Authorities said Gene Donald Kaping lay outside overnight before he was found unresponsive.
QUITMAN, Texas — For about 12 hours after Gene Donald Kaping was hit by a golf cart in his driveway, deputies said, no medical help was called as the 71-year-old man remained outside through the night.
That gap now sits at the center of a murder case against Lisa Ann Guetter, 59, Kaping’s live-in girlfriend. Wood County investigators said Guetter struck Kaping on April 2 while driving a modified golf cart, left him on the ground, found him unresponsive the next day and later gave statements about the vehicle that investigators challenged. Kaping died at a hospital several days later, and Guetter is being held on a $1 million bond.
The case began in the front area of Kaping’s Quitman home, where deputies were called April 3 for an unresponsive man. First responders found Kaping on the ground with severe injuries. By then, investigators said, the crash had happened the previous evening. Guetter told deputies that she and Kaping had been drinking and arguing. She said she was driving a “souped-up” golf cart at about 15 mph when it hit him. She described Kaping as appearing to “hydroplane” away from the vehicle before landing near large rocks. She also told investigators Kaping did not want her to call for help.
Deputies said Guetter went inside rather than seek medical care. According to the affidavit, Kaping later walked a short distance and lay down in the driveway. Guetter said the couple yelled at each other after the impact. The affidavit says she did not check on him again for about 12 hours. When she did, Kaping was unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital and remained there about four days before he died. That timeline led authorities first to an abandoning or endangering an elderly person charge, then to a murder charge after Kaping’s death and further investigation.
Investigators looked beyond the delay and focused on what happened before the impact. Guetter had said the golf cart’s brakes were not working, but deputies said an inspection showed the brakes worked properly. Detectives also said she had been driving loops in the driveway before hitting Kaping. That detail mattered to investigators because it suggested she knew where he was before the collision. The affidavit does not say whether video captured the driveway or whether a crash expert measured the scene. Officials also have not released a full medical report explaining which injuries were caused by the cart, by the fall, by the rocks or by the time Kaping remained outside.
The investigation also moved inside the home. During an April 16 search, deputies said they found a handwritten note attributed to Guetter that read, “Why let him be there? Why not shoot him?” Public reports do not say where in the home the note was found, when it was written or whether investigators linked it directly to the night Kaping was injured. Still, the note became part of the affidavit supporting the upgraded charge. Kaping’s sister told authorities that Guetter was “controlling, mean and evil,” especially when alcohol was involved. Investigators also cited a prior domestic disturbance in which Guetter allegedly attacked Kaping with a knife.
The allegations place the case at the intersection of a vehicle impact, an injury response and a domestic relationship that deputies described as troubled. The golf cart was not described as a typical recreational cart. Guetter’s own reported words called it “souped-up,” and investigators said she estimated its speed at about 15 mph. In many crash cases, a driver’s conduct after impact can become as important as the collision itself. Here, deputies have pointed to the overnight delay, the alleged false brake claim and the earlier reported violence as pieces of the larger case. Guetter has not been convicted, and prosecutors must prove the charge in court.
Legal records available in public reports show Guetter was booked into the Wood County Jail on the murder charge after Kaping died and after the investigation expanded. Reports said she had earlier been arrested April 9 on the elderly person endangerment-related charge and bonded out the next day. She was arrested again after the charge was upgraded. It was not immediately clear whether a judge had set a first appearance date on the murder charge, whether a grand jury had reviewed the case or whether Guetter had entered a plea. No public defense statement was included in the reports reviewed.
The April timeline gives prosecutors several points to develop. The crash was reported to have happened April 2. Deputies found Kaping unresponsive on or around April 3. Guetter was arrested April 9 on the earlier charge. Deputies searched the home April 16 and found the note, according to reports. The murder charge followed Kaping’s death and the broader investigation. Each date adds to the case’s sequence, but the public record still leaves open questions about the exact time of the crash, the hour Kaping was found, the content of any 911 call and the medical findings that tied his death to the driveway incident.
For now, the clearest fact in the case is the long period between injury and aid. Deputies said Kaping was alive after the impact, walked a short distance and later lay on the ground. Guetter told investigators he told her not to call for help. Authorities said she left him outside anyway and did not return for about half a day. The next steps are expected in Wood County court, where prosecutors will have to turn the affidavit’s allegations into evidence.
Author note: Last updated May 21, 2026.