For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the story of Erica Parsons, you can read all about it here. However, to sum up, Erica was 13 in 2011 when she went missing from her home in Salisbury, North Carolina. She wasn’t reported missing until 2013. Her adoptive parents, Casey and Sandy Parsons, continued to collect Erica’s government benefits while she was missing. Casey Parsons claimed Erica went to live with her biological grandmother ‘Nan’ who didn’t actually exist. The couple was eventually sent to prison for fraud but in 2016, Sandy Parsons led authorities to Erica’s remains. Both Parsonses have been charged with Erica’s murder.
Erica
In my last post about Erica, I lamented that since North Carolina hasn’t executed anyone in 12 years, it’s doubtful either of the Parsonses would receive the death penalty. However, back in the beginning of April, Rowan County prosecutors stated they will seek the death penalty against Erica’s adoptive father, Sandy Parsons.
While he certainly deserves it for the amount of abuse and violence he allegedly inflicted on Erica, I would imagine that prosecutors are hoping for a guilty plea from Sandy Parsons in exchange for a life sentence. So far, even a month later, no deal has been made. I still think a death sentence would be hard to obtain since Erica’s autopsy couldn’t discern an exact cause of death outside of “homicidal violence of undetermined means.”
Seven years after her disappearance, two years after her remains had been found, and on almost what would have been her 20th birthday, Erica Parsons‘ adoptive parents have finally been charged with first-degree murder in her death.
Erica went missing in 2011 from her home in Salisbury, North Carolina, but wasn’t reported missing for two more years. Her adoptive parents, Casey and Sandy Parsons, have claimed that Erica went to live with her biological grandmother in Asheville, North Carolina. While Erica was missing her adoptive parents continued to collect benefits in Erica’s name. Both Sandy and Casey Parsons are currently serving time in federal prison for fraud.
This past Monday, a grand jury in Rowan County, North Carolina, handed down an indictment charging the Parsonses with first-degree murder, felony child abuse inflicting serious injury, felony concealment of death and felony obstruction of justice.
According to the indictment, the Parsonses “did knowingly and willfully dismember and destroy human remains of Erica Lynn Parsons, by any means, including removing body parts and otherwise obliterating any portion thereof.”
Thankfully, they’re already in prison so no one has to look far for them. North Carolina does have the death penalty and first-degree murder is a capital offense. However, due to the fact that the autopsy couldn’t discern an exact cause of death, and that North Carolina hasn’t executed anyone in 12 years, I doubt either of the Parsonses will receive the punishment they deserve.
Recently, the autopsy results of Erica Parsons were made public. Erica went missing in 2011 from her home in Salisbury, North Carolina, but wasn’t reported missing for two more years. Her adoptive parents, Casey and Sandy Parsons, have claimed that Erica went to live with her biological grandmother in Asheville, North Carolina. While Erica was missing her adoptive parents continued to collect benefits for Erica and are now serving federal prison sentences for fraud. In 2016, Erica’s adoptive father Sandy, led police to where her remains had been buried.
According to the report, which was released Tuesday, Erica was tortured and malnourished, and suffered through beatings that were so horrific they broke her bones. The medical examiner discovered she had broken and fractured bones from her face to her fingers.
In the report, the medical examiner says it’s possible Erica died from blunt force, suffocation or strangulation and classified her cause of death as “homicidal violence of undetermined means.”
According to the autopsy report, in the week before her 2011 disappearance, Erica’s siblings described her as looking gray with sunken eyes, smelling bad with open, oozing cuts, very weak and complaining of not being able to breathe.
The autopsy report showed that Erica suffered multiple blunt force injuries over a prolonged period of time, and a growth deficit and low bone density show she was malnourished.
The Rowan County District Attorney’s Office has said that they are currently reviewing the autopsy report to determine what charges will be brought against Casey and Sandy Parsons.
North Carolina does currently have the death penalty, but there’s been a moratorium since 2006. There are three women currently on North Carolina’s death row. It will depend on the charges brought against the Parsonses if they will be eligible for the death penalty.
Recently, the search warrants used to recover the body of Erica Parsons were made public. Erica went missing in 2011 from her home in Salisbury, North Carolina, but wasn’t reported missing for two more years. Her adoptive parents, Casey and Sandy Parsons, have claimed that Erica went to live with her biological grandmother in Asheville, North Carolina.
The warrants revealed that Erica’s body was allegedly disposed of by the Parsonses on December, 11, 2011. The warrants also revealed the ungodly amount of abuse that the Parsonses allegedly inflicted on her.
This treatment included “locking the girl in a closet, beating her with a belt buckle, bending her fingers back and choking her,” the warrant said. That confirmed what the Parsonses’ son Jamie had testified to during their fraud trial — that he had witnessed his parents abuse Erica and that the couple encouraged him and his younger siblings to abuse her.
The fraud trial that the above quote is referring to, is from when the Parsonses were convicted of fraud for collecting Erica’s government benefits after her disappearance.
According to his testimony, Casey would often break Erica’s fingers by bending them backwards. She would then make her own cast for Erica’s fingers and would not take her for medical assistance.
Jamie testified that Sandy would often get mad and punch Erica with his fist in the back and the top of her head.
Erica was forced to live in a closet with the clothes, Jamie testified, and was often locked in the closet for hours at a time. There was no bed in the closet and she was forced to sleep on the floor.
She was not given access to a bathroom, he said in court, and when Casey found out that Erica had relieved herself she would be beaten, Jamie said. He also said food was often withheld from Erica and she was forced to eat dog food out of a can.
Jamie Parsons said it was his mother, Casey Parsons, who ran the house and was behind most of the abuse that everyone else was afraid to confront.
“They beat her with a belt buckle, that’s why Erica was bald on the top of her head, is because momma would always, or Casey, excuse me, Casey, would always beat her on the top of her head with the belt buckle,” he said.
“If you ask me what I think of him now, it’s not appropriate to hate people – I know that. It’s not appropriate to not be able to pray [for] people, and believe you me I know that one too. I don’t care. I despise every breath they’re still allowed to take,” Carolyn Parsons said.
Carolyn Parsons said after Erica was reported missing in 2013, she tried to meet with Casey and Sandy.
“I gave them ample opportunities,” she said. “See me. If you don’t want to tell the Sheriff’s Department I don’t care. If you don’t want to tell the FBI I don’t care. Tell me where she is. Tell me what you did. They never had the guts to face me and I still don’t think that they do.”
Casey and Sandy Parsons have yet to be charged in Erica’s death, but both are currently in prison, serving time for fraud.
I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been dealing with a minor health issue that’s prevented me from posting, but I’m much better now.
This past week the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office held a press conference on the discovery of Erica Parsons’ remains. The Sheriff stated that it appeared that Erica had been long dead prior to her being reported missing. It was also revealed that it was Erica’s adoptive father, Sandy Parsons, who led investigators to the burial site. Let’s focus on that for just a moment. Since the time that Erica was first reported missing in 2013, she was already gone for two years. In all that time, Casey Parsons was trying to portray that somehow she and her husband were the victims, not that they were fooling anybody. All this chicanery just so they could collect a few bucks a month from the government in the form of Erica’s benefits. All the while, Erica was already dead in an unmarked grave while people who still cared about her looked for her. Sandy Parsons is also believed to have bragged in prison that they would never find Erica without him. Most reports say that Sandy Parsons was allegedly trying to work out a deal with prosecutors. If any deal has been made, I hope it only goes as far as sparing him from the death penalty. However, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office has said there is no deal in place.
So far, no cause of death has been released and the Parsonses have not yet been charged in Erica’s death.
The Charlotte Observer is reporting that the skeletal remains of Erica Parsons have been found. Erica went missing in 2011 from her home in Salisbury, North Carolina, but wasn’t reported missing for two more years. Her adoptive parents, Casey and Sandy Parsons, have claimed that Erica went to live with her biological grandmother in Asheville, North Carolina. They were convicted of fraud and are currently in prison. Casey Parsons always maintained that Erica was alive even once saying that she would travel to New Orleans to find her. At the time I sarcastically asked if she would be traveling with OJ Simpson on his trek to find the ‘real killer’.
Erica’s remains were found in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, not too far from where Sandy Parsons’ mother lived. It’s rumored that Sandy Parsons had been talking to authorities while in prison but its unknown if he told them the location of Erica’s body. When the Parsonses were sent to prison after their fraud convictions I wondered how long it would take for one of them to turn on the other. No cause of death has been discussed, but authorities will be holding a press conference next week, although it’s doubtful they’ll have that information at that time.
My prayers and condolences go out to the true friends and family of Erica.
Yesterday, the FBI offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the location of Erica Parsons. If you’ll recall, Erica went missing in 2011 from her home in Salisbury, North Carolina, but wasn’t reported missing for two more years. Her adoptive parents, Casey and Sandy Parsons, have claimed that Erica went to live with her biological grandmother in Asheville, North Carolina, but no one can prove that the woman, allegedly Irene ‘Nan’ Goodman, actually exists. The Parsonses also continued to collect the government benefits for Erica while she was missing. They were convicted of fraud and are currently serving out their sentences.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story of Erica Parsons you can catch up here.
The Rowan County (NC) Sheriff’s Office has announced that bones have been discovered on the property in Salisbury, North Carolina, where Erica once lived. The bones were discovered after the current owner cut down a tree and found the bones. According to local news reports the bones could in fact be animal bones especially since the Parsons kept several animals on the property when they lived there. So there’s a good chance that this could turn out to be nothing.
That list includes a “plastic bag with JonBenet Ramsey magazines” and a “JonBenet book with notes inside about remodeling house.”
In addition to finding photos and books about the death of JonBenet Ramsey inside the Parsons home, the new warrant states that investigators also found material on the “South Carolina Susan Smith case.”
This is important since Erica’s adoptive parents, Casey and Sandy Parsons, were still collecting government benefits for Erica after she had disappeared. Both of them are currently serving jail sentences on federal fraud charges. Casey Parsons claims that Erica went to live with her biological grandmother in Asheville, North Carolina. A woman she claims has the name of Nan Goodman that law enforcement can not locate or even verify exists which sounds vaguely familiar to the claim Casey Anthony allegedly made that her daughter was with a baby sitter by the name of Zenaida Gonzalez who didn’t actually exist.
In my opinion Casey Parsons has always come off as the arrogant sort who thought she could outsmart not only local police but the FBI. In reality it seems that the only reason she’s gotten away with Erica’s disappearance so far is dumb luck. Here’s hoping that investigators can eventually close the book on Erica’s disappearance but it seems more and more like Erica is unfortunately no longer with us.
This past Friday, the adoptive parents of Erica Parsons, Casey and Sandy Parsons, were both sentenced to federal prison time after being previously convicted on fraud charges. Casey was sentenced to ten years while Sandy was sentenced to eight. They were both immediately taken into custody at the time of sentencing.
The Parsons’ were collecting government benefits for their adopted daughter Casey, even though no one had seen Erica for a year before she was reported missing by her adoptive brother. Casey Parsons claimed she gave Erica to Erica’s maternal grandmother, a woman by the alleged name of Irene ‘Nan’ Goodman. The problem is no one can prove that Nan exists or that the exchange ever took place. There has also been evidence that while Erica was with her adoptive parents that she was abused horribly. Also there were other allegations of fraudulent activity by Casey Parsons against other persons as well. It seems like she was another grifter in the vein of Elisa Baker.
I wonder how long it will take before the Parsons turn on each other while in prison. Alive or dead Erica deserves justice, and not these measly fraud sentences.
Earlier today Erica Parsons’ adoptive father, Sandy Parsons, was found guilty of fraud for collecting government benefits for Erica long after she had disappeared. Her adoptive mother, Casey Parsons, pleaded guilty to fraud charges earlier this month. They are both scheduled to be sentenced in February. Sandy Parsons is looking at a possible sentence of 20+ years in prison.
I thought the fraud charges would get one of them to crack about the possible whereabouts of Erica but it appears that they are thick as thieves so to speak.
