Country musician Larry Petree and wife found dead in car on desert road, CA police say

The city of Bakersfield, California, is mourning after the shocking deaths of country musician Larry Petree and his wife Betty Petree.

The married couple of over 60 years were found dead at their car on a desert dirt road east of California City Sunday, Aug. 21, around 2 p.m, according to KGET.

The bodies were found in the area of Proctor Boulevard and 150th Street in the Mojave desert, according to KERO.

Betty Petree’s body was found outside of their car against a tire, according to KGET, while Larry Petree, 88, was found in the driver’s seat.

The jarring deaths has left family members looking for answers.

“What were they doing out there?” Laurie Sanders, cousin to Larry Petree, told The Bakersfield Californian. “They don’t travel that far away from home.”

Larry Petree was known in Kern County for his skilled playing of the pedal steel guitar. It’s this very instrument that gives country music songs a wallowing tone.

“Larry always had a smile and a kind word,” recording artist Jennifer Keel, who played music with Peetre over the years, told The Bakersfield Californian. “He was a very well-respected musician, steel player in the Bakersfield country music family.”

Originally born in Paden, Oklahoma, in 1933, Petree moved to Bakersfield at a young age, The Bakersfield Californian reported. He went on to graduate from Bakersfield High School in 1951 and enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he did a full tour of duty.

The Soda Crackers, a local band, was among the many who honored Larry Petree after his passing.

“We had the honor of having Larry as our steel guitarist at our first ever show in Bakersfield and had the even greater honor of playing with him for his last show a few weeks ago,” the band wrote on Facebook. “We send our condolences to the Petree family and the greater Bakersfield Sound community.”

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office said it is not treating the area as a crime scene at this time. It confirmed that two bodies were found by the car on the desert road but did not officially release their identities.

Kern County is about 130 miles north of Los Angeles.

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