Robert "Robie" Pardee was a loving father, an avid reader, a retired landscape architect for Pima County and a University of Arizona graduate, his daughter said.
But his life ended this month when Tucson police found him dead inside his west-side home.
The 61-year-old's daughter, Avery Pardee, is shocked to hear the man suspected in the killing has gone public with his version of the events that led to Pardee's death.
She wants people to know her father was a positive influence in Tucson's community and a desert-loving hiker.
Late Monday, police said 26-year-old Jonathan Baumbach was arrested in Washington state while sleeping in the back of Pardee's stolen truck.
By Tuesday, a television station in Spokane released footage of a jailhouse interview where Baumbach describes how he killed Pardee.
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Avery Pardee, 29, lives out of state but visited her father at least once a month, she said.
"We talked a lot, and looking back on it, that was really precious time," Avery Pardee said through tears Tuesday.
Pardee took part in designing Agua Caliente Park when Avery was younger, and also participated in the creation of Feliz Paseos Park, distinctive for its paved trail to afford access to the disabled, his daughter said Tuesday.
On June 20, Pardee asked Tucson police to check on her father because she hadn't heard from him in a while.
Officers found his body in the house and his truck missing.
The truck was found by Spokane County sheriff's deputies.
In the videotaped interview, Baumbach said he hit Pardee with a rubber mallet and cut his throat.
Tucson police would not comment on what he said.
