A 13-year-old girl vanished. Her family said she went to live with her grandmother. There was just one problem. That grandmother had been dead for years. The first time anyone officially reported Erica Parsons missing was in the summer of 2013, nearly 2 years after she was last seen. No report, no search, no one asking questions.
For almost 2 years, it was as if she had simply disappeared from the world. That changed the day a young man walked into a police station in Rowan County, North Carolina. He wasn’t frantic. He wasn’t panicking. He was calm. The kind of calm that comes from carrying something for too long. His name was Jamie Parsons, and he was there to ask a question no one else had asked.
Where is my little sister? Erica Parsons was 13 years old the last time anyone saw her. That was back in November of 2011. A quiet, shy girl gone. And somehow no one had reported it. When Jamie spoke to investigators, he told them he had gone back to his parents’ home on Miller Chapel Road and asked why Erica wasn’t there.
Their answer sounded simple. They said they had taken her to Asheville to live with her biological grandmother, a woman named Irene Goodman. Nan. On the surface, it sounded believable. But something about it didn’t sit right. Jamie wasn’t the only one who thought so. His uncle Scott said he had heard different versions of the story over the years. None of them matched.
And he hadn’t seen Erica, either. So, investigators went to the people who had the answers. Casey and and Parsons. From the moment they were questioned, they pushed back hard. They denied everything, said Jamie was lying, said he had been kicked out after a falling out, and this was his way of getting revenge.
And they stood by their story. Erica was in Asheville. She was with her grandmother. She was fine. But then the story started to fall apart. They claimed their daughter Brooke had been with them when they dropped Erica off. But when investigators spoke to Brooke, she said she had never gone. Then came another problem.
Casey said she had been in contact with Nan through Facebook, but she couldn’t show them the account. No messages, no phone number, no address, nothing. This was the person who was supposedly raising a child she still had legal responsibility for, and she had no way to contact her? Then investigators uncovered the truth.
Irene Goodman, the real one, had died in 2005, 8 years before Erica was reported missing, 6 years before anyone last saw her. The grandmother didn’t exist, at least not in the way they claimed. At that point, the story wasn’t just suspicious, it was impossible. The very next day, authorities removed the two youngest children from the home.
Days later, the sheriff’s office made it public. Casey and Sandy Parsons were not cooperating. Now, the entire community was watching. Erica’s biological mother, Carolyn, returned to North Carolina. She told investigators she hadn’t seen her daughter since January 2011, only occasional updates through Facebook.
Messages that now raised more questions than answers. “I think about that last visit all the time,” she said. “It plays over and over in my head.” She still believed Erica might be alive somewhere. Two weeks after the report, Miller Chapel Road was shut down. At first, one patrol car, then suddenly dozens. Investigators flooded the property, searching the house, the yard, the land around it, again and again.
Neighbors watched in silence because by then, everyone knew something was very wrong. And what investigators were about to uncover was far worse than anyone had imagined. If you made it this far, you already know this isn’t just another story. This channel is built for full deep dive cases, the kind where nothing is rushed and nothing important gets left out.
So, if you want the complete picture, make sure you’re subscribed. And before you go, drop your city in the comments. I always like seeing just how far these stories reach. Now, let’s continue. A month in, the FBI was brought in to assist local law enforcement. Search warrants were executed at the family home, and what investigators removed from the property painted an increasingly disturbing picture.
Among the dozens of items taken was a plastic bag containing JonBenét Ramsey magazines and a book about the case with handwritten notes inside about remodeling a house. A section of drywall had been cut out of a closet and removed. There were red stains on it. The baseboards from that same closet were taken for testing.
A pair of jeans, also with red stains, was recovered. A week later, a second set of search warrants was executed, this time at a storage building owned by Sandy. From there, investigators removed pieces of a vacuum cleaner, a videotape, school records, a hammer, and teeth. The original search warrant noted something that would become central to everything that followed.
Investigators had failed to locate any evidence of Erica Parsons still living there. No sign of her room, no personal belongings, nothing to suggest she had ever had a space of her own in that home. The evidence, investigators said, pointed to one thing. Casey and Sandy knew Erica was not coming back. There was another layer to this case that investigators couldn’t ignore.
While Erica had been gone for nearly 2 years, Casey and Sandy Parsons had continued receiving money on her behalf every month without interruption. Officials applied for a financial warrant, and the language in that application was direct. It stated that the continued desire to utilize funds intended for the care and benefit of Erica was believed to have resulted in the delay or outright refusal to report her missing in a timely manner.
Erica had been adopted through the public system and had additional needs. That made the family eligible to receive more than $600 a month from the Department of Social Services to help care for her. Working alongside the FBI, investigators tracked down bank accounts held by Casey and Sandy at Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and SunTrust Bank.
The money had kept coming in, and not once during those 2 years had either of them picked up the phone to report that the child they were being paid to care for was no longer in their home. Their attorney argued that the couple could legally continue receiving the payments. They were still Erica’s legal guardians, after all.
And as for why they hadn’t contacted the police, the attorney’s answer was simple. Casey and Sandy did not consider Erica to be missing. They believed she was with her grandmother. But there was something else investigators had noticed, something quieter. Whenever Casey and Sandy spoke publicly or sat down for interviews, law enforcement paid close attention and a pattern emerged.
The couple consistently referred to Erica in the past tense. Erica did not. In an interview on the 5th of August with WBT, she said, “She is my biological daughter. I wanted her to know that I do still love her.” Casey and Sandy, meanwhile, were still holding to their story. Sandy told reporters there had been sightings, that family members had called saying they’d spotted Erica at a rest stop.
“We asked, ‘Why didn’t you call the cops?'” he said. “Don’t wait, call the cops. The only thing I want right now is for Erica to call home and tell us she’s safe.” He was also quick to remind anyone listening that two young children had been removed from their home and that he wanted them back. The couple fought to regain custody.
A judge was scheduled to rule if the children could return, but the investigation into Casey and Sandy was far from over and the picture being painted around them was growing darker by the day. As investigators continued to dig, the accounts surrounding Erica’s disappearance grew more tangled and contradictory with every conversation.
A background check on Casey and Sandy revealed that the Department of Social Services had looked into the family before. Back in March of 2002, Department of Social Services had investigated allegations of abuse toward Erica. They found nothing. Their report noted that she did not to be afraid of the couple. But family members were telling a very different story.
And Casey’s response to all of it was sweeping. “My family is all lying.” She told investigators. “My mom told my kids to say all that stuff.” Their attorney echoed the sentiment. The allegations, he said, should not be taken as fact. The family was doing everything possible to find Erica, and relatives were simply inventing stories.
Meanwhile, questions about Erica’s education were also surfacing. Casey had homeschooled the children, and officials at the North Carolina Department of Non-Public Education confirmed that standardized test results and attendance records had been submitted, but could not confirm whether Erica’s documents had been included among them.
As for the mysterious Nan, Casey now said the woman had contacted her through Facebook, but the account had since been deactivated. The mobile number associated with her had been disconnected. There was nothing left to trace. The couple even appeared on the Dr. Phil show. Casey told the host they had never actually been inside Nan’s home, but had seen photographs of it.
She told a reporter separately that they had allowed Erica to visit the woman’s home, and that ultimately Erica simply hadn’t wanted to come back. At one point, Casey went a step further. She found a girl on social media who shared Erica’s name, and contacted the Rowan County Department of Social Services, telling them that this was their daughter, and that she was living in Greensboro.
Investigators searched databases for any trace of Erica, a social security number, a driver’s license application, any form of identification. They found nothing. According to Casey, Erica had met her biological mother, Carolyn, at a Whataburger in 2011. And after that meeting, Casey claimed Erica had decided she no longer wanted to see Carolyn.
Carolyn said nothing of the sort had happened. On the 23rd of August, the community held a vigil outside the family home. Neighbors gathered, prayed, and hoped. Billboards went up across the area with Erica’s face on them. Three days later, on the 26th of August, Casey and Sandy were interviewed again, this time by the FBI.
The following day, they packed up a truck and left the area. They said it was because of the media attention. Sandy’s stepfather told investigators that Sandy would visit only occasionally, and that he hadn’t seen Erica with him since somewhere around 2008 or 2009. Every story led to another dead end. Every answer raised more questions.
And somewhere beneath all of it was a little girl that nobody officially could account for. It had now been nearly a year since Jamie walked into that police station. And while Erica remained missing, the investigation had been building quietly and methodically in the background. On the 30th of January, 2014, the FBI announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to Erica’s whereabouts.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office added to that figure, and Prevent Child Abuse Rowan contributed an additional $5,000. Then came the breakthrough the community had been waiting for, though not in the way anyone had expected. Federal agents, with guns drawn, kicked down on Parsons’ door. Casey and Sandy were arrested and charged with 76 counts allegedly committed between February 2010 and August 2013.
The charges included theft of government funds, mail fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy to defraud the government, and identity theft. It was alleged that Casey and Sandy had continued collecting adoption assistance, Medicaid, social security, and food and nutrition services for a child who was no longer living with them.
It was further alleged that Casey had fraudulently used the identities of other individuals as dependents and submitted false information on federal tax returns. Electronic monitoring devices were fitted to both of them. They were required to meet regularly with a pre-trial officer and ordered to remain in Eastern North Carolina pending trial.
When the trial began, the scope of what came out went far beyond financial records and government checks. One by one, witnesses took the stand, and what they described about Erica’s life inside that house was almost impossible to hear. Casey’s sister, Robin, testified that Casey once asked her to take Erica for a few months because, Robin said, Casey was afraid she would kill her.
She added that Erica frequently had marks and bruises on her body, and Casey simply could not stand the sight of her. Jamie’s testimony was worse. He described a childhood for Erica that bore no resemblance to anything a child should experience. She was banned from using the bathroom. She was forced to eat dog food or food retrieved from the trash.
She was made to drink water from a dog bowl or the bathroom sink. She was locked in a closet. If she used the bathroom in the closet out of desperation, she was punished severely. She was excluded from family activities. Her fingers were broken deliberately. She was never allowed to sleep in a bed, had never owned one, and was forced to sleep on the floor.
Jamie said Casey had once held Erica’s hand against a hot stove and burned her. He admitted that he and the other children had also participated in the abuse from the time Erica was 5 years old until he was 16. He said he had once broken her arm himself, after which he made the decision to stop. His sister Brooke told detectives that their mother had sent the children to Walmart for first aid supplies so a makeshift cast could be fashioned for Erica’s arm rather than taking her to a hospital for a serious and painful injury.
Family members later noted that the arm had never healed properly. On the witness stand, Jamie said his mother had instructed his younger siblings to pull Erica’s hair if she didn’t want to play with them. He said Casey actively encouraged the children to abuse Erica and that he had regularly witnessed his mother beat her with a belt.
Sandy, he said, would punch Erica on the top of her head. Erica had developed a bald spot from the repeated blows. 12-year-old Sadie, the couple’s youngest, said she would try to sneak food to Erica when she could. She said Erica was kept locked in a closet either in her mother’s bathroom or in Brooke’s room.
She described one occasion when Casey choked Erica to the point she couldn’t breathe. If anyone gave Erica a gift, it was taken away the moment the giver left and handed to one of the other children. In a statement read by the district attorney, Sandy had once told someone that nobody would ever find Erica because Casey was smarter than the FBI.
In the week before she was last seen, her siblings described Erica as having sunken eyes, gray skin, open wounds on her body, and appearing so weak she could barely function. Jamie said the last time he saw her, she looked like a zombie. She told him she didn’t feel well and couldn’t breathe properly.
He said his mother’s response was, “I don’t care. Get back in the corner.” The following morning, Jamie woke up and his parents were gone. When they returned later that day, Sandy was quiet and looked physically ill. Casey appeared normal. When Jamie asked where Erica was, they told him she was at her grandmother’s. Prosecutor Anand Ramaswami addressed the jury plainly after Jamie’s testimony.
“Erica is no longer alive,” he said. “There is an agreement between Casey Parsons and her husband to not report the death.” Sandy’s attorney pushed back. “Bad parenting,” he argued, “did not equate to criminal conduct, and much of the prosecution’s case,” he said, “rested on the word of Jamie Parsons alone.
” It was also revealed during the trial that Sandy’s brother Scott had told investigators Jamie was a compulsive liar. Casey’s mother, Shirley, said the last time she had seen Erica was around the holidays in 2011. She acknowledged that when Erica was 6 years old, she had noticed bruises on her and a black eye, and that she and her husband, James, had wondered whether Casey was being abusive, but they had brushed it off.
She said she had once witnessed Casey choke Erica, at which point her husband grabbed Casey’s arm and confronted her before they left the home. She also noted that Erica’s hands showed signs of injury consistent with what Jamie had described about her fingers being bent back deliberately. Casey’s explanation had been arthritis.
Robin testified that Casey had beaten Erica regularly and forced her to stand in a corner for extended periods. Photographs were entered into evidence documenting Erica standing in that corner on five separate occasions. When Erica was younger, she had called Casey and Sandy mom and dad. Casey told her she didn’t like it.
She was never to call her mom again. From that point on, Erica called them Casey and Sandy. Sandy’s stepmother Janet spoke about a family beach vacation. Erica had been left behind. She had been told not to tell anyone she was there and instructed to stay hidden. Janet’s husband William discovered Erica alone in the house. “I always thought Erica was not treated as kindly as the others,” Janet said.
Then came a witness whose testimony revealed just how far Casey’s deception extended beyond the walls of that house. A woman named Amy Miller took the stand. She and her husband had hired Casey as a surrogate after connecting through a surrogacy website. “She just seemed like the perfect person.
Very wholesome, very down-to-earth, very religious. The fact that she had adopted Erica to keep her in the family, I thought that was admirable.” The couple agreed to pay Casey $10,000 in monthly installments. Casey asked that the payments be made as charitable donations to her church, but also said she needed a washer and dryer, so the payments went directly to her instead.
Casey later told Amy the baby had died. She changed her phone number. She changed her email. She told Amy to get a life and that she had no business having a child. The baby had not died. The child was born safe and healthy. The Parsons had attempted to sell the baby to Robin for $10,000, telling her the Millers no longer wanted the child.
Robin went online, found Amy, and law enforcement was brought in. Amy got her baby back. “She went from a loving, kind woman to a terrible, vicious person,” Amy said. “I know how manipulating they are. I know what they put my family through, and it was pure hell.” When the trial concluded, the verdicts came swiftly.
Casey Parsons pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, four counts of wire fraud, and four counts of aiding in the preparation of a false tax return. She was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison, 3 years of supervised release, $41,117 in restitution, and a special assessment of $1,500.
Sandy’s case went to a jury. They deliberated for less than 5 hours before finding him guilty of 43 counts, including 20 counts of theft of government funds, 20 counts of mail fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of making a false statement to a government agent, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the government.
He was sentenced to 96 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release. But it was what the judge said during sentencing that cut through everything. He made clear that the evidence suggesting Erica was no longer alive was, in his view, overwhelming. He had presided over the sentencing of close to a thousand people. He said he could not think of a single case that had troubled him more.
Looking directly at Casey, he said, “You and your husband did something horrible, horrible with her. You embraced a plan to get rid of her. You covered up your evil act. You are morally bankrupt.” He accepted nearly all of the testimony about the abuse Erica had suffered, calling the accounts from family members credible.
He described the nature of the offenses as sinister. The story about Nan, he said, was a poorly constructed and deliberate falsehood. And Erica, he said, was a defenseless little girl who had only ever wanted to be loved. “I have sentenced thousands of people over the years,” he told the couple. “No case I have ever had is as disturbing as this one.
” After sentencing, Casey’s sister Robin spoke to reporters. “I wish she would have gotten more,” she said, “but I think it’s more than I thought she would get. I feel this is justice for Erica. If they’re not going to be charged with the murder, which I think they should be, I feel it’s justice for Erica in a way.
Not complete justice. I think she deserves more.” 10 years for one, 12 years for the other. Um even though he says he has no reasons to believe my child to be alive, I will go ahead, as hard as this is for me to say, I have not made any conclusions one way or the other since this report came out. My heart, my gut, and my soul tell me my child is no longer alive.
But I want media, everybody who supports, loves, and prays for Erica and myself to understand that does not mean I give up. That does not mean I quit searching. That does not mean that I want anybody to give up until there is a body, until the DNA or whatever for sure comes from the FBI that she is passed away, don’t give up looking.
Don’t give up praying. Don’t give up hope. Casey’s mother, Shirley, took a different view. She didn’t believe the testimony about Erica should have any role in the sentencing at all, not until there was solid proof that something had happened to her. Then came another turn. Jamie recanted. He said that while he had been genuinely worried about his sister, he had not actually witnessed the things he had described happening to Erica.
It was yet another strange and disorienting development in a case that had been full of them. Sandy filed an appeal to have his sentence reduced. The US Supreme Court denied it. Casey filed her own appeal. The fourth circuit dismissed it. The fraud sentences had been handed down, but Erica still had not been found.
And for those who had been searching for her, that remained the only thing that truly mattered. Even as the legal proceedings ground forward, the search for Erica never stopped, and it wasn’t just law enforcement driving it. Two local residents, Shannon Moss and Wade Rogers, refused to let the case go quiet.
They reached out to Canine Specialties, an organization based in Illinois that used trained dogs to search for missing persons, and arranged for them to come to Rowan County. “We don’t want people to forget,” Wade said. “She’s still missing. She’s not been found. We’ve got to find her. Whatever we’ve got to do, we’ve got to come together in Rowan County and find her.
I didn’t know her, but I do now, so it’s personal. She’s got to be found. She’s a human being. If something really bad happened to her, she’s She’s thrown away like a piece of trash, and she’s not a piece of trash. She’s a little girl. She deserves to be found, and I’m not giving up. Robert T.
Larson, who headed the canine search team, traveled to Rowan County and organized multiple searches alongside volunteers who had poured everything they had into this effort. “These people have come together and put every ounce of energy they have into this weekend to try and find Erica,” he said. “I was going to work with anybody, it would be these people.
” The searches were conducted independently of law enforcement, though authorities were notified beforehand. Sadly, nothing was found. “We don’t just look for a dead Erica,” Wade emphasized. “We look for an alive Erica, too. We are not giving up. We check everything we can.” The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and requested an age-progressed image of Erica, a rendering of what she might look like now, hoping it might trigger a memory in someone who had seen her
recently. It was released publicly, a quiet, last hope that she might somehow still be out there. It had now been 5 years since Jamie walked into that police station. Then, in May of 2016, something shifted. Brooke, Casey and Sandy’s oldest biological daughter, who had until that point been supporting their parents, agreed to speak with the FBI.
What she described added yet another layer to the portrait of Erica’s suffering. She said her mother had once forced Erica to stand outside on a scorching day with no shoes until the soles of her feet had blistered. She said Erica’s skin hadn’t looked normal, that she had open wounds across her body. A few months after that conversation, Brooke visited her father in prison.
And shortly after that visit, Sandy Parsons said he was ready to talk. On the 27th of September 2016, Rowan County Sheriff Kevin Orden made an announcement. Following a dialogue with Sandy Parsons, investigators had been led to what they had been searching for. Sandy told them that on the 17th of December 2011, Casey had informed him that Erica had taken her own life.
He said the couple had poured bleach over her body to mask the smell before placing her remains into plastic bags and a storage tote. Later that same day, they attended a holiday party. The following morning, the 18th of December, Sandy said they drove to Pageland, South Carolina. He dug a hole, Casey removed Erica’s clothes, and they buried her in a shallow grave in a patch of woodland.
The storage tote and her clothing were discarded. Sandy said his wife had told him to let her handle the story about Nan. The skeletal human remains of Erica Parsons were discovered on Tuesday. Law enforcement sources telling our NBC affiliate WCNC that her remains were found in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, some 40 mi southeast of Charlotte.
Now, Erica was last seen in 2011 when she was just 13 years old, but family didn’t report her missing until 2013, nearly a year and a half later. Investigators drove out to South Carolina with Sandy. He pointed to a section of forest floor. And there, in a shallow grave, the remains of Erica Parsons were finally found. “That day in South Carolina was tough on all of us,” Sheriff Orden said.
“I saw some pretty tough cops take it pretty rough.” The guards accompanying Sandy said that within a minute of entering the woods, he broke down and wept. Erica’s family was brought to the site. Many of them broke down in tears. Her aunt Teresa Goodman said that she and a private investigator had actually searched that very area before and had not found anything.
She said she was grateful that the family members who truly cared about Erica now had some form of closure. “It can’t help but make you really step back and think.” Rowan County Sheriff Jay Brooks said. “As soon as you get through here, call your kids.” In December of 2016, Detective Chad Moose was contacted by Casey Parsons.
She had something she wanted to say. She told him that Erica had expressed a desire to die and that she had later found her lying on the living room floor on a comforter. She said she had rolled her over but Erica hadn’t moved. Casey said Erica had taken her own life. The story would later shift. Different versions would emerge of exactly how Erica had allegedly died, but certain details Casey provided could be verified.
Debit card records confirmed that bleach had been purchased at a Walmart on the 5th of December. Casey admitted to bending Erica’s fingers back, though she initially denied breaking them. It would be some time before she acknowledged that some of Erica’s fingers may in fact have been broken. She admitted to beating Erica with a belt buckle.
She said she had been too afraid to seek medical attention for Erica because she worried her sister Robin would contact social services. On the 25th of February 2017, a funeral service was held for Erica Parsons at the First Baptist Church. Family members, strangers, and law enforcement officers filled the pews.
The day before would have been her birthday. She was laid to rest, but the question of exactly how she had died and who was responsible was far from settled. Nearly a year after Erica’s remains were recovered, the findings of the autopsy were made public. Sheriff Orton had previously said they would wait for the full results before any charges were filed.
When those results came back, they were devastating. The medical examiner determined that Erica had died as a result of homicidal violence of undetermined means. The report documented fractures in various stages of the healing process in her upper right arm, the bone connecting her arm to her collarbone, a finger, her jaw, her nose, her left shinbone, and seven ribs, some of which had been broken more than once.
She showed signs of spinal abnormality. She was malnourished. She had low bone density and a growth deficit consistent with prolonged deprivation. One of her teeth was missing. Several others showed signs of having been broken. It was possible she was suffering from renal failure and there were indications of untreated sepsis, infection, or poisoning.
The medical examiner wrote, “Given the history of physical abuse and the signs of physical abuse present at autopsy, we cannot exclude the possibility of a terminal blunt force injury, suffocation, or strangulation.” She had also been dismembered. Carolyn, Erica’s biological mother, said that while she was grateful that Sandy had finally revealed where Erica was, it did not absolve him of anything.
“He stood behind her and supported every lie that came out of her mouth,” she said. On the 20th of February, 2018, just days before what would have been Erica’s 20th birthday, learned her adopted parents, Sandy and Casey Parsons, will be charged with first-degree murder. The Parsons have always denied they had anything to do with the disappearance of the little girl.
Sheriff Kevin Auten, who announced the indictments here today, said there were times during the investigation he thought this day would never come. But he did because he said investigators never gave up. We just did not want to leave a little girl out there. We want to bring her home. Now, the Parsons will be brought back to Salisbury to face charges in her death.
There people that uh think the Parsons should have already been hung on the square and uh you know, they’ll have their day in court and we’ll let the the jury decide their fate. Both Casey and Sandy Parsons were charged with first-degree murder, felony child abuse inflicting serious injury, felony concealment of death, and felony obstruction of justice.
The indictment stated that Casey and Sandy had knowingly and willingly dismembered and destroyed the human remains of Erica Lynn Parsons. Sheriff Auten spoke about the moment it meant for everyone who’d worked the case. This has weighed on us pretty heavy, he said. We’re very proud to be where we are today. It’s a difficult case.
At times we had a lot of hope we’d find Erica. Then we’d have hope we’d find her remains. And now we’re just ready to move on with the prosecution. It’s been a long time coming. We wanted to make sure the eyes were dotted and the Ts were crossed. He said he was glad the charges had come in time for what would have been Erica’s 20th birthday.
All right, well, in other news this afternoon, the adoptive parents of a North Carolina teen found dead years after being reported missing, well, they will have separate trials. Sandy and Casey Parsons face multiple charges including first-degree murder. Their 13-year-old daughter Erica was last seen in 2011, but she was not reported missing for another 2 years.
Sandy Parsons led authorities to that girl’s body in South Carolina in 2016. Casey Parsons is set to stand trial in April of 2020. A trial date for his wife has not yet been set. Today should have been Erica or Lynn Parsons’ 21st birthday. Instead, her biological family gathered at her gravesite in China Grove.
Erica Parsons, allegedly murdered by her adopted parents back in 2011. Now, they both sit in jail waiting for their trials. A lot has happened in the past year in this case, and the family says that makes today a little different than years past. Happy birthday [singing] to you. It’s a milestone for almost everyone, your 21st birthday.
But for little Erica Parsons, she’ll never get to experience that. I should be getting off work, going home, getting dressed, taking my sister out for her very first drink. >> Sunday afternoon, family and friends gathered here to place flowers and gifts. I cried all the way up here. For Erica’s biological mother, Carolyn, she says this birthday’s a little different considering what we’ve seen happen in the past year.
The fact that a court date was set for Casey, even though it’s in 2020, has a huge impact on how I feel about things being done. A trial date was set this month for Casey Parsons. Casey and Sandy Parsons, Erica’s adoptive parents, are both charged in the child’s death and could face the death penalty if found guilty. And the two main family members are sitting where they deserve to be.
I hope for the rest of their lives. But those two were not the focus today. Erica is everybody’s angel. Erica is everybody’s story. Erica’s life and story have traveled across the nation impacting some that never even met the little girl. >> As long as we’re breathing, Erica is never going to be forgotten again.
For the family, this date is difficult every year. It’s Erica’s day. She deserves every bit of this and more. And as they wait for justice, they tell me they feel Erica’s presence often, not just here at her grave. But she’s not here. You can spend time with her wherever you are, wherever you’re going. Carolyn said she had initially wanted them to face capital punishment, but she changed her mind.
She wanted them to spend every remaining day of their lives inside a prison cell. She called them evil. She called them monsters. Are you in fact guilty? Yes. Casey Parsons, the adopted mother of Erica Parsons, admitted to killing the little girl. She’ll [music] now spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Casey Parsons pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and felony child abuse. There was so much emotion inside of that courtroom today as Casey Parsons admitted that she is guilty of abusing and then murdering her adopted daughter, Erica Parsons. Of course, this admission is shocking since Erica Parsons was reported missing in 2012.
Casey and her husband, Sandy, have denied having anything to do with that disappearance. At this point, it appears that Sandy Parsons will still have to stand trial for the charges against him. We’re going to get much more information from the district attorney inside right now, and we’ll bring you the latest later.
Back to you. >> Thank you. On the 2nd of August, 2019, Casey Parsons stood before a judge and entered a plea of guilty to child abuse and murder. She was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. She also received consecutive sentences for felony concealment of death, felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily harm, and felony obstruction of justice, a combined additional total of 23 years.
I don’t know why. I don’t know why I did the stuff I did. I’m sorry. Sorry. After years of denial, Casey Parsons openly admitted she abused then murdered her adopted daughter Erica Parsons. I didn’t have a steady home. I didn’t have a steady job. Had I known then what I know now, I would have risked taking her home.
Different places at night. Today prosecutors shared testimony from Erica’s sibling, who said Erica was choked, beaten, and neglected by Casey and Sandy. Erica always smelled bad and his mom didn’t let her take a bath. Erica had a lot of cuts and bruises and black eyes from mom hitting her. Casey offered an apology before the judge sentenced her to life in prison with no parole on that murder charge.
And I want to say I’m sorry to God and to Erica. She also admitted that many family members reached out to her trying to help her with Erica, but she said she pushed them away and eventually murdered that little girl that she was supposed to protect. She said family members tried to step in and protect Erica. My parents and my sister reached out to me numerous times to help me.
Numerous. Um I pushed them back. I would lie constantly to them. My My name is Carolyn Parsons. I am Erica Lynn Parsons’ biological mother. I’ve said all along that Casey deserved life in prison versus the death sentence. I still 100% agree with that because their life in prison living her life in prison living will be worse than any death sentence she could ever get.
I know as far as having her other children participate, I just cannot seem to understand how. I don’t know why. But she did the one thing I wanted her to do. She at least said something. I don’t know that I believe that she is sorry. I don’t know that I believe that I didn’t mean to. Some of it I had heard. Some of it I hadn’t heard.
I still completely believe that Casey Stone Parsons has no heart. She has no soul. She is a body that is just there. She is a individual who just functions. The only thing Casey gets is what Erica doesn’t. She gets to live. But in return for living, she will probably be in solitary confinement. And every time she gets out, she gets to listen to people talk about her, listen to people whisper about her.
She gets to wonder, “Am I going to make it back to my cell tonight?” But when that judge made that last statement, that last statement was, “And you cannot be around children.” Yeehaw! Casey loses her rights to watch her grandkids grow up. What an incredible final end for her. 4 months later, Sandy followed. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, child abuse, concealment of death, and second-degree murder for his role in Erica’s death.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison. He will be 82 years old before he is first eligible for parole. Sandy Parsons appeared in court this morning pleading guilty to murder and other felony charges. People might forgive me. I know God has. But I’ll never forgive myself. I’ll tell you why I lied.
Things Erica was going through and I failed her as a dad. Attorneys argued Sandy was manipulated and controlled by his wife, Kasey. They said it was Kasey who committed most of the abuse against Erica, locking her in a closet, starving and severely beating the girl. They say one day Kasey told Sandy that Erica died and manipulated him into covering it up, burying her body in a South Carolina field, and lying to police for years.
Sandy Parsons brought a letter as I stated that substantially less of Kasey Parsons errors. There is literally no evidence that Sandy Parsons personally intended to kill or seriously injure Erica Parsons. >> They asked the judge for leniency in sentencing. Rather than the near 80 years he could have received, the judge sentenced him to a maximum of 43 years.
Erica’s biological mother was in court today as well, getting to tell Sandy what she thought of him. I stand by what I have said from day one. Which is I used to love you, now I hate you. And he got to hear that today. At Sandy’s sentencing hearing, his attorney read letters written by the couple’s youngest children.
They spoke about how much they loved their father and how deeply they missed him. A psychologist, Dr. Claudia Coleman, who had evaluated Sandy on two separate occasions, testified on his behalf. She described him as passive, a man who struggled to make decisions independently. She said Kasey had been the dominant force in the relationship and had threatened to take the children away from him if he didn’t comply with her.
In Dr. Coleman’s assessment, Sandy had not wanted Erica to die and had expressed genuine remorse. Sandy himself had told Dr. Coleman he hadn’t been fully aware of the extent of the abuse Erica was suffering. The district attorney was having none of it. Sandy lived in that house. He’d seen what was happening to Erica.
In some instances, he had participated in it. He was an adult. He was not a victim. He was not a hero. And he deserved the maximum sentence the court could impose. Carolyn [snorts] said Sandy’s sentence felt like a slap on the wrist. She said he had always been capable of making his own choices. She also directed her words at the family members on both sides who had seen the signs over the years and said nothing.
The judge placed Sandy in the same category as his wife. He believed Casey had been the architect of what happened, but Sandy had gone along with it. He had participated in it and he had helped cover it up. The judge said Sandy had a twisted mind and sentenced him accordingly. While in prison, Sandy has received two infractions, one for possession of non-threatening contraband and one for possession of a weapon.
After years of investigation across multiple agencies, thousands of hours, searches and interviews, the case of Erica Parsons was finally brought to a close. Sheriff Kevin Outten made one thing clear. This was never about recognition. Not the sheriff’s office, not the FBI, not the prosecutors. This was about Erica.
Those who worked the case knew it couldn’t be rushed. Every detail had to be built carefully. Every step had to be right. Because Erica needed someone to speak for her. And for most of her life, no one truly had. What she endured is difficult to process. A child who should have known love never truly felt it. She was failed by the very people meant to protect her.
There is at least one truth that remains. Those responsible are exactly where they belong. For Carolyn, the woman who gave Erica up believing she was giving her a better life, that decision never stopped weighing on her. “I thought she would have more than I could give,” she said. Instead, she was left with questions that will never be answered.
“I just want to know why, and I never will.” Erica Lynn Parsons deserved a family. She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be loved. She deserved more than what she was given. And in the end, the only thing more haunting than what happened to Erica is how long she went without a voice. If this story stayed with you, if you believe Erica’s story deserves to be heard, share this with someone.
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