According to jail records and an arrest warrant, Kody Dale Climer, 46, of Lubbock was charged Friday with murder.

His mother, Linda Gail Wilhite, 67, was last seen on August 16, according to family members. The two lived at the same address in West Lubbock. Wilhite was reported missing to police on August 18.

Lubbock Police released the following statement regarding the case:

The Lubbock Police Department has served an arrest warrant on Kody Climer (45 years old) for the murder of Linda Gail Wilhite (67 years old).  Mr. Climer, who is Ms. Wilhite’s son, was already in the Lubbock County Detention Facility on unrelated charges.  The arrest warrant was served there earlier today.
 
This charge is in relation to the Missing/Endangered Person investigation (case number 16-28309) involving Ms. Wilhite, which has been upgraded to a homicide investigation.  Based on the current state of the investigation and all evidence to this point, the Lubbock Police Department now, unfortunately, has probable cause to believe her to be deceased and that Mr. Climer was the perpetrator.
 
Our condolences are extended to the family of Ms. Wilhite and the greater Lubbock community affected by her loss, and our Investigation Services Bureau Detectives have been in contact with her family as to the status of this case.  The investigation is on-going, and we are still searching for Ms. Wilhite’s remains.  Anyone with information is strongly encouraged to contact us at Crime Line, 741-1000.
 
According to the arrest warrant, an officer found a kitchen knife on the ground outside in the back of the duplex where Wilhite and Climer lived. That officer “also observed pry marks on a bedroom window.”
 
The officer also discovered blood in and around a closet in a bedroom. In that closet, records said the officer found a bloody pillow and several blankets covered in blood. A light switch in the room had a bloody fingerprint on it, documents said.

LPD believed someone had been seriously injured in the home, the warrant said.

“Just because we’ve issued the murder warrant and just because we’re gonna go forward with that, we’re not done. We’re still looking for Ms. Wilhite,” said LPD Lieutenant John Hayes, a lead investigator on the case.

“Bottom line she was a mother, she was a sister. There’s family members that are hurting,” Hayes said.

Court documents revealed that an officer pulled Climer over in the early-morning hours of on August 17. Police found a “Bowie knife in a sheath in a front cup holder and a large axe/hatchet laying on the back floor board of the vehicle.” LPD said Climer was driving Wilhite’s vehicle at the time. Climer was issued a citation and released, the warrant said.

Police said a person who saw Climer at a local convenience store on August 18 said Climer “appeared paranoid.” Documents said Climer made a comment “that he was going to be famous but for the wrong reason.”

Wilhite’s SUV was recovered on August 19, the warrant said. While detectives were taking photographs of her car, they found “what appeared to be a deposit of blood on the rim of the spare vehicle wheel located in the rear cargo area,” and two other possible traces of blood were found in the cargo area.

“If you have a family member or even a stranger that is injured and you’re going to take them to a hospital or to a doctor’s office to get them treatment, you transport them in a certain area of your car,” Hayes explained. “This blood wasn’t located where you would normally transport somebody you care about.”

“The biggest thing we were waiting on was the DNA results from the stuff submitted to DPS (Texas Department of Public Safety),” Hayes added.

When Climer was located, near 82nd and Ash, police said he had two bags with him. One contained a large silver knife with a wooden handle and his mother’s credit card. He also had a check on him, made out for $500 with “birthday money” in the memo.

Police said Climer told them he “voluntarily provided a statement denying any knowledge of [Wilhite’s] whereabouts but did advise that he had written hot checks” from his mother’s account.

According to the court documents, Climer told police he felt that he was owed some of the settlement money that he believed his mother was set to receive after his brother’s death, in the amount of $90,000. He reportedly said he wanted $4,000 from his mother from that settlement “to leave town and start his new business and a new life.”

“We’ve spoken to a lot of people. The citizens of Lubbock… showed how good a town we live in by the number of Crime Line tips we received,” Hayes said.

“We still would like to find her and bring her home and give her the appropriate treatment that she deserves,” said Hayes.

*Note: Climer was 45 when he was arrested. He has since turned 46 while in jail.