North Carolina mother who tortured adopted teen daughter and made her eat dog food pleads guilty to her murder
ROWAN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: The mother of a 13-year-old North Carolina girl, whose body was found in a shallow grave in 2016 - three years after she was reported missing, has pleaded guilty to her murder. On Friday, Casey Parsons admitted killing Erica Parsons in 2011.
According to a Rowan County Superior Court official, Casey will spend the rest of her life in prison.
Erica was reported missing by her brother Jamie Parsons on July 30, 2013. He told Rowan County deputy officers that she was nowhere to be found since late 2011. Erica lived with her adoptive parents, Casey and Sandy Parsons, who said that the teen had gone to live with their relatives in Asheville.
In 2014, it was reported that Sandy and Casey were convicted for keeping the federal adoption assistance money in a fraud case after the young girl went missing.
During the investigation, it was found that Erica was being abused in her adopted home. Casey's sister Robin Ashley gave evidence as a witness that her sister "couldn't stand the sight of [Erica's] face". She also confirmed that Erica's face would be covered with bruises, scars and wounds. In one incident, Casey had asked Robin to watch Erica for a few months so she "wouldn't kill her".
In her testimony, Ashley also revealed that both Sandy and Casey would torture the young girl, forcing her eat dog food, making her sleep in a closet, not letting her use the washroom, beating her with a belt bucket and even breaking her fingers deliberately.
Jamie, Erica's brother, confirmed their behaviour saying the last time he saw her, she looked like a "zombie" and also said that she "didn't feel good, couldn’t breathe too good.” The very next day, she vanished from sight and her adoptive parents cooked up a story of sending her to her grandmother's house.
In September 2016, Sandy Parsons led investigators to Erica's body in a shallow grave on a piece of land in South Carolina owned by Parsons family members. The cause of death was reported to be "homicidal violence" in an autopsy conducted by the medical examiner. After a thorough investigation, both Casey and Sandy Parsons were charged with murder and child abuse in February 2018.
Before Friday's gulty plea, Casey had a trial scheduled for April 2020, Sandy is behind bars in a case of first degree murder, child abuse, felony concealment of death and felony obstruction of justice. As per reports, he has not entered a plea yet.