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. Skeletal human remains of Erica Parsons were discovered on Tuesday. Are you in fact guilty? Yes. Casey Parsons, the adopted mother of Erica Parsons, admitted to killing the little girl.
She’ll now spend the rest of her life behind bars. Casey Parsons pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and felony child abuse. Rowan County, North Carolina in the United States of America, a young man showed up at the police station accompanied by his uncle, his name was Jamie Parsons, and he came to report that his younger sister Erica was missing.
But here’s the thing, this wasn’t about something that had just happened. Erica hadn’t been seen for almost 2 years. The last time Jaime saw her was back in November of 2011. His uncle Scott, who was with him, explained that he’d heard different stories about where Erica might be, but you know, he himself hadn’t seen her in a very long time either.
Erica was a quiet, withdrawn girl. She was 13 years old at the time of the last confirmed contact, and then she just vanished for an extended period of time. And what makes this even more disturbing is that no official missing person report had ever been filed. On February 24th, 1998, Carolyn Parsons gave birth to a baby girl. She named her Erica.
Later on, the child’s aunt and uncle Casey and Sandy Parsons, who already had children of their own, including Jaime, officially adopted her. While speaking with police, Jaime said that he’d asked his parents many times where Erica had gone and why she no longer lived at the house on Miller Chapel Road. He was told that Erica had been taken to Asheville, where, according to them, her biological grandmother lived a woman named Irene Goodman, who everyone called Nan.
Even back then, that explanation felt off. But as the conversation went on, things started to sound way more alarming. Jaime said that his parents regularly abused Erica, both physically and emotionally. And even after she disappeared, Sandy and Casey continued receiving government assistance in Erica’s name, about $600 a month, even though she no longer lived in that house.
The next step in the investigation was interviewing Sandy and Casey Parsons themselves. They flat out denied Jaime<unk>’s claims of abuse. According to them, Jaime had been kicked out of the house after an argument with his mother and driven by resentment, made the whole story up. They insisted that in 2011, Erica moved to Asheville to live with her biological grandmother.
They also claimed that their biological daughter, Brooke, went on that trip with them. But Brooke told investigators that she never went anywhere with them at all. So that raised a serious question. Where was the truth? And more importantly, where was Erica actually living? Casey told investigators that she supposedly stayed in touch with Nan Goodman through Facebook, but she couldn’t provide any current contact information.
Not even though according to her, this woman was caring for a child for whom Casey herself was the legal guardian. She also couldn’t show investigators her own Facebook account. The deeper investigators dug, the more ridiculous the entire story started to sound. They discovered that Erica’s biological grandmother had died back in 2005, more than 8 years before Erica was officially reported missing, and more than 6 years before she was last seen.
Eventually, law enforcement stated that a person named Nan might not have existed at all. Carolyn, Erica’s biological mother, said that Erica had no biological relatives living in that area. At the same time, the attorney representing Sandy and Casey, suggested that Carolyn herself should know how to find the missing child.
Nan entered Casey and Sandy’s lives through Carolyn. He said, “She’s the one who brought Nan to them and probably knows who this Nan really is.” But Carolyn firmly rejected that claim. “Nan and Irene don’t exist,” she said. “There are only two people who know the truth, and they’re the same two people who will never say it.
” “The truth,” she added. Later on, Casey would claim that she had been misled and that the woman Erica was supposedly taken to was an impostor. “This already bizarre story became more tangled with each passing day. And honestly, no one could figure out where the real truth was hiding. The day after Erica was officially reported missing, the two youngest children were removed from the home.
Just a few days later, on August 6th, 2013, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office announced that Casey and Sandy were not cooperating with the investigation. 6 days after that, Carolyn returned from New Orleans to speak with police. She later said that she’d been receiving updates about Erica through Facebook, but the last time she actually saw her was January 5th, 2011.
I keep going back to that visit in my mind. She said it just plays over and over again. My body feels numb. As a mother, as a person, as a family member, I keep hoping and praying that she’s alive somewhere, that she’s out there, and that one day she’ll come back. During search efforts, about 2 weeks after Erica was officially declared missing, the street was shut down.
One of the neighbors told reporters, “One police officer showed up at first, and then like before you could even blink, there were probably 25 or maybe 30 police vehicles lined up there. Police officers repeatedly canvased the property, walking around the house and checking the backyard of the family home several times, but you know, they never found anything significant or obviously suspicious.
About a month after Jaime reported Erica missing, the FBI stepped in and joined the search. Working alongside local law enforcement, the family home was searched multiple times after that. Search warrants carried out in August of 2013 revealed that dozens of items were taken from the house. Among them was a plastic bag filled with magazines about John Banette Ramsay, as well as a book about John Banette Ramsay that had handwritten notes inside notes that um oddly enough referenced home renovations.
John Benet Ramsay was a six-year-old girl who was found murdered in her own home on Christmas Day in 1996. That case remains unsolved and still draws a lot of public attention. The search records also noted that a section of drywall was cut out and removed from a closet wall because it had red stains on it. The baseboards from that same closet were removed and sent in for forensic testing.
In addition to that, a pair of jeans with red stains was taken from the home. About a week later, new search warrants were made public. This time following a search of a storage unit that belonged to Sandy. From that location, investigators seized several vacuum cleaner parts, a videape, school documents, a hammer, and teeth.
Those warrants referred back to the earlier search, noting that investigators had found no evidence that Erica Parsons was still living in the house or that her bedroom or any personal living space of hers was being maintained there. Law enforcement said that when you put all the evidence together, it pointed to one clear conclusion.
Casey and Sandy knew that Erica was never coming back. Another major focus of the investigation centered on claims that Casey and Sandy kept receiving government benefits in Erica’s name even after she was no longer living with them. Because of that, officials moved to request a warrant to review and analyze their financial activity.
In the affidavit submitted to obtain that warrant, it stated, “It is believed that the ongoing desire to continue using funds, benefits, or financial assistance intended for the care of Erica Parsons or for her benefit led to a delay or even a complete failure to report Erica Parsons as missing in a timely manner. One thing was absolutely clear.
The family really was receiving money meant for Erica. And that financial aspect needed a much deeper, closer look. Working together with the FBI, investigators were able to track the bank accounts used by Sandy and Casey. Those accounts were held at Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Sunrust Bank. Erica had been adopted through the state foster care system and had special needs, which meant the family was legally receiving more than $600 a month from the Department of Social Services to support her. Their attorney explained
that they were entitled to keep receiving those payments because officially they were still Erica’s legal guardians and responsible for her care. But that raised another obvious question. Why wasn’t the police notified? According to the attorney, Casey and Sandy didn’t consider Erica missing because, as they claimed, they had left her with her biological grandmother.
Whenever Casey and Sandy appeared in the media or agreed to interviews, law enforcement watched them closely, really analyzing every word they said. And one detail immediately set off alarm bells for investigators. They spoke about Erica in the past tense. By contrast, when Carolyn spoke on camera, she used the present tense when talking about Erica.
In an interview with WBTV on August 5th, Carolyn said, “She is my biological daughter, and I want everyone to know I still love her.” Despite that, the couple continued to stick to their version of events. Sandy Parson said, “There have been times when she was seen. Relatives recently called and said they saw her at a recreation area.
Reporters immediately pushed back. Why didn’t you call the police? Don’t wait and call us. Call law enforcement. The only thing I want right now, Sandy replied, is for Erica to call home, say that she’s okay, and for me to get my two little ones back. Nobody understands that in this whole situation, there are two small children who just want to come home.
She was referring to the two youngest children who had been removed from the home the day after Erica was officially reported missing. Casey and Sandy tried to regain custody of those two children. They were scheduled for meetings with representatives from the Department of Social Services, after which a judge would decide whether the children could return to the family.
As investigators looked into the couple’s past, they learned that social services had already been involved with them before. Family members had filed multiple complaints with the Department of Social Services or DSS over the years. Before we go any further, let me pause for just a couple of seconds and talk directly to you.
Please support the channel by subscribing and hitting like and drop a comment telling me what city or country you’re watching from and what the weather’s like where you are right now. You know, it really does help push this content out. Sorry for the quick interruption. All right, let’s keep going.
DSS had previously investigated reports of abuse involving Erica. By this point, investigators had already spoken with a large number of people, including family members. But Casey firmly rejected all accusations. “My entire family is lying,” she told law enforcement. My mom told my kids to say all of this. The family’s attorney added that these claims couldn’t be treated as proven facts, emphasizing that the couple was supposedly doing everything they could to find Erica.
While relatives, according to him, were simply making things up. Casey Parsons homeschooled the children. Representatives from the North Carolina Department of Non-public Education stated that standardized test results and attendance records had been submitted. However, they couldn’t confirm whether those documents specifically related to Erica.
When Casey was questioned about the story that Erica was living with her biological grandmother, she said she had been contacted by an unknown woman through Facebook, but later that account was deactivated. Over time, the woman herself seemed to disappear as well. Her phone number was no longer in service. The couple even appeared on the Doctor Phil’s show, and later Casey told him that they had never actually been to that house.
They had only seen it in photos. Casey also told reporters that they allowed Erica to visit this woman’s home, and then um Erica just didn’t want to come back. At one point, Casey even found a girl on social media with the same name as Erica and contacted the Rowan County Department of Social Services, claiming that this was supposedly their child living in Greensboro.
There were so many different versions of events, but none of them felt consistent or logical. Investigators checked multiple databases looking for anyone who might have been using Erica’s social security number or had obtained a driver’s license or other official documents in her name. They came up with nothing. Absolutely nothing.
According to Casey, Erica met with Carolyn at a waterburger in 2011. Carolyn said that after that meeting, Casey told her Erica no longer wanted to see her. This case clearly shook the local community. On August 23rd, neighbors organized a nighttime vigil outside the house, praying for any kind of good news about Erica’s fate. Billboards went up across the area, and on August 26th, Casey and Sandy gave another interview to the FBI.
The very next day, Casey and Sandy loaded their belongings into a truck and left the area, reportedly to avoid intense media attention. When journalists spoke with Sandy’s stepfather, he said that Sandy visited him a few times a year and only occasionally brought Erica along. He admitted that the last time he saw the girl was sometime in 2008 or 2009.
This case wasn’t just strange, it was incredibly complex. A vulnerable young girl had vanished and it seemed like no one had any clear idea where she could be. Still, investigators were certain of one thing. People don’t just disappear without a trace for no reason. Carolyn organized multiple vigils in support of Erica, explaining her motivation.
I believe that the more places we hold these events, she said, the wider we can spread Erica’s name, her story, and her face. On January 16th, 2014, a judge ruled that the children who had previously been removed from the home could not be returned to their parents. Instead, they were to remain in the custody of an aunt.
Later, the children were removed from that home as well due to what was described as serious behavioral issues. Despite the ongoing investigation, no solid information about Erica’s whereabouts ever surfaced. On January 30th, 2014, the FBI announced a reward of $25,000. The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office added its own reward, and Sheriff Orton said that Prevent Child Abuse Rowan contributed an additional $5,000.
By that point, nearly a year had passed since Erica was officially declared missing. And that’s when a major new development happened. Armed federal agents kicked in the door of the Parson’s home. Casey and Sandy Parsons were arrested and charged in Fagatville, North Carolina with 76 criminal counts, which investigators said occurred between February of 2010 and August of 2013.
According to investigators, the couple illegally collected government funds in the form of adoption assistance, Medicaid benefits, social security payments, as well as food and nutritional support for a dependent who, in reality, was not living with them. It was also alleged that Casey fraudulently used other people’s personal information, listing them as so-called dependents, and provided false information when filing federal tax returns.
Because of all 76 theft and fraud charges, Casey and Sandy were placed under strict supervision by law enforcement. They were put on electronic monitoring and required to check in regularly with a pre-trial supervision officer assigned to the case. One of the conditions of their release on bond was that they remain only within eastern North Carolina and strictly follow the law.
The trial was expected to begin soon. During the fraud trial, the judge heard testimony from several family members, including Jaime, Casey, and Casey’s sister, Robin. The scope of the case was massive, and as the hearings continued, details began to emerge about what witnesses said Erica had endured.
Casey’s sister, Robin, testified that she had been asked to take care of Erica for several months so Casey wouldn’t kill her. She said the girl often had numerous bruises and signs of physical abuse. and she added that Casey couldn’t even look Erica in the face. Jaime added to that testimony, describing how Erica was forbidden from using the bathroom and was forced to eat dog food or food taken from the trash.
She was starved, made to drink water from the dog’s bowl or from the bathroom sink. She was completely isolated from family life and her fingers were deliberately broken. Erica was locked in a closet and if she out of desperation relieved herself there, she was severely punished.
She wasn’t allowed to sleep in a bed. She never had one. She was forced to sleep directly on the floor. Jaime also recalled an incident where Casey pressed Erica’s hand against a hot stove, causing a burn. He admitted that both he and the other children took part in abusing Erica, starting when she was 5 years old and continuing until he himself turned 16.
Jaime said that at one point he broke her arm, and after that, he decided he would never raise a hand to her again. His sister Brooke told a detective that their mother sent the children to Walmart to buy first aid supplies so they could make a homemade cast for Erica’s arm. That was done instead of seeking professional medical care for a serious and painful injury.
Family members later said that Erica’s arm showed signs of healing improperly. While testifying, Jaime said his mother ordered his siblings Sadi and Toby to pull Erica by the hair if she didn’t want to play with them. He stated that Casey encouraged the children to abuse Erica and that he often witnessed his mother beating her.
If Erica disobeyed, she was beaten with a belt. Jaime also added that Sandy would punch Erica on the top of her head. Jaime testified that Erica developed a bald spot on her scalp, a place where wounds would open and heal over and over again from repeated beatings. 12-year-old Sadie, the youngest child in the family, said she tried to secretly bring Erica food.
She said Erica was locked either in the mother’s bathroom or in Brook’s room. Sadi also said that one time Casey choked Erica so hard that she couldn’t breathe. If Erica received a gift, once the person who gave it left, that gift would be taken and given either to her brother Toby or her sister Sadie.
In a statement read by the district attorney, it was said that Sandy once claimed no one would ever find Erica because Casey was smarter than the FBI. The horrific details just kept coming. A week before Erica was last seen, her siblings said her eyes were sunken in. She looked gray, exhausted with open wounds that were oozing.
Jaime said that the last time he saw her, she looked like a zombie. She said she felt sick and couldn’t breathe properly. According to Jaime, his mother’s response was, “I don’t care. Go back to that corner.” The next day, Jaime said that when he woke up, his parents weren’t home. They didn’t return until later that day. When they came back, Sandy was silent and looked like he was about to vomit while Casey appeared completely calm.
When Jaime asked where his sister was, he was told that she was at her grandmother’s house. Commenting on Jaime<unk>s testimony, prosecutor Anand Ras Swami stated, “Erica is no longer alive.” There was an agreement between Casey Parsons and her husband not to report her death. Sandy’s attorney pushed back, arguing that even serious parenting mistakes by themselves do not automatically amount to a criminal offense.
He emphasized that a large portion of the allegations in the case relied heavily on the testimony of Jaime Parsons. Jaime explained to the court that in February of 2013, he spoke with his maternal grandmother, Shirley, and told her that he hadn’t seen Erica for a long time. It wasn’t until 5 months later after that conversation that he finally worked up the courage to officially report Erica missing to the police.
Things got even more complicated when Sandy’s brother Scott told investigators that Jaime was a pathological liar. Casey’s mother, Shirley, said the last time she saw Erica was sometime around the holidays at the end of 2011. She recalled that when Erica was about 6 years old, she noticed bruises on the girl’s buttocks and a black eye.
According to her, Casey blamed Jaime for those injuries. Shirley admitted that she and her husband James had wondered whether the child might be being abused, but in the end, they pushed those concerns aside. In her statement, Shirley also said that she personally witnessed Casey choking Erica on one occasion. James grabbed his daughter’s arm and according to Shirley, forcefully stopped her.
The couple was shocked by what they had seen and left the house quickly afterward. Shirley added that Erica had visible injuries on her hands that matched Jaime<unk>s claims that Casey would intentionally bend the girl’s fingers backward to put her in her place. Robin also noticed that Erica’s fingers were unnaturally bent and suspected they might have been broken.
Casey, however, insisted that it was supposedly arthritis. In her testimony, Robin stated that Casey regularly beat Erica and forced her to stand in a corner. Photographs were submitted to the court as evidence showing Erica standing in a corner on five separate occasions. With each new testimony, the picture grew darker. When Erica was younger, she used to call Casey and Sandy mom and dad.
But Casey said she didn’t like that and forbade her from using those words. After that, Erica was only allowed to address them by their first names, Casey and Sandy. Janet, Sandy’s stepmother, described an incident when the family went on a beach vacation and left Erica behind at home. According to her, Erica was told not to tell anyone she was there and was forced to hide.
It was William, Janet’s husband, and Sandy’s father who eventually found Erica alone in the house. “I always had the feeling that Erica was treated much worse than the other children,” Janet said. “Even though this trial did not formally deal with Erica’s disappearance and focused strictly on fraud charges, all of this testimony painted a grim and deeply disturbing picture.
” And still, the list of witnesses kept growing. Later on, a woman named Amy Miller along with her husband testified that they had hired Casey as a surrogate mother after meeting her through a website dedicated to surrogacy. She seemed like the perfect person to carry our child. Amy said she came across as very genuine, simple, downto-earth, and deeply religious.
And the fact that she had adopted Erica to keep her within the family, that honestly felt like a really noble thing to do to me. She also said that Casey talked about Erica all the time. Eventually, they agreed to pay Casey $10,000 a month money that Casey claimed would be donated to her church as a charitable contribution.
But then Casey said she urgently needed a washing machine and a dryer. So, the first payment and every payment after that was sent directly to her instead of to any third party. Later on, Casey told Amy that the baby she was carrying had supposedly died. After that, she changed her phone number, changed her email address, and told Amy that she needed to like move on with her life.
She also told Amy that she had no right to have a child. In reality, there was no loss at all. The baby was born alive and healthy. The Parsons then tried to sell the child to Robin for $110,000, claiming that the Millers no longer wanted the baby. Robin ended up finding Amy online on her own. Law enforcement got involved and Amy was reunited with her child.
She changed from a loving, kind woman into someone cruel and terrifying. Amy said, “I know very well how capable they are of manipulation. I know what they put my family through. It was literal hell.” Eventually, Casey 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 filing of false tax returns.
She was sentenced to 120 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release, ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $41,817, and assessed a special court fee of $1,500. Sandy was later found guilty on 20 counts of theft of government funds, 20 counts of mail fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of making false statements to a government agency, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the government.
The jury deliberated for less than 5 hours and returned guilty verdicts on 43 counts. Sandy was sentenced to 96 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution totaling 1,624,300, taking into account everything that came out during the trial and especially what Erica had endured.
The judge stated plainly at sentencing that the evidence showing Erica was no longer alive was compelling and left no room for doubt. You and your husband did something terrible to her. Truly terrible. The judge said to Casey, “I’ve sentenced nearly a thousand people, and I cannot recall a single case that has affected me this deeply.
You made a decision to get rid of her. You covered up your crime. You are morally bankrupt.” He also said that he accepted nearly all of the statements and testimony regarding the abuse Erica suffered, finding the family members accounts credible. The judge added that he also found the testimony of government officials truthful and convincing and described the nature of the crimes as sinister.
He stated that the story about Erica supposedly living with some mysterious woman named Nan was a deliberately invented and poorly constructed lie. The judge said Erica was a defenseless little girl who just wanted to be loved. In all my years on the bench, I’ve sentenced thousands of people, he said, addressing the couple.
But no case has ever been as disturbing as this one. After the fraud sentencing, Casey’s sister, Robin, spoke to WBTV and said, “I wish the punishment had been harsher, but it’s more than I expected. So, in a way, I’m satisfied. I feel like this is justice for Erica. If they’re not being charged with murder, and I believe they should be, then this is at least some form of justice, not complete justice.
She deserved 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 inclinations 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. After the sentencing process was completed, Casey’s mother, Shirley, said that in her opinion, testimony related to Erica, should not have influenced the court’s decision on punishment in any way. I don’t believe the court should have considered any information connected to Erica when handing down the sentence, she said.
At least not until there’s some actual proof that something really happened to her beyond just Jaime’s words. Later on, Jaime walked back his earlier statements about abuse. He explained that while he truly worried about his sister, he hadn’t actually been a direct witness to anything specific happening to Erica. That became yet another strange and conflicting turn in a case that was already incredibly complicated.
After that, Sandy filed an appeal asking for a reduced sentence, but the Supreme Court of the United States rejected it. Casey also tried to challenge her conviction, but the Fourth Circuit denied her appeal as well. Even so, the people searching for Erica refused to stop. Two local residents, Shannon Moss and W. Rogers, reached out to K9 Specialties, an organization led by a man from Illinois that specializes in locating missing people using trained search dogs.
We don’t want people to forget that she’s still missing. Roger said she hasn’t been found. We have to find her no matter how hard it is. We need to come together here in Rowan County and do everything we possibly can to find her. I didn’t know her personally before, but now I do, and this has become personal for me. She needs to be found. She’s a human being.
If something terrible happened to her and she was just thrown away like trash. She is not trash. She’s a little girl. She deserves to be found. And I’m not stopping. Robert T. Larson traveled to Rowan County and organized several search operations using his own train dogs.
All these people came together and spent the entire weekend giving every ounce of energy they had trying to find Erica. He said, “If I ever had to work with anyone, it would be these people. These search teams were not part of any official law enforcement operation, but authorities were notified about the planned efforts. Unfortunately, the searches did not produce any results.
“We’re not only looking for a deceased Erica, we’re also looking for a living Erica,” Rogers emphasized. “We’re not giving up. We’re checking everything we possibly can.” The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office then contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and requested an age progressed image of Erica.
That image was later released with the hope that it might spark recognition in someone if even the smallest chance remained that Erica could still be alive. By that point, 5 years had already passed since Erica was officially reported missing. Brooke, the oldest daughter of Casey and Sandy, agreed to cooperate with the FBI and give an official statement.
Up until that point, she had stood by her parents, but what she told investigators was honestly deeply disturbing. She said that in one incident, her mother forced Erica to stand outside barefoot on a scorching hot day and wouldn’t let her come back inside until blisters formed on the bottoms of her feet.
According to Brooke, Erica’s skin looked unnatural and her body was covered in open soores. A few months later, Brooke went to visit her father in prison, and it was during that conversation that things took a serious turn in the investigation. Sandy told her that he was willing to cooperate with law enforcement and help them find Erica.
Rowan County Sheriff Kevin Orton said that after speaking with Sandy, investigators finally got the information they had been searching for all along. According to him, Casey claimed that on December 17th, 2011, Erica had supposedly taken her own life. He explained that the body was doused with bleach in an attempt to mask the smell, then placed into plastic bags and put inside a storage container.
Despite all of that, the couple still went to a holiday party later that same day. The next day, December 18th, Sandy said they drove to Pageland, South Carolina, where he began digging a hole. The remains were taken out of the container. Casey removed Erica’s clothing, and then little Erica was buried in a shallow grave.
According to Sandy, the container and the clothing were thrown away afterward. He also stated that it was his wife who instructed him to go along with and maintain the fabricated story about Nan. 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 miles 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. Sandy then led investigators to a specific wooded area and that’s where in a shallow grave the remains of Erica Parsons were eventually found. That day in South Carolina was incredibly difficult for all of us.
Sheriff Orton said, “I’ve seen a lot of seasoned hardened officers and even they were really struggling with what they were witnessing.” According to him, the officers escorting Sandy walked him into the wooded area and in less than a minute they came back out. Sandy was crying. County Sheriff Jay. Brooks said that Erica’s family came to the burial site and many of those present couldn’t hold back their emotions.
Erica’s aunt, Terresa Goodman, said that according to officials, a deal had been made with Sandy. She also noted that she had previously searched that same area with a private investigator, but at the time they hadn’t found anything. I’m grateful that the family who cared about her was able to get at least some sense of closure.
Teresa said, “The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office deserves the highest respect.” Sheriff Brooks added, “They put in thousands and thousands of man-hour on this case. You can’t go through something like this and not stop and reflect. And when you leave here, call your kids.” Detective Chad Moose later received a phone call from Casey Parsons, who claimed she had important information to share.
She said that Erica had talked multiple times about wanting to die and that at some point afterward, Casey supposedly found the girl lying on a blanket on the living room floor. Casey said she turned Erica over, but there were no signs of life. According to her, Erica had taken her own life. Over time, that story shifted.
There were several different versions of how, according to Casey, Erica supposedly ended her life. Casey explained that afterward Erica’s remains were placed into a container and that Sandy instructed her to pour bleach over the body. Bank card records later showed that bleach was purchased at Walmart on December 5th.
Casey also admitted that she had bent Erica’s fingers backward, though she initially denied actually breaking them. Only years later did Casey acknowledge that some of Erica’s fingers may in fact have been broken. Casey also confirmed that she beat Erica with a belt that had a metal buckle. She said she was afraid to seek medical help because she feared her sister Robin would involve social services.
At First Baptist Church, family members, strangers from the community, and law enforcement officers all came together to say goodbye to Erica. The service was held just before the date that would have been her birthday, almost a year after the circumstances surrounding the discovery of her remains became known.
Around that same time, the autopsy results were finally released. Sheriff Orton had previously said that charges would be delayed until those findings came in, and when they did, they painted a dark, devastating picture of what had happened to her. According to the medical examiner’s report, Erica’s death was the result of intentional violence that led to fatal outcomes.
Though the exact mechanism of death could not be determined, the autopsy documented numerous fractures at different stages of healing. in the upper part of her right arm, the bone connecting the arm to the collar bone, a finger, her jaw, her nose, her left shin bone, and seven ribs with some of those ribs having been broken more than once.
In addition to that, experts found evidence of spinal injuries along with severe exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition. Specialists noted signs consistent with low bone density, and delayed physical development. One tooth was missing and there were also indications that some teeth had been broken. Investigators did not rule out the possibility that Erica may have suffered from kidney failure, untreated sepsis or infection, and they also did not dismiss the potential of poisoning.
Given the documented history of physical abuse and the injuries identified during the autopsy, the medical examiner wrote in the report, “We cannot rule out the possibility of fatal blunt force trauma, suffocation, or strangulation.” It was also officially confirmed that the body had been dismembered. And while Caroline said she felt grateful that Erica was finally found after Sandy led investigators to the burial site, she made one thing very clear.
In her view, that did not mean he was innocent in any way, nor did it absolve him of responsibility for what happened. He stood behind her and backed every single lie that came out of her mouth. Caroline said learned her adoptive 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 Uton, 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 wanted to bring her home. Now, the Parsons will be brought back to Salsbury to face charges in her death. There are people that uh think the Parsons should have already been hung on the square, and u you know, they’ll have their day in court, and we’ll let the the jury decide their fate. According to the indictment, Sandy and Casey Parsons were formally charged with firstdegree murder, felony child abuse, resulting in serious bodily injury, felony concealment of a death, and obstruction of justice.
The charging document stated that Casey and Sandy knowingly and intentionally dismembered and destroyed the human remains of Erica Lynn Parsons using multiple methods, including the removal of body parts and other forms of physical destruction of the remains. As Sheriff Orton explained, “This weighed on every single one of us.
I’ve worked here for 30 years. Some of my investigators have been here even longer, and we all felt it. If we didn’t find her and eventually bring charges, it would feel like a complete failure of our careers.” This case sat on us like an enormous burden, and honestly, we’re very proud of where we are today.
He went on to say, “This was an incredibly difficult investigation. There were times when we hoped we would find Erica alive, and then moments when we were praying we could at least find her remains, and now we’re ready to move forward and take this case to court.” The road to get here was very long. We wanted to make sure every eye was dotted and every deed was crossed.
He also added that for him personally, it meant a great deal that the charges were filed just days before 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 two 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 Alin Parson’s 21st birthday. Instead, her biological family gathered at her grave site 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 to you. It’s a milestone for almost everyone, your 21st birthday. But for little Erica Parson, 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 is 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. miss Erica’s day and 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. At first, Carolyn insisted that the death penalty should be sought for the defendants, but over time, she changed her stance. I want them to spend every single day for the rest of their lives behind bars, she said, adding that she sees them as the embodiment of evil and calling them monsters.
Are you in fact guilty? Yes. Casey Parsons, the adopted mother of Erica Parsons, admitted to killing the little girl. She’ll now spend the rest of her life behind bars. Casey Parsons pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and felony child abuse. Yeah, 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.
Now, 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. Casey Parsons pleaded guilty to the charges of child abuse and murder. I can’t tell you why. I don’t know why I did the stuff I did. I’m very 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 arrest. I would have took her different places every night. Today, prosecutors shared testimony from Erica’s sibling who said Erica was choked, beaten, and neglected by Casey and Sandy. Erica always smell bad that his mom didn’t let her take a bath.
Erica had a lot of cuts and bruises and black eyes for 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 says 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. In addition to that, she received separate consecutive prison sentences for felony concealment of a death, felony child abuse, resulting in serious bodily injury, and felony obstruction of justice.
Taken together, those additional convictions added up to a total of 23 more years behind bars. My name is Carolyn Parsons. I am Erica Lynn Parson’s 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 myself 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. Four months after Casey entered her guilty plea, Sandy did the same.
He pleaded guilty to charges of obstruction of justice, child abuse, concealment of a death, and seconddegree murder for his role in Erica’s death. Sandy was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison. He won’t even be eligible to apply for parole until he’s 82 years old. 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 turned a blind eye things Erica was going through and I failed her as a dad. Attorneys argued Sandy was manipulated and controlled by his wife Casey. They said it was Casey who committed most of the abuse against Erica, locking her in a closet, starving and severely beating the girl.
They say one day Casey 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 Parson’s role, as I stated, was substantially less than that of Jason Parsons. There is literally no evidence that Sandy Parsons personally intended to kill or seriously injure Eric.
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. Sandy’s attorney read letters aloud in court from the two youngest children. In those letters, they talked about how much they loved their father and how much they missed him, stressing that he had never abused them. Psychologist Dr. Claudia Coleman conducted two psychological evaluations of Sandy and also testified during the court hearings.
She said Sandy was a passive person, struggled to make independent decisions, and that Casey clearly played the dominant role in the relationship. Coleman Casey threatened to take the children away from him if he didn’t do what she demanded. Dr. Coleman also stated that in her professional opinion, Sandy did not want Erica to die and showed genuine remorse.
She said Sandy told her he did not fully understand the extent of the abuse Erica had suffered. The district attorney strongly disagreed. He argued that Sandy saw the level of violence in the home and even participated in it. The prosecutor emphasized that Sandy was an adult in that household, not a victim and not a savior, and therefore deserved the harshest possible punishment.
Carolyn said Sandy’s sentence felt like, you know, a slap on the wrist, pointing out that he had the ability to make his own choices. She also added that members of Sandy and Casey’s family could have spoken up when they saw signs of abuse. The judge placed Sandy in the same category as his wife, noting that while he considered Casey the mastermind behind everything, Sandy followed her lead, directly took part in the crimes, and in the judge’s words, had a distorted mind.
While incarcerated, Sandy received two disciplinary violations, one for possessing non-dangerous contraband and another for possession of a weapon. In the end, after the involvement of numerous law enforcement agencies, thousands and thousands of man-hour, massive search efforts, and hundreds of witness interviews, the case of Erica Parsons was finally brought to a close.
The dedication and persistence of everyone who worked on this investigation were truly remarkable. This was never about the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the US Attorney’s Office, the FBI, or the SBI. Sheriff Orton said the only reason for all of this was Erica. He added that everyone involved understood that no matter how painful or frustrating the process was, it had to be slow and methodical building the case step by step so it would stand on the strongest possible foundation. The easiest thing
would have been to give into public pressure and charge someone right away, he said, but that would have been irresponsible. District Attorney Cook said, “We have to have the courage to be a voice for those who don’t have one. People who abuse and torture children are among the worst in our society. There are very few things more cruel than earning a child’s love and trust and then making that child feel unwanted, unloved, and unprotected.
Knowing what Erica went through during her short life, never even feeling the warmth of her own bed and realizing that it was done by the very people who were supposed to protect and care for her. That’s almost too painful to even think about. Maybe the only positive thing in this entire story, he added, is that the monsters responsible for this crime are exactly where they belong.
Carolyn said, I gave Erica up because I believed she would have a better life. I didn’t have a stable home. I didn’t have a stable job. She called Erica a gift, one that millions of people would have loved to receive. I just want to know why, and I’ll never know. Hearing these charges, looking them in the eyes, and realizing that I trusted them with my child, believing they would give her a better life than I thought I ever could.
That’s just incredibly painful. All right, friends. That’s going to be it for today. Honestly, I really appreciate you being here with me on YouTube. And until next time, take care of yourselves, look out for one another, stay safe, and don’t lose your curiosity. Thank you. And I’ll see you
