Man serving life sentence charged in 1984 slaying of 13-year-old in Wilson

Gregory K. Parks, 60, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and first-degree rape in the 1984 death of Marsha Anita Whitted.

The teen was visiting her grandmother in Wilson and was last seen on Oct. 22, 1984, talking to people in a passing vehicle at the intersection of Nash and East streets, authorities said.

Investigators said advances in DNA testing led to the charges. The Wilson County Sheriff's Office submitted evidence from the case to the State Crime Lab in 2012 and again this spring, and analysts were able to link Parks to the crime.

Sheriff Calvin Woodard said Parks denied the charges when he was interviewed in prison on Monday.

Palacios' body has never been found, but she was last seen at Parks' home in Wilson in July 2015. Investigators later found blood and Palacios' DNA inside the home.

Parks was convicted of manslaughter and attempted rape in 1991 and also was found guilty of attempted rape in 1985, according to state Department of Public Safety records. He also had a string of fraud, larceny and forgery convictions from the 1990s and 2000s.

In 2013, he was convicted of two counts of participating in prostitution of a minor, but the conviction was overturned by the state Court of Appeals a year later.