Years of Horrific Torture… Even the Judge Was Horrified by This Case | True Crime Documentary
Years of Horrific Torture… Even the Judge Was Horrified by This Case | True Crime Documentary
In Rowan County, North Carolina, in the United States of America, a young man walked into a police station with his uncle. Jamie Parsons had come to report his younger sister, Erica, missing. But she hadn’t disappeared recently. No one had seen Erica for nearly two years. The last time Jamie had seen her was in November 2011. His uncle, Scott, hadn’t seen her in a long time either, and had only heard different stories about where she might be. A quiet, shy, 13-year-old girl had been missing for that long, yet no one had ever reported her disappearance to the police.
On February 24th, 1998, Carolyn Parsons gave birth to a baby girl named Erica. She was soon adopted by her aunt and uncle, Casey and Sandy Parsons, who were also raising other children, including Jamie. During his conversation with police, Jamie explained that he had asked his parents where Erica was and why she wasn’t at the house on Miller Chapel Road. They told him they had taken her to Asheville to stay with her biological grandmother, Irene Goodman, whom they supposedly called “Nan.”
But the more Jamie talked, the more disturbing the picture became. According to him, Casey and Sandy had systematically abused Erica, both physically and psychologically. And even after she disappeared, they continued receiving around $600 a month to support her.
Investigators questioned Sandy and Casey Parsons. Both denied Jamie’s accusations and claimed he had made up the story after an argument with his mother that forced him to leave the house. They insisted that in 2011, Erica had moved in with her biological grandmother in Asheville, and that their daughter Brooke had supposedly gone there with them. But Brooke told investigators something completely different: she had never gone anywhere with them.
The central question became even more urgent: Where was Erica really? Casey claimed she had contacted Nan Goodman through Facebook, but she couldn’t provide any current contact information for the woman who supposedly cared for the child. Even though Casey remained Erica’s legal guardian, she couldn’t even show investigators the woman’s Facebook page.
Then, something even more shocking came to light. Erica’s biological grandmother had died back in 2005, more than six years before Erica was last seen. Investigators eventually concluded that the woman named Nan, whom Casey and Sandy had described, most likely never existed at all. Carolyn, Erica’s biological mother, also said there were no biological relatives of the girl living in that area.
Meanwhile, the attorney for Sandy and Casey suggested that Carolyn might know who the mysterious Nan was and where to look for Erica. Carolyn categorically denied this, emphasizing that only two people knew the truth: Casey and Sandy. Later, Casey offered another explanation. She claimed they had been deceived and that the woman they had handed Erica over to had only pretended to be her relative. The already bizarre story was becoming increasingly tangled.
The day after Erica was reported missing, the two youngest children were removed from the home. On August 6th, 2013, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office announced that Casey and Sandy were not cooperating with the investigation. Six days later, Carolyn returned from New Orleans to speak with police. She explained that for some time, she had received information about Erica through Facebook, but she personally hadn’t seen her daughter since January 5th, 2011. The news of her disappearance devastated Carolyn, and she could only hope that Erica was still alive.
About two weeks after Erica was officially declared missing, law enforcement blocked off the street near the house and launched a large-scale search. One neighbor recalled that before long, there were already around 25 to 30 police vehicles at the scene. The backyard was searched several times, but nothing significant was found.
A month after Jamie’s report, the FBI joined the case. Federal agents and local police conducted repeated searches of the home. According to the warrants that were made public, investigators seized dozens of items. Among them were magazines and a book about JonBenét Ramsey, a 6-year-old girl who was found murdered inside her own home on Christmas Day in 1996; her case remains unsolved.
Investigators paid particular attention to red stains on the wall of a closet. Sections of drywall and baseboards were cut out and sent for testing. Jeans with similar stains were also seized. During a search of Sandy’s storage area, law enforcement took parts of a vacuum cleaner, a videotape, school records, a hammer, and teeth. The documents also noted another important observation: there was no indication that Erica was still living in the house at that point. Investigators found neither a bedroom nor any personal space belonging to her. In the police’s view, the evidence suggested that Casey and Sandy knew Erica was never coming back.
Money became another major focus of the investigation. Even though Erica no longer lived with them, Casey and Sandy continued receiving payments intended for her care. Investigators believed that the desire to keep benefiting from that money could have been the reason they never reported the girl’s disappearance. Together with the FBI, investigators traced Casey and Sandy’s accounts at Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and SunTrust Bank. Erica had been adopted through the state system, and because of her special needs, the family received more than $600 a month from the Department of Social Services.
The couple’s attorney argued that they were legally entitled to continue receiving those payments because they officially remained Erica’s guardians. But that only made the central question even more troubling: If Erica hadn’t lived with them for a long time, why were they continuing to take money intended for her care?
Whenever Casey and Sandy spoke with reporters, investigators carefully watched their words. They quickly noticed one detail: when talking about Erica, both of them frequently used the past tense. Carolyn, on the other hand, spoke about her daughter in the present tense. In an interview with WBTV on August 5th, she emphasized that Erica was her biological daughter and that she still loved her.
Casey and Sandy continued to stand by their version of events. Sandy claimed that there had supposedly been reports of possible sightings of Erica and that relatives had even called saying they had seen her at one of the rest stops. He asked people to contact police immediately and said that more than anything, he wanted Erica to simply call and say that she was okay.
Meanwhile, Casey and Sandy were fighting to regain custody of the two younger children who had been removed from the home the day after Erica was reported missing. They were scheduled to meet with the Department of Social Services, and afterward, a judge would decide whether the children could be returned to their parents. A review of the family’s history showed that Social Services had already investigated them in the past. In March 2002, DSS investigated allegations of abuse involving Erica, but no evidence was found at the time. Workers noted that the girl did not appear to be afraid of Casey and Sandy.
By this point, investigators had already interviewed numerous relatives, but Casey dismissed their statements. She claimed the family was lying and that her mother had supposedly instructed the children to tell investigators those kinds of stories. The attorney for Casey and Sandy also emphasized that the accusations could not automatically be treated as facts.
Casey homeschooled the children. The North Carolina Department of Non-Public Education received information about standardized testing and attendance, but could not confirm whether any of those records involved Erica.
Explaining the story about Erica’s supposed biological grandmother, Casey claimed that the woman had contacted her through Facebook. The account was later deactivated and the phone number stopped working. On the Dr. Phil show, Casey even said they had never entered the woman’s home and had only seen it in photographs. In another interview, Casey said Erica had been allowed to visit the woman’s house, after which the girl supposedly decided on her own not to return. At one point, Casey even found a girl on social media with the same name and told the Rowan County Department of Social Services that it was Erica and that she was living in Greensboro.
There were more and more versions of the story, but none of them fit together into a logical picture. Investigators checked various databases trying to find anyone who had used Erica’s social security number, obtained documents in her name, or left any trace confirming that she was living under her real identity. They found nothing. Casey also claimed that in 2011, Erica had met Carolyn at a Whataburger. Carolyn later said that after that meeting, Casey told her that Erica no longer wanted to see her.
The case deeply affected the local community. On August 23rd, neighbors gathered for a prayer vigil outside the family’s home, and billboards with information about Erica’s disappearance appeared throughout the area. On August 26th, Casey and Sandy were questioned again by FBI agents, and the very next day, the couple loaded their belongings into a truck and left the area, supposedly because of the intense media attention.
Sandy’s stepfather told investigators that Sandy visited him about twice a year and only occasionally brought Erica with him. The last time he had seen her was sometime in 2008 or 2009. Carolyn continued organizing prayer vigils, hoping that more people would learn Erica’s name and her story, and remember what she looked like.
On January 16th, 2014, a judge ruled that the two children who had been removed from Casey and Sandy’s home should not be returned to their parents and would remain with their aunt. The children were later removed from there as well because of serious behavioral problems.
The investigation continued, but there was still no convincing evidence of Erica’s whereabouts. On January 30th, 2014, the FBI announced a $25,000 reward in addition to the reward already offered by the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office. Prevent Child Abuse Rowan added another $5,000.
Nearly a year after Erica was officially declared missing, the case took a major turn. Armed federal agents broke down the door of the Parsons home. Casey and Sandy were arrested in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and charged with a total of 76 counts of crimes that prosecutors said they had committed between February 2010 and August 2013. The charges included theft of government funds, mail and tax fraud, conspiracy to defraud the government, and identity theft.
Investigators alleged that the couple had received money through adoption assistance programs, Medicaid, Social Security, and other social programs for a child who was not actually living with them. Casey was also accused of unlawfully using other people’s personal information and submitting false information on federal tax returns. While awaiting trial, Casey and Sandy were placed under electronic monitoring and required to meet regularly with a pre-trial services officer.
The trial soon began. Formally, it was about fraud, but it was there that the public first heard horrifying details about what witnesses said Erica had endured for years. Casey’s sister, Robin, testified that she had once been asked to take Erica in for several months because, according to her, Casey might otherwise kill the girl. Robin also said that Erica frequently had bruises and other signs of injury on her body.
Jamie’s testimony was even more disturbing. According to him, Erica was forbidden from using the bathroom, forced to eat dog food or food from the trash, starved, and forced to drink water from a dog’s bowl or from the bathroom faucet. Isolated from the family, she deliberately had her fingers broken. Jamie said Erica was locked inside a closet; if she became so desperate that she relieved herself there, she was punished. She didn’t have her own bed, so she slept on the floor. He also described an incident in which Casey allegedly held Erica’s hand against a hot stove.
Jamie admitted that he himself had participated in the abuse along with the other children. It began when Erica was around 5 years old. On one occasion, Jamie even broke her arm, after which he said he decided he would never hit her again. Brooke told detectives that after the injury, their mother sent the children to Walmart to buy first-aid supplies so they could make Erica an improvised splint themselves. She was never taken to a doctor, and relatives later recalled that the arm never healed properly.
Jamie also testified that Casey ordered Sadie and Toby to pull Erica’s hair if she didn’t want to play with them, and encouraged the children to torment her. Jamie himself repeatedly saw Casey hit Erica with a belt. Sandy, according to him, punched the girl on the top of the head. Because of the constant blows, Jamie claimed Erica developed a bald spot on her head in areas where wounds repeatedly appeared and healed.
Twelve-year-old Sadie said she secretly brought Erica food. According to her, the girl was locked inside a closet in her mother’s bathroom or in Brooke’s room. She also recalled an incident when Casey choked Erica so severely that she couldn’t breathe. If someone gave Erica a gift, it was supposedly taken away after that person left and given to Toby or Sadie. In one statement read aloud in court, Sandy was quoted as saying that no one would ever find Erica because Casey was supposedly smarter than the FBI.
According to the siblings, during the final week before her disappearance, Erica looked extremely ill. Her eyes were sunken, her skin was grayish, she was severely weak, and she had open wounds that were oozing fluid. Jamie recalled that the last time he saw Erica, she looked like a zombie. She said she felt sick and was having trouble breathing. According to him, Casey simply responded that she didn’t care, and ordered Erica to return to her corner.
The next morning, when Jamie woke up, his parents weren’t home. They returned later. Sandy was unusually quiet and looked as though he was about to be sick, while Casey acted completely normal. When Jamie asked where Erica was, they told him she was with her grandmother. Prosecutor Anand Ramaswamy, citing Jamie’s testimony, stated directly in court that Erica was no longer alive and that Casey Parsons and her husband had agreed to conceal her death.
Sandy’s defense disputed this, emphasizing that a significant portion of the case rested on Jamie’s statements. Jamie himself explained that back in February 2013, he had told his grandmother, Shirley, that he hadn’t seen Erica in a long time, but he didn’t officially report her missing until 5 months later. Additional doubts were raised by Sandy’s brother Scott, who called Jamie a pathological liar.
Shirley, Casey’s mother, said she had last seen Erica around the holidays in 2011. She also recalled that when the girl was around 6 years old, she noticed bruises on her buttocks and under one eye. Casey blamed Jamie for them at the time. Shirley admitted that she and her husband, James, had once wondered whether Casey was abusing Erica, but ultimately dismissed those suspicions. At the same time, Shirley recalled an incident in which she saw Casey choking Erica. James grabbed his daughter’s arm and sharply reprimanded her, after which the situation escalated and they soon left.
Shirley had also noticed injuries on Erica’s hands, which matched Jamie’s account that Casey allegedly bent the girl’s fingers backward to force her to obey. Robin also saw that Erica’s fingers were crooked and suspected they had been broken. Casey explained it as arthritis. Robin testified that Casey frequently hit Erica and made her stand in a corner for hours. The court was even shown photographs of the girl standing that way on at least five different occasions.
When Erica was little, she called Casey and Sandy mom and dad, but Casey forbade her from doing so, and from then on, the girl was only allowed to call them by their first names. Janet, Sandy’s stepmother, described an incident when the entire family went on a beach vacation and Erica was left home alone. She was ordered not to tell anyone that she was there and to hide. William, Sandy’s father, eventually found the girl inside the house. Janet said she had always believed Erica was treated far worse than the other children.
Although the trial formally concerned financial fraud, the relatives’ testimony painted an increasingly grim picture. The court soon heard about other episodes from Casey’s past as well. Amy Miller and her husband had once hired Casey as a surrogate after meeting her through a specialized website. At first, Casey seemed sincere, religious, and respectable to Amy. The story that made an especially strong impression was Casey’s claim that she had adopted Erica so the girl could remain with the family.
Under their agreement, the Millers were supposed to pay Casey $10,000 in installments. Casey suggested treating the money as donations to her church, but eventually, the payments were made directly to her. Later, Casey told Amy that the baby she had been carrying had died. After that, she changed her phone number and email address and effectively cut off communication. But the baby had actually been born alive and healthy. According to testimony, the Parsons tried to sell the infant to Robin for $110,000, claiming that the Millers no longer wanted the child. Robin began searching for information and found Amy. After contacting law enforcement, Amy was eventually able to get her child back.
Amy said Casey had literally transformed from a kind and caring woman into a cruel and malicious person. What Casey and Sandy had forced her family to go through, she described as a living hell.
Casey later pleaded guilty to numerous counts of mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to defraud the government, wire fraud, and aiding in the preparation of false tax returns. She was sentenced to 120 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. Casey was also ordered to pay $41,817 in restitution and a special assessment of $1,500. Sandy was later found guilty on all 43 counts, including theft of government funds, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, making false statements to a federal agent, and conspiracy to defraud the government. The jury took less than 5 hours to return a guilty verdict. Sandy received 96 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release.
After everything that had been revealed during the trial, the judge made it clear that he considered the evidence of Erica’s death compelling. Addressing Casey, he said that she and her husband had done something terrible to Erica. He said that over the course of his career, he had sentenced nearly a thousand people, but he couldn’t remember a case that had shaken him so deeply. The judge believed the couple had developed a plan to get rid of Erica and then conceal what had happened. He described Casey as a morally empty person. He also said he found nearly all of the relatives’ testimony about the abuse of Erica credible.
The story that the girl had supposedly been living with the mysterious Nan, the judge said, was an intentional and poorly fabricated lie. According to him, Erica was a defenseless little girl who wanted only one thing: to be loved. The judge once again emphasized that in all his years on the bench, he had never encountered a case quite so horrifying.
After Casey’s sentencing, her sister Robin told WBTV that she wished the punishment had been harsher, although the sentence exceeded what she had expected. To her, it represented a certain measure of justice for Erica. But Robin emphasized that until Casey and Sandy were held accountable for murder, it could not be called full justice. Erica, she said, deserved more.
(Friends, let me interrupt you for just a moment. I’m really curious where my audience is watching from. So, I’d love for you to tell me what city you’re watching this video from and what time it is there. Thanks for your attention, and let me know in the comments. Now, let’s continue.)
Following the sentencing, Carolyn Parsons spoke out: “10 years for one, 12 years for the other. 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, Casey’s mother, Shirley, said that in her opinion, the testimony related to Erica should not have had any impact on the punishment. She believed the court should not have taken Erica’s disappearance into account until there was actual evidence that something had happened to the girl beyond Jamie’s statements.
Later, Jamie withdrew some of his earlier accusations of abuse. He said that although he had genuinely been worried about his sister, he had not actually witnessed Erica being subjected to the things he had previously described. This became yet another strange turn in a case that was already filled with contradictions. Sandy later appealed, hoping to have his prison sentence reduced, but the US Supreme Court denied his request. Casey also appealed her sentence, but the Fourth Circuit rejected her appeal.
Those who continued searching for Erica were not about to give up. Two local residents, Shannon Moss and W. Rogers, contacted Canine Specialties, an organization run by a man from Illinois that used specially trained dogs to search for missing people. W. emphasized that she did not want people to forget about Erica. The girl still hadn’t been found, which meant the search had to continue, no matter how much effort it required. She said that although she had never personally known Erica, the case had now become personal to her. Erica was a person, a child, who deserved to be found. And if something truly terrible had happened to her, they couldn’t simply leave her somewhere as though she were a discarded object.
Robert T. Larson traveled to Rowan County and organized several searches with his dogs. He was struck by how much effort local residents were putting into the search for Erica, saying they were giving it literally all of their energy. According to him, if he had to choose the people he would want to work with in a situation like this, it would be them. These searches were not part of an official law enforcement operation, but police had been notified in advance that they would be taking place. Unfortunately, nothing was found. The organizers emphasized that they weren’t searching only for Erica’s body. They continued to consider the possibility that she could still be alive, so they checked everything they possibly could and had no intention of stopping the search.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and asked them to create an image showing what Erica might look like several years later. Soon, an age-progressed image was released. Investigators hoped it might help someone recognize the girl or remember a person who looked like her, if there was even the slightest chance that Erica was still alive.
Nearly 5 years had passed since Erica’s disappearance was reported to police. In May 2016, Brooke, the eldest daughter of Casey and Sandy, agreed to speak with the FBI. Up to that point, she had mostly supported her parents, but what she now told investigators was horrifying. Brooke recalled an incident when her mother forced Erica to stand barefoot outside on a hot day for so long that blisters formed on her feet. She also said Erica’s skin looked unnatural and that there were open wounds all over her body.
Several months later, Brooke visited her father in prison. And it was after that visit that the case finally produced the breakthrough investigators had been waiting years for. Sandy said he was willing to help police find Erica. On September 27th, 2016, Rowan County Sheriff Kevin Orton announced that after speaking with Sandy, investigators had finally reached the location they had been searching for all those years.
According to the version Sandy gave investigators, Casey told him that on December 17th, 2011, Erica had died by suicide. After her death, he said, they poured bleach over her body in an attempt to hide the smell, then wrapped her in plastic bags and placed her inside a large plastic storage container. Despite this, later that same day, they went to a holiday party. The following day, December 18th, Sandy said he and Casey drove to Pageland, South Carolina. There, Sandy began digging a hole. They removed Erica’s remains from the container, after which Casey took the girl’s clothes off. Erica was buried in a shallow grave. Sandy said that afterward, they disposed of the plastic container and Erica’s clothing. According to him, Casey also told him to leave the story about the mysterious Nan to her. She would take care of it herself.
The skeletal human remains of Erica Parsons were discovered on a Tuesday. Law enforcement sources told reporters that her remains were found in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, some 40 miles southeast of Charlotte. 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 pointed to a wooded area. It was there, in a shallow grave, that the remains of Erica Parsons were finally found. That day in South Carolina was difficult for everyone. Sheriff Orton said he saw even experienced police officers struggling deeply with what they had witnessed. The officers who were with Sandy led him into the woods, but just a minute later, they were already coming back. When Sandy emerged from the woods, he was crying.
County Sheriff Jay Brooks said that Erica’s relatives also visited the place where she was found, and many of them were unable to hold back their tears. Erica’s aunt, Teresa Goodman, said that law enforcement had made a deal with Sandy. She also noted that she had previously searched the area with a private investigator, but they hadn’t been able to find anything at the time. Teresa was grateful that those members of the family who truly cared about Erica finally had at least some chance to bring closure to the story. She emphasized that the Rowan County Sheriff and his team deserved tremendous respect for spending thousands upon thousands of hours working on the case. Sheriff Brooks said that after something like this, it was impossible not to stop and think about your own family. According to him, the first thing you want to do after finishing a case like this is call your children.
In December 2016, Detective Chad Moose was contacted by none other than Casey Parsons. She said she had something important to tell him. According to Casey’s version, Erica had supposedly said that she wanted to die. Later, Casey allegedly found her lying on a blanket on the living room floor. She turned the girl over, but Erica wasn’t moving. Casey claimed that Erica had taken her own life. Later, this story changed repeatedly, and different versions emerged about exactly how Erica had supposedly done it. Casey explained that they placed Erica’s remains inside a plastic container, after which Sandy ordered her to pour bleach over the body.
Data from Casey’s debit card transactions showed that bleach had, in fact, been purchased at Walmart on December 5th. She also admitted that she had forcibly bent Erica’s fingers backward, although she denied breaking them. Only years later did Casey acknowledge that some of Erica’s fingers may actually have been broken. She also admitted that she had hit Erica with the buckle of a belt. Casey explained that she had been afraid to seek medical help for Erica because she worried that her sister Robin would involve social services.
On February 25th, 2017, relatives, strangers, and police officers gathered at First Baptist Church to say goodbye to Erica during her funeral service. The day before, Erica would have celebrated her birthday.
Nearly a year after her remains were returned to the family, the autopsy results were released. Sheriff Orton had previously said that law enforcement would wait for the forensic findings before filing charges. When the results arrived, they painted a grim and shocking picture. According to the autopsy report, Erica died as a result of violent actions, although the exact nature of those actions could not be determined. The examination revealed numerous fractures at different stages of healing in the upper part of her right arm, the bone connecting the arm to the collarbone, one of her fingers, her jaw, her nose, her left tibia, and seven ribs. Some of those ribs had been broken more than once.
Erica also showed signs of spina bifida occulta. She was suffering from malnutrition. It was suspected that she had reduced bone density and delayed growth. One tooth was missing while others showed signs of fractures. It was also possible that Erica had been suffering from kidney failure, untreated sepsis, or another infection, or even poisoning. The medical examiner’s report stated that, given the known history of physical abuse and the signs of beating discovered during the autopsy, fatal blunt force trauma could not be ruled out, nor could suffocation caused by an obstruction of the airways or strangulation by compression of the neck. It was also determined that Erica’s body had been dismembered.
Carolyn said she was grateful for at least one thing: Erica had finally been found after Sandy showed investigators where she was buried. However, according to her, that did not mean he was free of guilt or that he could be excused. Carolyn emphasized that Sandy had stood beside Casey the entire time and supported every lie that came out of her mouth.
Soon, the news broke: adopted parents Sandy and Casey Parsons would be charged with first-degree murder. The Parsons had always denied they had anything to do with the disappearance of the little girl. Sheriff Kevin Orton, who announced the indictments, said there were times during the investigation he thought this day would never come, but it 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,” he stated.
The Parsons would be brought back to Salisbury to face charges in her death. While some in the public felt the Parsons should have already faced the harshest of punishments, officials maintained they would have their day in court to let a jury decide their fate.
Sandy and Casey Parsons were charged with first-degree murder, felony child abuse causing serious injury, concealing a death, and obstruction of justice. According to the indictment, Casey and Sandy knowingly and intentionally dismembered and destroyed the remains of Erica Lynn Parsons, including separating parts of her body and otherwise destroying them. Sheriff Orton admitted that the case had weighed heavily on the entire team. He had worked there for 30 years, and some of his investigators also had many years of experience.
According to him, they felt that if they never managed to find Erica and ultimately bring charges against those responsible, they would consider it a failure of their entire careers.
The case had put enormous pressure on them, so they were proud to have finally reached this point. Sheriff Orton noted that the investigation had been extremely difficult at times. At first, they hoped to find Erica alive. Then, they hoped to at least find her remains. Now, law enforcement was ready to move forward with prosecution.
They had taken a very long time to reach this point because they wanted to make sure every detail had been checked and the entire case was prepared as thoroughly as possible. He also said he was glad the charges were filed just before the date when Erica would have turned 20.
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 Lynn Parsons’ 21st birthday. Instead, her biological family gathered at her gravesite in China Grove.
[snorts]
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.
Yeah, 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.
But it’s Erica’s day. And she deserves every bit of that 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 or wherever you’re going.
Carolyn initially wanted them to face the death penalty, but later changed her mind. She decided she wanted them to spend every day behind bars for the rest of their lives. Carolyn also said that she considered them the embodiment of evil and called them monsters.
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.
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. We’ll bring you the latest later. Back to you.
On August 2nd, 2019, Casey Parsons pleaded guilty to child abuse and murder. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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 it. I would have took her home. Different places than enough.
Today prosecutors shared testimony from Erica’s sibling who said Erica was choked, beaten, and neglected by Casey and Sandy.
Erica always smelled bad cuz 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.
In addition, she received consecutive prison sentences for concealing a death, felony child abuse causing serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice. Altogether, those additional sentences amounted to 23 years.
My first My name is Carolyn Parsons. Tell her I’m sorry. 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 [music] 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 pleaded guilty, Sandy also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, child abuse, concealing a death, and second-degree murder for his role in Erica’s death. Sandy was sentenced to at least 33 years in prison. By the time he is first eligible for parole, he will be 82 years old.
Sandy’s attorney read letters from the youngest children in which they wrote about how much they loved and missed their father. They also said that he had never abused them. Psychologist Dr. Claudia Coleman evaluated Sandy twice and also testified during the hearing. According to her, he was a passive person who struggled to make decisions on his own. She added that Casey dominated the relationship and threatened to take his children away if he didn’t do what she ordered. In Dr. Claudia Coleman’s opinion, Sandy did not want Erica to die and expressed remorse.
Sandy told Dr. Coleman that he hadn’t realized the true extent of the abuse Erica had suffered. However, the district attorney emphasized that Sandy had been able to see how serious the abuse was and had personally participated in some of the violent incidents. The prosecutor stressed that Sandy was an adult in that household, meaning he was neither a victim nor a hero and deserved the maximum possible punishment.
Carolyn said Sandy’s sentence seemed too lenient to her because he was capable of making his own choices. She also said that Sandy and Casey’s relatives could have reported what was happening when they noticed signs of abuse. The judge placed Sandy in the same category as his wife. Although he believed Casey had been the driving force behind the entire plan, Sandy went along with her, carried out the plan, and participated in it himself. The judge also noted that Sandy’s thinking was distorted. While in prison, Sandy received two disciplinary infractions, one for possessing a prohibited item that did not pose a threat and another for possessing a weapon.
Ultimately, after an enormous number of law enforcement officers from different agencies, thousands upon thousands of hours of work, extensive searches, and hundreds of witness interviews, the Erica Parsons case was finally closed. The dedication and persistence of those who worked on the investigation were extraordinary.
Sheriff Horton emphasized that this case had never been about the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, US Attorney’s Office, FBI, or SBI. It wasn’t about any one individual, it was only about Erica. Everyone who worked on the case understood that despite the frustration and pressure, they had to move slowly and carefully, building the evidence piece by piece so that it would rest on the strongest possible foundation.
District Attorney Cook said the easiest path would have been to give in to public pressure and immediately charge someone, but that would have been irresponsible. According to him, law enforcement officers must have the courage to become the voice of those who cannot speak for themselves.
People who abuse and mistreat children are among the worst members of society. And there are few things more cruel than earning a child’s love and trust only to make that child feel unwanted, unloved, and unsafe. It is especially difficult to realize how much suffering Erica had to endure during her short life. She never even knew what the warmth and comfort of having her own bed felt like.
And the most horrifying part is that all of this happened at the hands of the people who were supposed to protect and care for her. It is almost impossible to think about without feeling pain. Perhaps the one positive thing left after this case is that the monsters responsible for everything that happened to Erica are now exactly where they belong.
