Erica Parsons 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 Casey and Sandy Parsons had been charged with Erica’s murder. In April of last year, prosecutors stated that they will seek the death penalty against Sandy Parsons, Erica’s adopted father. The last we had heard both ‘parents’ were set to be tried separately.
Yesterday, Erica’s adoptive mother Casey Parsons pleaded guilty to murder and child abuse charges in Erica’s death. Previously, prosecutors were seeking the death penalty against Casey but by entering a guilty plea Casey Parsons was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole along with consecutive sentences of 23 years for abuse and obstruction of justice charges. She’ll serve these sentences once her federal sentence for fraud has been served.
Now, the waiting game begins to see what Sandy Parsons will do. As I previously mentioned, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against him. I would imagine that it’s almost a guarantee that Sandy Parsons will plead guilty since his wife has admitted to taking part in Erica’s murder. The only problem with that is that coroners couldn’t determine a cause of death for Erica since her remains were in such a deteriorated state. The cause of death was only listed as “homicidal violence of undetermined means.” Potentially, we could see some chicanery on the part of Sandy Parsons’ defense attorney when it comes to negotiating a plea.
