On July 16, 2026, 59-year-old Traci Richelle Gordon and her 83-year-old mother, Teresa Howe, were found dead from gunshot wounds inside a residence on Stewart Bend Court in Azle, Texas. Traci was a longtime hairstylist, an Arlington High School graduate who enjoyed horseback riding and was described as having a deep Christian faith and a generous spirit. Both women were discovered after police were sent for a welfare check.

Investigators identified Traci’s 64-year-old husband, Joseph Morris Gordon, as the primary suspect. The Azle Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Texas Rangers used evidence from the scene and data from Flock automated license plate readers to track a vehicle of interest and locate Joseph Gordon. He was arrested by the Texas Rangers the same day and booked into the Parker County Jail on two counts of capital murder.

Family members had reportedly warned about Joseph Gordon’s volatile behavior before the killings, and a memorial service at First Methodist Church of Azle was scheduled for both women. What details about motive or events that evening might help explain how this double homicide unfolded?