By SEAN MURPHY
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — A deputy prison warden’s wife who disappeared with a convicted murderer in 1994 and spent a decade on the run with him before being found in East Texas appeared in court Monday to face charges alleging she helped the inmate escape.
Bobbi Parker was arraigned in Greer County District Court in Mangum before Associate District Judge Dan Deaver, who allowed her to be released on a $10,000 bond, said District Attorney John Wampler.
Parker appeared with her attorney, Rick Cunningham, and did not enter a plea. Following the arraignment, she was booked at the Greer County jail and released, Wampler said.
Parker’s husband, Randy Parker, and the couple’s two adult children, who were 8 and 10 when their mother disappeared, also were present in the courtroom.
Randy Parker’s father, Jerry Parker, told reporters after the hearing the family was disappointed prosecutors decided to pursue criminal charges.
“We’ve had 13 years of this,” Jerry Parker told The Oklahoman. “The first 10, we heard nothing from her. Now Bobbi has been reunited with her husband. It’s time for the Parker family to be represented.”
She is expected to return to court on May 15 for a status hearing.
A telephone message left Monday at Cunningham’s Alva office was not immediately returned.
Wampler said he has not had any discussions about a possible plea deal for Bobbi Parker.
“We’re not anywhere near that yet,” Wampler said, adding that he anticipates taking the case to trial.
Wampler charged Bobbi Parker April 4, three years to the day she and escaped prison inmate Randolph Dial were found in Campti, a tiny East Texas community near the Louisiana border. Dial was arrested at a mobile home, and Parker was discovered unharmed, working at a chicken farm.
If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison.
Dial was returned to prison where he died last year at age 62.
After his capture in 2005, Dial said he kidnapped Parker at knifepoint then forced her to live with him all those years. But a court affidavit alleges that the two were romantically involved before the escape. The document also alleged that she assisted Dial’s escape by hiding him in her car.
Wampler charged Dial with escape and he was sentenced to an additional seven years in prison.
Dial was serving a life sentence for the 1981 slaying of a karate instructor at the time of the escape. A sculptor and painter with a master’s degree in art, Dial had obtained trusty status at the Oklahoma State Reformatory, meaning he could stay in minimum security housing outside the prison walls.
He ran an inmate pottery program with Bobbi Parker, used a kiln in the Parkers’ garage and had access to their home during the day.