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Help was too late

Husband charged in wife’s death

Robert C. Reed | Hickory Daily Record

Crime scene tape surrounds the home where deputies found Glenda Peck shot dead on the floor early Saturday. Her husband, Herbert Lawrence ‘Larry’ Peck, 68, has been charged with first-degree murder.

By Ragan Robinson | Hickory Daily Record

Published: November 16, 2009

LENOIR - Sixty-six-year-old Glenda Peck was on the phone with 911 operators when she was shot several times early Saturday morning in her Covington Way kitchen, said her sister, Trish Walker.

Peck's husband, Herbert Lawrence "Larry" Peck, faces a first-degree murder charge in his wife's death, the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.

Walker said the couple was arguing about money Friday night, although authorities have released no information about suspected motives.

Shortly after 4 a.m., according to the press release, Glenda Peck apparently called 911 to say her husband was having a medical problem and was becoming violent.

Deputies and medical responders arrived at the house after the 911 communications center lost phone contact with Glenda Peck. The release says officers could see through a window that she was on the floor and had to force their way inside the locked home.

Deputies then searched the home and found Larry Peck hiding in a closet, the release said. Glenda Peck was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities could not or would not tell the family how many gunshot wounds Glenda Peck suffered, said her sister.

"She had to have run from the master bedroom through the living room and the dining room and into the kitchen," Walker said.

She said Larry Peck's medical conditions include diabetes and a knee problem that required surgery. A Chevrolet sedan in the driveway of the Peck home, at 3190 Covington Way, displayed a handicapped license tag.

Walker lives four houses away from her sister and said the two last spoke Friday, when Glenda Peck called to her sister to see if she was feeling well. Walker has had a series of medical problems in recent months, she said.

Glenda Peck was the oldest of five children who grew up in Morganton before moving to Lenoir as children, Walker said.

The Pecks moved to Lenoir from Jupiter, Fla., where Glenda Peck owned a travel agency. She continued to operate the passport and travel business from her home in the Covington development.

As Walker placed an angel on the mailbox in front of her sister's home Sunday afternoon, neighbors walking on the quiet streets stopped to offer help and tell Walker what a wonderful woman her sister was.

Walker said Glenda Peck took Christmas gifts to employees at McDonalds and the Yellow Submarine sandwich shop in Hudson, where the couple were regulars.

The Pecks recently returned from a trip to Denver to visit Glenda Peck's son and daughter-in-law and celebrate her granddaughter's first birthday.

Glenda Peck also had an adult daughter. Both her children live in Denver, Colo.

Walker said Pendry's Funeral Home in Lenoir will take care of funeral arrangements for the family.