Erica Parsons' adoptive parents appear in court on murder charges

The North Carolina couple accused of killing Erica Parsons is back in Rowan County to face murder charges.

Posted 5:35 p.m. Mar 15, 2018 — Updated 3:11 p.m. Jul 13, 2018

SALISBURY, N.C. — The North Carolina couple accused of killing Erica Parsons is back in Rowan County to face murder charges.

Casey Parsons, the adoptive mother of Erica Parsons, made her first court appearance on Wednesday in Salisbury. Erica’s adoptive father, Sandy, is due in court Thursday. Both are formally charged with murder.

The Parsons have been held in separate federal prisons on fraud charges for collecting financial benefits for Erica after they reported her missing in July 2013.

In 2016, Sandy Parsons agreed to cooperate in the case and led investigators to a shallow grave in upstate South Carolina where Erica’s remains were found in a wooded area in Chester County.

An autopsy could not determine an exact cause of death, but listed “homicidal violence” as the cause.

Erica’s biological mother, Carolyn Parsons, was in Salisbury to see the couple in court.

“It’s just hard to hear that when these are people that were family, that you had no reason not to trust. It’s just really, really hard,” she said. “But the rest of the world knows that you spent all these years lying and now you are going to pay for it.”

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