Criminal Minds - Gregory Parsons (Killing of parent)
- 6 years ago
On New Year's Eve 1991, 45-year-old Catherine Carroll is stabbed 53 times and dies on the bathroom floor. Her 19-year-old son, Greg Parsons, discovers the grizzly scene and charged with murder. Neighbors testify that his mother was terrified of him. And when police uncover a song by his band called 'Kill Your Parents', Greg is eventually sentenced to life in prison. When DNA evidence finally exonerates him years later, police try to revive the stone cold case.
Gregory Parsons was only 19 when his life was forever transformed by a shocking miscarriage of justice. Gregory’s life was not easy: his parents separated when he was six, and at nine he was sent to live with his mother, Catherine Carroll. Catherine was a loving but troubled woman who struggled with alcoholism, depression and anxiety, hoarding behaviours, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. As a teenager, Gregory worked hard to help his mother with her problems and support himself. Although he wanted to stay in school, he kept having to drop out in order to run the carpet cleaning business which he had started at age 16. He was well liked in the community and would take out garbage, mow lawns and shovel snow for neighbours who were unable to do these tasks themselves.
Unfortunately, Catherine was in the habit of frequently lying about a wide range of subjects. For instance, she had once called Gregory’s girlfriend Tina’s manager to complain that Tina was “giving out bank secrets” belonging to the employer. Catherine later admitted that she had fabricated this story because she had been annoyed with Tina. Concerned about her increasingly erratic behaviour, Gregory contacted her psychiatrist. Despite his efforts, Catherine’s tendency to lie would ultimately land her son in jail.
On January 2nd, 1991, Gregory called his mother, whom he had been trying to reach for a few days. At first he had assumed that she was busy or out with friends, but eventually he started to worry. At 10:30 p.m., he drove to her house and climbed in through a front window. He followed his mother’s barking dog up the stairs, to a locked bathroom. Gregory managed to force the door open. What he saw inside would stay with him forever: his mother’s body, lying in a pool of dried blood. Screaming, Gregory ran outside and called 911.
Gregory’s Arrest
The police officers who investigated the crime scene quickly noticed that one of the basement windows had been damaged, showing signs of forced entry. However, the police believed that the window was too small for the murderer to have gained access to the house through it. Instead, they focused their investigation on Gregory – especially when it became clear that Catherine had told various people that she felt threatened by her son and feared for her safety. Despite the fact that they had no physical evidence implicating him – their theory based entirely on statements made by a woman whose psychiatrist had described her as having “a tendency to exaggerate and dramatize all the problems that she … [had] gone through in her life” – the investigators rapidly became convinced that Gregory had committed the horrific crime of matricide.
On January 10, 1991, Gregory was arrested and charged with his mother’s murder. He later described his treatment at the hands of the arresting officers as “degrading” and “humiliating.” He explained the sequence of events that occurred after he was placed in the police cruiser as follows:
…the mind games began, the mental abuse, the torture… [the officer] Gets me back to the station, strips me down to my underwear, [has] … me holding out my hands. This went on for hours. I’m telling you into an hour of it I felt like I never slept in days or weeks. It was the most mentally draining thing I’ve ever had to endure.
Gregory was later moved from the police station to the lockup and between the buildings he fell “face first into the snow.” Four or five days passed before he was even allowed to shower.
On January 18, 1991, Gregory was released from these deplorable conditions. In fact, the judge who released him was skeptical that this seemingly ordinary citizen could have committed the crime of which he was accused: “Is that the classic matricide type of person?,” he asked before releasing Gregory on bail.[6]
Gregory’s Trial
Gregory Parsons was only 19 when his life was forever transformed by a shocking miscarriage of justice. Gregory’s life was not easy: his parents separated when he was six, and at nine he was sent to live with his mother, Catherine Carroll. Catherine was a loving but troubled woman who struggled with alcoholism, depression and anxiety, hoarding behaviours, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. As a teenager, Gregory worked hard to help his mother with her problems and support himself. Although he wanted to stay in school, he kept having to drop out in order to run the carpet cleaning business which he had started at age 16. He was well liked in the community and would take out garbage, mow lawns and shovel snow for neighbours who were unable to do these tasks themselves.
Unfortunately, Catherine was in the habit of frequently lying about a wide range of subjects. For instance, she had once called Gregory’s girlfriend Tina’s manager to complain that Tina was “giving out bank secrets” belonging to the employer. Catherine later admitted that she had fabricated this story because she had been annoyed with Tina. Concerned about her increasingly erratic behaviour, Gregory contacted her psychiatrist. Despite his efforts, Catherine’s tendency to lie would ultimately land her son in jail.
On January 2nd, 1991, Gregory called his mother, whom he had been trying to reach for a few days. At first he had assumed that she was busy or out with friends, but eventually he started to worry. At 10:30 p.m., he drove to her house and climbed in through a front window. He followed his mother’s barking dog up the stairs, to a locked bathroom. Gregory managed to force the door open. What he saw inside would stay with him forever: his mother’s body, lying in a pool of dried blood. Screaming, Gregory ran outside and called 911.
Gregory’s Arrest
The police officers who investigated the crime scene quickly noticed that one of the basement windows had been damaged, showing signs of forced entry. However, the police believed that the window was too small for the murderer to have gained access to the house through it. Instead, they focused their investigation on Gregory – especially when it became clear that Catherine had told various people that she felt threatened by her son and feared for her safety. Despite the fact that they had no physical evidence implicating him – their theory based entirely on statements made by a woman whose psychiatrist had described her as having “a tendency to exaggerate and dramatize all the problems that she … [had] gone through in her life” – the investigators rapidly became convinced that Gregory had committed the horrific crime of matricide.
On January 10, 1991, Gregory was arrested and charged with his mother’s murder. He later described his treatment at the hands of the arresting officers as “degrading” and “humiliating.” He explained the sequence of events that occurred after he was placed in the police cruiser as follows:
…the mind games began, the mental abuse, the torture… [the officer] Gets me back to the station, strips me down to my underwear, [has] … me holding out my hands. This went on for hours. I’m telling you into an hour of it I felt like I never slept in days or weeks. It was the most mentally draining thing I’ve ever had to endure.
Gregory was later moved from the police station to the lockup and between the buildings he fell “face first into the snow.” Four or five days passed before he was even allowed to shower.
On January 18, 1991, Gregory was released from these deplorable conditions. In fact, the judge who released him was skeptical that this seemingly ordinary citizen could have committed the crime of which he was accused: “Is that the classic matricide type of person?,” he asked before releasing Gregory on bail.[6]
Gregory’s Trial