SALISBURY, N.C. — Casey Parsons, the Salisbury, North Carolina woman who pleaded guilty to killing adoptive daughter Erica Parsons, has been transferred from federal custody. She will now begin serving her life sentence in a North Carolina state prison.
Records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons show Parsons was taken out of federal custody on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. However, it's not clear which state prison in North Carolina she is being transferred to; as of publication on Saturday, Nov. 25, records for Parsons were not available from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Erica Parsons' disappearance and murder
The investigation into Erica Parsons' disappearance began when her adoptive brother James reported to Rowan County detectives in 2013 that he had not seen Erica alive since November 2011. She was 11 years old when he last saw her. However, Casey Parsons insisted Erica wasn't missing, but instead living with relatives in Asheville, more than 130 miles west.
Casey Parsons and her husband, Sandy, were first arrested in 2014, accused of accepting benefits for Erica even though she was still missing. They were convicted in 2015 of committing federal financial fraud. Casey pleaded guilty and was handed down a 10-year prison sentence. However, Sandy Parsons opted to take his case to trial but was found guilty and given an eight-year sentence. Both received stiffer sentences than federal guidelines recommended; the judge said he did so because of testimony that described the couple's heinous treatment of Erica.
"You and your husband did something horrible, horrible with her," U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder told Casey Parsons. "I have sentenced close to 1,000 people. I can't think of a case that has troubled me more."
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Chilling details of Erica Parsons' torture revealed in warrant
A month after being sentenced to federal prison in 2016, Sandy Parsons would come clean to investigators. He admitted to detectives in prison that Erica had been killed in December of 2011, and her remains were buried near his mother's land in Pageland, South Carolina. He was transported from federal prison to a long dirt road off of Highway 9 in rural Chesterfield County, where a family-owned farm was located. He pointed to a wooded area, where Erica's remains were found.
Erica Parsons would finally be laid to rest in February 2017, the day after what would have been her 19th birthday.
In 2018, the Rowan County Sheriff's Office announced that Casey and Sandy Parsons would be charged with murder. That happened just days before what would have been Erica's 20th birthday. They would also be charged with felony child abuse, felony concealment of death, and obstruction of justice.
An autopsy executed two months prior to the announcement revealed the abuse Erica Parsons faced, including beatings with a belt buckle, being choked, being thrown to the ground, having her fingers bent all the way back, being forced to sleep in a closet, and even being forced to eat dog food.
Casey Parsons would be the first of the two parents to plead guilty to killing Erica, doing so in August 2019. Sandy Parsons pleaded guilty that December.
State records show Sandy Parsons continues to serve his state sentence in the prison in Alexander County, North Carolina. He's projected to be released in September of 2057.