could have needed. Will wait for more details.
All the access in the world to psychiatric resources means Nothing if the individual won’t accept or comply with treatment. The law allows you and I and everyone else to be as sick and as crazy as you want to be. It is your Right to refuse treatment. and Laws are written to protect those Rights.
ONLY if a person is “in imminent danger of harming self or others” can those Rights be over ridden.
The danger, to self or others, MUST be IMMINENT.
and Imminent means “RIGHT NOW” not last week or a few days ago.
He lived in Lawrence . My friend is neighbors with the Mays family. Parker did not reside in their Overland Park home. My friend also mentioned that she only knew him to drive one of those smaller size electric cars, she was surprised to hear he was driving a van.
The mugshot (Thursday evening) is road rash most likely from the police throwing him to the ground or him resisting arrest. His sister was murdered two days before his arrest so they would’ve been the beginning of bruises and not bright pink scrapes.
He was arrested a few hours after his mother found the body. Apparently she immediately knew he did it.
He was arrested around 4;00 the day of the murder.
It is clear the parents enabled him and they are completely culpable given his father a PSYCHIATRIST and the mother responding to his posts about Baldwin moving location (?!) in the most passive gross way. They knew he was completely insane and they lost a child for not committing him for inpatient treatment and supervision.
I cannot for the life of me understand why he had access to the house. If you have a dangerous family member, they cannot be allowed access to the house. Pretending everything is hunky dory does not work.
My daughter went to High School with Parker. By all accounts-he was a nice and polite kid. Something happened in the past 10 years that made him wacko. What was it? Did he develop a mental illness of some kind?? Such ANGER.
Just from reading these posts it’s clear he was schizophrenic. Typically the first break occurs around 18-24 years old so he may very well have been 100% fine in HS. Very sad for all involved.
I worked w/ a young man who was a straight A student in HS. Athletic. Very good looking.. and college bound with a full ride scholarship. At 19 he had a break and he was 27 and living homeless before he finally agreed to treatment with any kind of consistency. But the young man he was before that.. is long gone and no medication in the world can bring back all he and his family have lost.
Just read he has been committed to Larned State Mental Health Hospital.
I realize it’s been months since someone posted here, and I’ve honestly never been on this site before, but I just have to give my two cents.
Parker’s older sister, Chloe, is my best friend. We’ve been friends since second grade, which means I’ve known Parker since he was 6 or 7 years old. The Mays family is like a second family to me. I’ve spent countless days at their house with the whole family, including Parker.
For much of his life, Parker was a normal, happy, intelligent kid. He was crazy smart, loved to read and listen to music, and was a big history buff. Things took a turn late in HS and early into his college years. Know that Tamra and Kevin tried many, many things to help Parker. You cannot force someone who’s legally an adult to take medications consistently or accept treatment. They absolutely tried – for years. He eventually moved out to live in Lawrence full-time, so again, when an adult moves out of your house, how are you going to control what they do?
The family was very much aware that Parker had major issues, but he refused help. Call them crazy, but they did their best to maintain a relationship with him, despite his issues – he’s their CHILD. As a mother myself, I can 100% understand this. Were there signs they missed? Were they blinded by their love for their child? It’s impossible to say. Parker displayed zero violent tendencies towards his family (or towards most people) prior to this.
What I can say, though, is that there’s now a family – one that I love and care about very much – that’s been ripped apart. I’ve seen the damage done first-hand, and this family that I consider part of my own will never be the same. The Mayses are some of the kindest, most caring people I’ve ever known, and although they’ve stayed strong through all of this so far, it’s been heartbreaking to witness and be a part of the aftermath. Most of you commenting here have been very factual and have posed very fair, reasonable questions. Just please remember that this is a real family that’s been permanently damaged by a very real tragedy.
SF: Thank you for posting this.