Almost Forgotten: The Erica Parsons' Story

When a little girl vanishes for nearly two years, her parents' explanation raises more questions than answers. 

Almost Forgotten: The Erica Parsons Story

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Welcome back to the Midwest Crime Files, small towns and heinous crimes. Welcome back. I have two guests hosts with me today. Welcome Lindsay and Sophia back.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hello. Hi guys.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

I've got a brand new story for you today. I'm venturing a little bit outside the Midwest. I hope that's okay. I'm visiting North Carolina today, so hopefully you guys are chill with that.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

It's a small town, so small town heinous crime still fits the bill. I think it's good enough. But this story hit me. I was actually watching a Dr. Phil story, so we have Dr. Phil to thank for today's episode. So I don't like to give Dr. Phil a lot of credit, but he gets credit for today's episode. So today's story is called Almost Forgotten the Erica Parsons story. On a cold February morning in 1998, Carolyn Parsons welcomed a baby girl into this world that she named Erica. Erica was her fourth child. She had three children with her estranged husband. But Erica's biological father was not her estranged husband. It was a man named Billy Dean Goodman. And by the time Erica was born, he really wasn't in the picture anymore. So all right, you've got this woman. She's less than well off. No one really says, but I think she had some drug problems. Um definitely some poverty problems. She's in a strained marriage and she has a baby with another man. It's not a good situation. She decides that it's best if Erica goes and is adopted. But she really doesn't want her baby to be like adopted to a stranger. So she's hoping to find somebody in the family that will adopt her baby. And it turns out her brother, Sandy, and his wife Casey decide that they will adopt. And so putting her baby's needs first, she puts Erica up for adoption. And because she had grown up in foster care and children's homes herself, she wanted more for her baby girl. And so Sandy and Casey take the baby in, and the adoption was finalized in 2000. So that sounds great, right? Right. It sounds wonderful. Only it wasn't. So Erica was considered a special needs child because she had a hearing impairment. Casey, her adopted mom, homeschooled Erica most of the time. And because of this, she received subsidies from the government for adoption assistance and Erica's special needs. So altogether, Casey and Sandy were receiving a little bit over $600 a month for Erica. Doesn't seem like a lot of money. But in the poverty-stricken area of North Carolina where they lived, it was quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, it's something. It's better to have something than nothing.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Might have been motive for them to adopt the girl.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Um because it certainly didn't seem like they really liked having her around. People who knew them said that they didn't really make her part of the family. They would go on family vacations and leave her behind. Take their children and not her. Right? Right. Go to the beach and leave her at home. That's very messed up.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, and tell her not to tell anybody. That uh that wouldn't make me feel welcomed into a family.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

You shouldn't adopt a kid if you're not gonna treat them like any of your other children. Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

It's kind of like they're uh treating her like a chick and not an actual child. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Like how f messed up is that? Uh in the fall of 2011, Carolyn visited with her daughter. Um, she had regular visits with her daughter throughout her daughter's childhood, but it's important to know that Erica never visited with her biological father. Billy Dean Goodman was never in this girl's life. In November or fall of 2011, Carolyn had her final visit with her daughter at 13 years old. After that visit, the visit suddenly stopped. Casey and Sandy made excuses why Carolyn couldn't see Erica. Carolyn was upset, but she didn't really have any recourse. She gave up her rights. This wasn't her legal daughter anymore. Carolyn also had her own responsibilities and struggles, but she kept trying to see Erica. And time went by. Then on July 30th, 2013, an upset 19-year-old Jamie Parsons walks into the police station after having a volatile fight with his parents, Sandy and Casey, and he tells officers something that shocks them to their very core. He tells the officers that he hasn't seen his adopted sister, Erica Parsons, since November of 2011. Oh my god. Nearly two years ago. That's crazy. And that his parents have failed to report her missing. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

So that's why she wasn't allowed to see her kid because her kid wasn't missing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

And this is her brother that finally reports her missing.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Did Erica did she know that she was adopted and that Carolyn was her real mom? I think so. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

And then um, because reportedly one time she called Casey and Sandy, mom and dad, and they told her, don't call us that.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Ah.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Yeah. Okay. They were cruel to her. Very cruel. So finally her adopted brother reports her missing, and he says, tells officers even more than that. He says that his parents abused Erica, and he's pretty sure that they killed her and buried her in the backyard.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

That's uh that's not just an accusation that you throw around. So he has he has to have seen some things. Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

And so police are like, what in the hell is going on? Is this just some pissed-off teenager trying to start drama? Or what is going on? And while they were like somewhat skeptical, obviously they have to check this out. So they go to try to find Erica. They go to the Parsons home, they speak with Casey and Sandy, and they confirm Erica's not there. And it doesn't appear like Erica has a place there. Like her bed's not there, there's not like a place set up for her. And basically, what Casey tells them is that Erica went to live with her maternal grandmother, Irene Goodman, who goes by Nan, Billy Dean Goodman's mother. The two had bonded apparently and grown close in December of 2011. According to Casey, Erica chose to live with Nan, and that story should be easy enough to confirm, right? We just need to get in touch with Irene Goodman. Only Casey was unable to provide Irene Goodman's contact information. She did not have a phone number for her. She did not have an address for her. She claimed she had communicated with Irene Goodman on Facebook, but both the profile that she used to contact Irene Goodman and Irene Goodman's profile had since been deleted. She said she had been shown pictures of the house that Erica was living in, but now she could not find those pictures. She claimed she had never been to Nan's house.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

See, okay, the thing that's a little odd about that to me is you stated earlier that Erica never met her biological father. Right. So if that's her biological father's mother, that'd be a little uh a little odd to me that you met his mother but not him. Right. That's a little odd to me.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Seems like a very convenient lie that you apparently talked to this woman, but have no records of ever speaking to her, no records of the house, any contact information that you could get for her. Was the account showing up as like did she just like say it was deleted or like do you know?

SPEAKER_02 8:47

She wasn't able to provide any records for it, and what she said was that the account she used to have she had deleted.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Right, so a very productive lie. Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

And then she's like, and I can't find Irene's account anymore either.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Also, if I had a child and I was sending my child somewhere, I'd want to check out the house where they were living, and I'd wanna I'd wanna see that the environment is good.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

How old was she when she went missing?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

13.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Right. So even if that's not like immediately murder, that's like abandonment or something, because you have no records of like it just doesn't make any sense. Zero sense.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

And if you are the biological, or not biological, but the legal guardian, legal parent for this child, how are you going to let them just go live with this person? Exactly. So this was the story that they had concocted, or the story that that Casey told the police. Um Jamie Parsons said the last time that he saw Erica was in November of 2011. And he said that Erica was standing in the corner and she quote, didn't look good. He said that the parents often abused the little girl. He said that she, quote, didn't look good and looked like a zombie, end quote. He went on to say that she was having trouble breathing, but was told to quote, shut the fuck up, end quote, by Casey. He said the next morning his parents left with Erica and came back alone. He said his mother looked fine, but his father looked sick. He hasn't seen Erica since. His mother told him the story of Nan. Detectives investigated Irene Goodman to see if there was such a person. Billy Dean Goodman's mother was not a woman named Irene Goodman, and there was no Irene Goodman in his family. Oh. Police were unable to find any evidence of any contact with any person by this name and Sandy, Casey, or Erica Parsons.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

So they're unable to prove there was any any contact with anyone named Irene. Very suspicious. Casey was unable to more than suspicious. Right. Casey was unable to provide any evidence of any communication with Irene Goodman either. The detectives determined Nan likely doesn't exist at all. Casey and Sandy Parsons appeared on the Dr. Phil show in August of 2013 to plead their innocence and tell the tale of Nan, explaining that she met them at McDonald's and they had a trunk full of new clothes for Erica in the back of their car, which is why they didn't take any of Erica's belongings with them to Nan's.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

See, going back just a little bit, I feel like the brothers should have told people right off the bat when they didn't come home with her. Oh, for sure. He was probably scared to death.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Oh yeah. I mean, if they're I don't mean to jump on things, but if you know if they can most likely probably kill their adopted child, you know, I mean, I guess son would probably be a little scary. Pretty yeah, pretty, pretty scared.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

So on the Dr. Phil show, Casey adds to the Nan story and says that a woman came with Nan to pick up uh Erica, and her name was Strawberry, and she came with a baby.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

These are just like stupid out of the first, they made up someone named Irene, which is believable at first glance if you don't do anything in the background history. And then you make up some woman named Strawberry.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Right. Just pick and mouth and weirder. Right. Um and she said that at this point Erica Winsl lived with her forever in Asheville, North Carolina. As part of the show, they were given lie detector tests. Sandy failed his, and Casey declined to take hers at the last minute due to pain.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Bull crap. Right. I mean, I feel a certain way about lie detector tests because they're not actually like I mean, they're they don't really know how I feel about them. Right. I mean, it's uh it's not really actually hard evidence about anything.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

It's just it's a way it's a way for police to interrogate you.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Right. And even declining one is a little bit like even though it doesn't really mean anything, like denying to take one, I feel like the whole thing with lie detector tests is no matter what you do, it's kind of suspicious. Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

So something else came out, and they talked about it on the Dr. Phil show, but they started talking about Casey and her history of being sort of a swindler. So before all this Erica stuff came up, she had been chosen by a couple to be their surrogate. And they paid her $10,000 to be a surrogate. That's a lot of money. She got pregnant, she took the $10,000, and she notified them that she had miscarried the baby. And a few months later, she started shopping couples to buy the baby that she was still pregnant with.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

That's insane.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Oh. Eventually, law enforcement got involved, and the biological parents did get their baby back. Thankfully. But this woman has a history of being a swindler. So before all of this stuff happened, she had previously done that. Right. So this is the kind of human we're dealing with.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

So she's just always been kind of kind of crazy, kind of money hungry person. Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah, yeah, pretty much. So this is this is Casey. That's the kind of person we're dealing with. She tried to sell a baby before to the highest bidder, stole it from its biological parents, is what she attempted to do. Um, there are many witnesses that were concerned about Erica's safety because they had witness abuse in the home directed at Erica from mostly Casey, but Casey and Sandy. Uh Casey often used the corner for punishment. Now, I don't necessarily think making someone stand in the corner is a bad thing, but apparently it was an excessive amount, like to the point where she would soil herself in the corner. Wow. Right. Uh others testified that seeing bruises and bite marks on the girl often, Casey would give Erica to her sister for months at a time so she would quote not kill her, end quote. Jesus. But would get her back to avoid getting in trouble for receiving government funds for her. Erica was subjected to horrendous abuse, including having her fingers bent backwards routinely until they broke. That's insane. Oh my lord. And then being denied medical care. Being locked for hours at a time in a closet, being forced to stay in a closet for hours and punished for relieving herself inside.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

That's disgusting. Child abuse is so evil.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Like what else is she supposed to do? You're not letting her out.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Being forced to eat dog food. Sometimes Casey, Sandy's father, would get so mad he would punch her in the head. On July 13th, 2014, although there was not enough evidence to charge them with anything related to the disappearance of Erica Parsons, Casey and Sandy Parsons were arrested and charged with several federal fart fraud fart charges. They were charged with fart charges. Several fraud charges. That was funny. Comic relief. Stinky. Uh related to collecting funds for Erica for the months after she was no longer living with them and for claiming them her on their tax return. While there was not enough evidence for the rest of the what they pretty much knew that they had killed her by then. They just couldn't prove it. So they had over 70 fraud and money money laundering, wire fraud charges, you know, financial charges against them. Uh Casey pleaded guilty to 15 charges, and Sandy opted for trial. He was found guilty at his sentencing. Hearing um they talked a lot about the abuse, and that the reason she isn't here is because she's no longer alive, and it had to be because of Casey and Sandy. So a lot about the abuse came out at their sentencing hearing for their fraud charges. Casey was sentenced to 10 years for her crimes in March of 2015, and Sandy was sentenced to eight years. However, while in prison, Sandy and Casey's daughter appealed to her father to tell the truth about what happened to Erica. Sandy came forward and admitted that Erica was dead because of child abuse at the hands of Casey and himself. He agreed to leave authorities to her body. Sandy Parsons pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 43 years in prison, making him first eligible for parole at the age of 82. Casey Parsons pled guilty and was given a life sentence plus 23 years. Erica's story is a cautionary tale. She's a child who went under the radar and whose death almost went unnoticed. If it wasn't for the brave actions of her brother Jamie, she would probably still be buried somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Most definitely.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Almost forgotten. It's scary to think how kids can be almost forgotten like that. Oh yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Victims of the system.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

But just nobody would have noticed her. Especially since she was homeschooled. There would have been like no school record that she hadn't shown up to school. Right. Or anything like that. And it's just it's very disgusting.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Nobody looking for her.

unknown 18:52

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Because even her own biological mom had so much other stuff going on. Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Father not involved. No one.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

She was almost forgotten. It's very sad. It's very, very sad.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

It's no way for anyone to live. Used all like used her life for that money that they got and then didn't even threw her away like garbage.

unknown 19:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

I don't get how anyone could do anything like that, but especially not to someone who's you're supposed to be like your child.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

And it's still blood relative. That would be his blood niece.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

I mean, for crying out loud, how can you hurt a baby like that?

SPEAKER_00 19:39

You told your sister you were gonna take care of her and you did quite the opposite.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

She's evil. I can tell you that. She's evil.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

She's got that look in her eyes.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Like, I can see why the daughter appealed to the father and not the mother. The daughter knows the mother's evil.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Right. I think they both are. I mean, I think regardless of having even a little bit of conscience, sympathy or conscience for your actions doesn't take away the evil in your actions because it's not going to undo them. Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

Yeah, but I think the daughter knew that if if she was gonna be able to get through to any of them, it was gonna be her father.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Right. They're both disgusting people, but I feel like the uh Casey kinda led it a little more than Sandy did.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

They're both equally liable because Sandy did nothing to stop it. But I feel like she was kind of the ringleader.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Yeah. I think so too. I think she was the brains behind the operation. I just think he's brains or lack of, you know. Right. It's just disgusting. This is a sad case. Very sad. This is a really sad one. Child child abuse cases are really sad. If you guys want to see my references, you know where to find them. It's www.midwestcrimefile.com. And guess what? I do have the midwestcrimefiles.com back. Domain should automatically forward you to the webpage again. I got that all fixed. Woo! Um, and I will be doing some Patreon specials coming up. So look for that. And we should be doing some other fun stuff. Um, I'm gonna be looking at some other great things, so look for some good announcements coming forward. And um, if you guys have checked out maternal instinct on Netflix, pretty soon I'm going to have a special coming where I talk about maternal instinct and our very own Midwest version of Maternal Instinct that I covered on the Midwest crime files a while back. I will be retelling that story and giving an update on it. So, plus talking about my feelings on the maternal instinct case. So look for that special coming up. That will be fun. So what's up, Lindsay?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Okay, you look like you were gonna say something.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

I thought about it, but make sure you guys check that out on Netflix. She uh she's got a she's she's got a few TV appearances. I think she always does pretty good. I get to I get to sit, I don't really know what the word for it other than like backstage, even though it's not a stage. I I I get to sit a little backstage and watch her talk for a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Yes, yes. And I will put the full list of all my episodes on um uh the Midwest Crime Files webpage so you guys can see all of the um TV shows that I have guest appeared on. You will love it. So thank you guys.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Thank you, thank you.