Deputies look for clues in deaths of store owner, wife

By Donna Swicegood

A popular store owner and his wife were shot to death in their home sometime Thursday night or Friday morning.

Don Allen Barker Sr., 62, and his wife, Sue Jenkins Barker, 63, were found dead inside their home at 828 White's Farm Road, less than two miles from the store he operated for many years.

George Mooe, an employee of the store, called 911 just before 7 a.m. Friday after going to check on Barker, who should have arrived to open Barker's Grocery at 6 a.m.

Mooe said he went to the house, but it was dark and he couldn't see anything. He called Barker's son, Allen, and asked him if he had a key to the house.

"I told him his dad wasn't at work and his parents weren't answering the door," Mooe said.

Mooe went back to the store and returned to the house with Barker's niece. Then, he said, "I saw Don laying in there."

The Iredell County Sheriff's Office responded to find both of the Barkers dead.

Chief Rick Dowdle said Don Barker was last seen around 9:30 p.m. Thursday when he left his store, headed for home.

He said that he wasn't sure when Sue Barker, a retired teacher, was last seen alive. Sonny Davis, who attends church with the Barkers, said Sue had been at Rose Chapel United Methodist Church on Thursday, helping prepare for a yard sale.

Dowdle said early indications are that the Barkers were each shot once, probably with a handgun. An autopsy is scheduled today at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

"There's no signs of forced entry," Dowdle said. "There's nothing that jumped out at us that was missing; no signs of ransacking."

Authorities roped off the area around Barker's store. Deputies are seeking evidence that might be connected to the murder.

"It was his place of business, and we're preserving the scene in case there is evidence that might lead us to what happened," he said.

There had been reports that Barker had an altercation with someon at the store Thursday after some cigarettes were stolen.

Dowdle said detectives have not been able to confirm that.

"It wasn't reported to us," he said.

This was not the first time Barker had been the victim of violence. On Nov. 14, 2002, he was shot during a robbery at his store, and in March 2003, he was robbed at his home.

Mooe said the previous shooting was one of hte reasons he felt uneasy when Barker didn't arrive at work Friday morning.

"After he got shot, we all started keeping an eye on him," Mooe said.

He said that he had worked for Barker for about a year, managing a mobile-home park near the store.

"He was like a father to a lot of people," he said.

Lowell Harmon, who is married to Sue Barker's sister, Shirley, said he was privileged to have known the couple.

"We were truly blessed," he said Friday afternoon as he came by the store. "They will be missed."

Barbara Taylor, whose son Robert helped Barker in the store, said she spent a lot of time at the store, lending support to her son.

"They were good people," she said. "We loved Don and Sue."

Couples shot dead at home

By Carrie Sidener

Neighbors and friends gathered around the convenience store cordoned off with crime tape. They were sad, angry and fearful.

Barker's Grocery, a popular gathering place on U.S. Highway 21, never opened Friday morning because owner Don Barker and his wife, Sue, had been killed in their home.

"The impact is so far-reaching," said the Rev. H.L. Talbert, pastor of Rose Chapel United Methodist Church, which the Barkers attended.

"This morning, it was like ripples in a pond spreading outward. ... Don and Sue didn't just touch lives; they shaped them."

On Friday, Sonny and Sue Davis hovered around the store, where they had often spent time.

"That man would give you the shirt off his back," Sonny Davis said. "He would do anything in the world for you. ... Sue tried to tell him to close the store and sell it, but he said he can't."

Davis said Don Barker was robbed twice before and was shot during one of the robberies.

He said when the authorities caught one of hte perpetrators, Don Barker told him, "I hope that boys gets his life straightened out."

"Something needs to be done," Sonny Davis said, citing two other unsolved multiple homicides in the community. "Someone needs to get of their ... and do something."

Sue Davis owned the store when Don Barker started working there when he was about 13. She later sold the store to him.

"He was just like my son," she said.

"Don was the greatest man around," said Michael Carson, who worked at the store. "He was too good a guy. That might have been his downfall."

Sue Barker was a retired teacher at North Iredell Middle School. Principal Kelly Cooper said the staff was deeply saddened by the news of her death.

"She will be deeply missed by our entire faculty," Cooper said.

Teacher Barbara Hill described Sue Barker as a loving woman who cared about her students.

"She would always go the extra mile to help a student, whether it be personal or school related," Hill said.

Bill Hayes, who also helped out at the store, said Don would help anyone in need and often cashed checks for people, although sometimes those checks bounced.

"I have seen poeple pull up in here with no gas and no money, and he'd give them $5 of gas and send them on their way," he said.

Hayes said Don often wanted his friends to work with him in the store after he was shot in a robbery. Maybe that's what led to his death at home, Hayes speculated.

"I suspect that is why they went to his house, because there were always people around him here," he said.

County Commissioner Godfrey Williams, who frequented the store, said the couple will be greatly missed.

"Everyone knew Don and depended on him to be there," he said. "So many people depended on him for groceries and gas ... everyone in the neighborhood."

This is the second double homicide in Iredell County this year.

Talbert said Sue Barker had been organizing a church yard sale for Saturday. It will still be held - now in the couple's honor.

"Their ministry and their love lives on," Talbert said. "An assault can take their lives, but it can't take their love from the community."