The Murder of Erica Parsons

 

While researching this case I often thought about the case of Sylvia Likens. If you do not know about Sylvia's case I have blogged about it here (it was one of my very first ones in 2012) and there is a lot on the Internet. In short Sylvia Likens and her sister had been left in the care of a woman in Indianapolis while their parents worked the carnival tours. Sylvia was beaten and tortured not just by the woman, but by her children and children in the neighborhood. She would be found dead in the home in 1965. At the time neighbors had seen things that today we would expect to be reports. I have often been put in the position of explaining to people when this case is discussed on the Internet how I defend these people a bit because of the time period and how people reacted to things. Of course I have never believed that Sylvia's death was justified and there were people in position that should have done more. What I never expected was to see a someone similar situation and case in modern times and yet here we are.

In February, in fact on my own birthday on the 24^th, of 1998 a woman by the name of Carolyn Parsons gave birth to a baby girl. Carolyn had three other children and had recently separated from her husband, Steven, who was not the biological father of the child. She felt she could not care for a fourth child, and while it is unclear whether the biological father, Billy Dean Goodman was made aware at that time, Carolyn “sought alternative placement” for the child. It was said that Carolyn had grown up in foster care and had even spent time in homeless shelters and she did not want this for this child.

Carolyn's brother in law, Sandy Parsons and his wife, Casey, decided to take the child. She was named Erica and the adoption was officially final in 2000. It is unclear how many biological children Sandy and Casey would have of their own but I have heard of anywhere between three and five, not all have been named. In 2001 it was said that they had Sandy Jr., James “Jamie,” and Brooklyn but there was indication later that there may have been at least one or two more children.

It appears that the Parsons family was never completely on the radar of law enforcement. There had been an incident in 2001 that likely led to some sort of involvement with the family however, or at least with Casey Parsons. That year a couple by the name of Vern and Amy Miller, who lived in Michigan, were looking for a surrogate to carry their child. The Parsons lived in Salisbury North Carolina. They had a coordinator working with them and Casey had answered the call. It was said that while the Miller's never met the Parsons children they did obviously meet Casey, who they would later say seemed “perfect” at the time. An embryo was transplanted and Casey became pregnant. In the process Casey was paid $10,000. Amy Miller would say that about six weeks later she received a call from Casey who told her that she was bleeding and likely miscarrying the child. Amy did not believe this because Casey not only refused to apparently seek medical attention, she refused to provide proof. Amy had attempted to contact Casey several times and was finally met with a disconnected phone number and a deactivated email. Casey would claim that she was being harassed by Amy Miller. For the next several months Amy seemed to be consumed with the idea that her child had not died. Then, six or seven months later the surrogacy program was contacted by a woman named Robin Ashley. Robin was Casey's sister and she was reporting that not only had Casey not miscarried the baby but she had offered to sell the child to her for $10,000 and apparently had also collected money from two other couples who wanted to adopt the child. Casey was yet to give birth and it was said that there was still a fight when the child was born and that law enforcement was involved but that the Miller's were able to retain custody of the child.

That being said it is unclear just how much law enforcement had been involved in that case in 2001. And then in 2013 nineteen-year-old James “Jamie” Parsons went to local law enforcement and told them a story as he reported his adopted sister, Erica, missing. According to Jamie he had not seen Erica since either November or December of 2011. He was convinced that his parents had killed Erica and that she was buried in their backyard. It is unclear exactly how much Jamie shared in 2013 or how soon he would make a retraction of his statement. It was later stated that a physical fight between Jamie and his parents that resulted in his parents kicking him out of the house had prompted his report to the police.

Investigators began looking into the issue. They went to speak to Sandy and Casey Parsons. The Parsons would tell investigators that Erica had gone to live with her biological grandmother, Irene “Nan” Goodman in late 2011. They had also apparently expressed this to Jamie when he had inquired to where Erica was. However, investigators did not stop there. They did more investigating and quickly heard that not only had Erica's paternal grandmother died in 2005, but her name was not Irene, but Cloie. In fact, Billy Dean Goodman would state there was no “Irene Goodman” in his family at all. Despite this the Parsons continued to speak of Irene who allegedly lived in Asheville North Carolina. They stated they had first had contact with her in July of 2011 when she wanted to have a relationship with Erica and that there had been subsequent visits with her and the last was when they, along with their daughter Brook took her to live with Irene permanently in December of 2011. They claimed that none of Erica's possessions were taken because Irene had bought her all new things. Keep in mind that in her interview with law enforcement their daughter Brook would deny ever going to Asheville with her parents to drop off Erica, nor apparently had any of the Parsons children meet this Irene.

A few short weeks after Jamie had made the report, and the investigation had begun, Sandy, Casey and several other members involved in this story appeared on The Dr. Phil Show to tell the story. While Sandy and Casey seemed to stick to their story, the audience also heard from at least Amy Miller, Carolyn Parsons and investigators on the case. Both Sandy and Casey were given the opportunity to take lie detector tests. Casey either refused or gave reasons in which the examiner believed would lead to unreliable results. She claimed to be in severe pain, although I am unsure exactly from what. Sandy however would take the test and the examiner reported that it had revealed that he was “strongly deceptive.”

Casey had continued the story about Irene Goodman on the show. She claimed that she had talked to Erica just before her birthday in February of 2012 and she was fine. She also claimed that subsequent phone calls to the household had been unanswered and that eventually the number she had was disconnected. When asked by the show, and apparently investigators, what number she had called, she stated she had lost the number.

Regarding the situation with the Miller family, Casey would claim that she had been deceptive because the couple had indicated they believed the child was a girl and they wanted a boy and that they had wanted her to abort the child. She claims she refused to do so, which led to her deception. Amy Miller would completely deny this accusation. In fact, the child was a boy. The fact that eleven years later Casey was claiming this to be a reason for her deception seems completely odd. First, it was said that she called Amy with the word of a miscarriage six weeks after the embryo had been implanted. There is absolutely no way that at six weeks gestation the sex of a fetus could be determined. Secondly, to then absolutely know that the baby was a male child and yet still make these claims just seems asinine on Casey's part.

Sometime in late August 2013 the Parsons family moved to Fayetteville North Carolina and it was said that social services had taken custody of their two youngest children. By January of 2014 the local sheriff's department and the FBI would offer rewards totaling $35,000 for information leading to Erica. It was said that in six months that total would be raised to $50,000.

On July 30, 2014, one year to the day that Jamie Parsons had gone to the police, the Parsons were arrested only it was not for murder. They were arrested on the basis that they had received $634 a month from the government for “adoption assistance” and had claimed Erica on their taxes despite ample proof, and admittance that she was not in their care. Casey would plead guilty to fifteen charges but Sandy would take his case his case to trial. This would be where there would be testimony regarding to how Erica had lived and the circumstances of her disappearance was laid out in court. I will get to that in just a second. After his trial Sandy too would be found guilty in federal court. In March of 2015 Casey was sentenced to ten years in prison, while Sandy was sentenced to eight. It would be said that the judge had given the couple more time than the federal guidelines “suggested” based on the information that was revealed about Erica. By then it was pretty much believed she was dead and that the Parsons were responsible but there was yet anything they could solidly use to prove this.

My research indicated that after Sandy's trial, but before either Sandy or Casey were sentenced that several people gave testimony. Those people included Amy Miller, Jamie Parsons and Robin Ashley, apparently among others. Amy Miller testified to the issues surrounding the surrogate incident in 2001. This information seemed to be mainly solely against Casey. Casey's sister also apparently spoke of this issue, among other things. It was said there was also evidence against Casey involving her scamming people on the E-bay website. When the judge issued Casey her sentence he would refer to her as a “serial swindler.”

I have waited until this point to talk about things that were revealed about the way Erica was forced to live her life in the Parsons household because it appears this is where the most information was at least made public. Some of the information may have been revealed when Jamie Parsons went to the police in 2013, but as I stated he would retract that at some point, only to testify in court the following year.

Both Jamie and Robin would testify that Erica had been subjected to extreme abuse. Jamie would claim that she was often kept in a closet that was locked on the outside, fed canned dog food and beaten if she relieved herself in the closet. He also claimed that his mother would often take Erica's fingers and bend them back to the point that they broke. She would then deny her medical attention and make homemade casts for her fingers. Jamie would say that his father would often “punch” Erica in the head. He admitted that “nearly everyone” in the household abused her, at the direction of his parents.

Robin Ashley, Casey's sister also testified of knowing about the abuse. In fact she stated that Casey had allowed Erica to live with her for several months so “she wouldn't kill her.” She said that Casey took her back when she feared she may get in trouble for getting government funds for a child not in her care. Both Robin and Jamie testified that Erica had many bruises and went not locked in a closet spend an enormous amount of time in the corner. There were several pictures of different times in which Erica was in the corner although I am unsure how they were obtained and I am confused as to why they were taken anyway.

It was said that Erica suffered from a hearing impairment and because of that she was homeschooled for most of her childhood. I found nothing more about the alleged hearing impairment and wonder how legitimate that claim could be. It is not uncommon for abusive parents to “homeschool” their children based on false reasoning because they fear the abuse they are subjecting the child to will come to light. There was no indication that the other Parsons children were homeschool but I also got the impression that Sandy and Casey were confident that their own children would not tell anyone about events in their home. I say this based on the fact that obviously Jamie said nothing for many years but also because it appears that they tried to bring their daughter Brook into the situation by saying she was with them when they took Erica to live with “Irene.” I seriously doubt they ever expected her to deny this to law enforcement.

This now brings us to the events around the time that she was last seen. Again, as I have stated a few times now, Jamie told this story at the very least in court, if not also when he initially reported Erica missing. He would claim that the last time he saw Erica was November 19, 2011. He stated that she was in the corner and looked like a “zombie.” She did not look well at all including the fact that her eyes had a sunken look. Jamie heard her say that she did not feel good and had trouble breathing. Jamie claims that when Sandy heard this he told her to be quiet with a few curse words weaved in.

Jamie said that the following morning both of his parents, and Erica, were gone very early which was unusual for them. After several hours Sandy and Casey returned to the home without Erica. He claims that while Casey seemed fine and absolutely normal, Sandy was acting odd and appeared to be extremely upset. When he asked his parents where Erica was he was told that she went to go live with her biological grandmother. It seems this is when the lie about Irene began.

By the time the fraud trial had commenced it had been more than a year since the search for Erica had begun. I can only assume that the backyard of the Parsons' Salisbury home had been searched since Jamie had claimed he suspected Erica was buried there. Nothing had apparently been found and despite all of the testimony given at their sentence hearings there seemed to be nothing solid to conclusively say Erica was dead or where her remains were located.

Both Sandy and Casey appealed their federal case and in July of 2016 the courts upheld the convictions and the sentences. In September of that year Sandy apparently began talking. By the end of the month Sandy had absolutely indicated that Erica was dead and on September 29^th he led investigators to a shallow grave on his mothers property in South Carolina. The body had obviously decomposed to the point that all that remained was a skeleton so of course investigators had to absolutely confirm this was Erica which did not seem to take very long. Due to the condition of the body however the medical examiner was unable to determine a clear cause of death. Her manner of death however was listed as “homicidal violence of undetermined means.” The skeleton showed many areas in which bones were in different stages of healing as well as showed previous breaks. The medical examiner also detected evidence of malnutrition from the bones. Based on the information given by witnesses and that discovered by the conditions of the remains an expert stated that Erica had been tortured in life.

It seems that despite the evidence they now had against the Parsons, the investigators knew they had plenty of time to solidify a case against them while they served their federal sentences and that is apparently what they did. Sandy and Casey Parsons were indicted on charges including first degree murder on February 19, 2018. In April of that year prosecutors announced they planned to seek the death penalty against the couple.

In the end on August 2, 2019 Casey pleaded guilty to charges of first degree murder and was given a sentence of life without parole. On December 17^th Sandy would plead guilty to second degree murder, child abuse, concealment of death and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to serve at least thirty-three years. Both are to serve their federal sentence before they begin serving their sentences for murder. According to the Bureau of Prisons website Sandy's federal sentence ends in January of 2022 and while Casey's sentence ends in October of 2023. Currently Sandy is being housed in New Jersey, with Casey in Florida. Apparently at the beginning of her sentence Casey was sent to a federal medical facility in Texas. I can only assume that they will both be transferred to a North Carolina facility when their federal sentences end.