Hide Article Text (OCR)
FAMILY: The clan fellapart in less than a yearfrom 1Ahis wife’s disappearance, the suspect displayed symptoms of depression.The depression, the sheriff said, “was clearly” connected to the divorce which Mrs. Kirkland filed for in the Washington County Courthouse June 29.At the time of Mrs. Kirkland’s disappearance Aug. 27 and her husband’s death on Tuesday, both were under a restraining order — ordered by the court to stay away from each other. No final hearing for the divorce — which would have ended nearly 20 years of marriage — had occurred.“We knew it was coming,” Mrs. Davidson said. “We knew they were in the process of a divorce. But I think when they did fight, he would just leave.”She said the family troubles began when the Kirklands’ daughter died.“I think that’s when all the problems really started,” she said. “They were good people. It’s just sometimes circumstances get bad.”And she was shocked to learned that Kirkland was a suspect in his wife’s disappearance and that deputies believe he killed his wife.“I can’t imagine Beryl killing anyone,” Mrs. Davidson said. “He had a temper, but he’d cool off real fast ... just as quick as he’d get mad.”Peel confirmed Friday that Kirkland was the only suspect in his wife’s disappearance.Peel said there is no blood nor is there any evidence of struggle or injury in the Kirkland home or her Toyota Supra, which was found at a Tallahassee rest area on 1-10 Aug.29.There were marks on her car; marks consistent with a vehicle having been towed, Peel said.When her car was found, Peel immediately began scrutinizing the car and the house as “possible crime scenes.” The Florida Department of Law Enforcement examined the house and the car last week, and the sheriff’s posse rode horses across the farmland tolook for Mrs. Kirkland’s body.Since no body was found, Peel called for a “cadaver dog,” a 3Vi-year-old, black Labradorretriever named Brubaker. The large, sleek canine has found bodies in woods as well as water.Brubaker sniffed the property surrounding the home and around junked cars and other equipment at Kirkland Motor Co.The dog searched through fields on the farm, three ponds, hand-dug wells and a soybean field neighbors said Kirkland replanted with pine trees.The deputies and the dog found nothing.Peel said he did not believe Mrs. Kirkland’s body is at either place. So he and deputies took the dog to two 1-10 rest areas — one at Chat-tahoochee and another in Tallahassee where Mrs. Kirkland’s car was found.Deputies have discounted theories that Mrs. Kirkland merely left the area.“She had friends and associates that she just had continual communication with throughout the day,” Peel said. “She has had no contact with any of her family. It is not possible (that she’s alive) ... she would have surely communicated with these people by now.”An 18-year-old woman, who had been Jennifer Kirkland’s friend, was the last to see Mrs. Kirkland, Peel said.The woman, whose name was unavailable Friday, and Mrs. Kirkland had walked from the Kirkland residence a few miles to the Jr. Store on State 77 to rent a videotape, he said.They returned and the woman went home, where Mrs. Kirkland was to meet her. He added that when the woman left Mrs. Kirkland at the Kirkland home, the car was at the house.But Mrs. Kirkland never showed up and when the friend went to the Kirkland home, no one was there and Mrs. Kirkland’s car was gone.Peel said he is investigating the possibility that Kirkland returned to the house and killed his wife.Kirkland was the Independent candidate in the Washington County Commission’s District 2 race and would have faced democrat Doyle Taylor in the Nov. 6 general election. Taylor unseated incumbent Albert “Sonny” Davis in Tuesday night’s primary.
Newspaper Details
Panama City News Herald
Panama City, Florida, US
Sat, Sep 08, 1990
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
FL, USA 29 Jun 2020
Other Publications Near Panama City, Florida
Panama City Pilot
Panama City News Herald Sunday
Panama City News Herald
Panama News Herald
Panama City News
