Thread 17904267

Carlette Parker, an elder caregiver in Raleigh, North Carolina, was convicted of the 1998 drowning death of an elderly woman under her care. Not much is known about her early life; she was born on June 12, 1963 and began working as a caregiver in her 20s. Parker's first run-in with legal trouble happened in 1985 when she was tending to an 85 year old woman named Catherine Stevenson and withdrew $44,000 from her bank account. She was convicted and pled guilty to 16 felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. Parker struck again seven years later when she bilked another charge out of $40,000, pled guilty in August 1995, and received four years of probation. She had no history of violent offenses, however.

The offense that finally put Parker away was 86 year old Alice Covington of North Raleigh--Covington was not under her care but she resided in an elder independent living community in Raleigh and a male acquaintance and fellow resident was being cared for by Parker. On the morning of May 12, 1998, Parker and Covington were seen in a physical confrontation in a Kroger's parking lot. Although the octogenarian Covington, weighing less than 90 pounds, was at an obvious disadvantage against the 230 pound, thirty-something Parker, she fought back as much as she could and witnesses said she tried to hit Parker over the head with her purse. Later that afternoon, Parker forced the old woman to drive her '93 Mercury Sable to a bank in Smithfield and withdraw $2,500 from it. Parker went up to the teller's window and gave a withdrawal slip and Covington's driver's license. The teller reported seeing Covington in the passenger's seat of the car, leaning against the door and apparently asleep.

Two days later, Covington's car was discovered parked on a dirt road in Morrisville. A passerby saw a dead body inside and called police. The elderly woman was laying in the front seat, head propped up against the driver's door, chest under the steering wheel, feet on the right front floor. She was covered in bruises and had two lacerations on her left wrist and lower left leg. Her pink jacket had red discoloration on it. This was later found to be residue from a pepper spray container found in Parker's car.

Police went to Parker's trailer to question her. She said she encountered Covington on the 12th in the Kroger's parking lot. They drove to a car wash and then to the elder community where Covington resided. Parker stayed there briefly and left. When a Raleigh PD detective informed her that they'd found Covington dead in her car, Parker replied "Oh really?" She denied any responsibility in Covington's death and said she had no idea who could have done this. She also insisted she had not been to Morrisville lately or visited any bank in Smithfield.

Interviewed a second time, Parker was initially friendly and willing to talk but her demeanor changed when she was told that she'd been seen getting into a fight with Covington in a parking lot and that she'd also been seen withdrawing money from her bank account. Parker became increasingly nervous. When asked if she knew who killed Covington, she replied "Possibly" but she herself was completely innocent. When being taken home from the interview, Parker remarked "I'm gonna lose my job" and "I won't be able to take care of old people anymore."

She was interviewed again on May 16. This time Parker said she had a story to tell; although it was far-fetched, she had to tell it. She repeated her earlier story about meeting Covington in the Kroger's parking lot and taking her to a car wash. She said she ran into Covington around mid-morning instead of mid-afternoon like she'd previously claimed. Parker also couldn't seem to make her mind up as to whether her and Covington went home in one car or separately. She said after going to Covington's residence, they went back to the Kroger's, got in Parker's car, and drove to the bank in Smithfield where she cashed a $2,500 check which she claimed Covington gave her to help her home business making and selling homemade dolls. She insisted she'd never stopped on Strickland Road with the victim.

Next, Parker said, she drove Covington to her trailer in Angier. Covington went to use the toilet there and Parker filled the bathtub with water. She left the bathroom and came back to find the old woman laying face-down in the water. Parker yanked her out of the water and sat her upright. She left the room and came back to again find Covington's head submerged. Again she grabbed Covington and pulled her out, tearing her shirt in the process. She tried to wake Covington up by smacking her across the face, but she did not respond. Covington's head slammed on the floor somehow; Parker's description of how this happened was quite opaque. She carried Covington to the living room, laid her out flat on the floor, undressed her, washed and dried her clothes, and put them back on her without the torn shirt. Covington's hand twitched once or twice but she was otherwise unresponsive.

Despite being a health care worker, Parker made no attempt to perform CPR or call 911. She put the body in the back of her '90 Ford Festiva and drove her other vehicle, a Toyota pickup truck, to a party in Durham. After leaving the party, Parker drove around for several hours before coming back. She then got in the Festiva and drove to a hotel where her husband was staying on Highway 70 East with Covington's body still in the car. Parker did not tell her husband what had happened that day.

She said she went back to the Kroger's parking lot and put the body in Covington's Sable. It was starting to smell by this point so she put two pillows on top of it. Parker drove the Mercury around Hillington and Burlington, ending up on a dirt road in Morrisville where it got stuck. She abandoned the car there and thumbed a ride to a gas station, called a cab, went home, and drank wine coolers.

Parker also confessed that she threw Covington's purse out the car window near Falls Lake as she was worried her fingerprints might be found on the purse. Further, although Parker had initially denied it, she admitted to having an argument with Covington on Strickland Road. She claimed she just stopped the car to adjust Covington's seat, get gas, and massage a leg cramp the old woman had. At this point, Parker paused the interview and asked to speak with her attorney on the phone. After that was done, she admitted to driving Covington to the bank and her trailer against her will. She also said Covington initially signed the permission slip to withdraw money from her account before changing her mind, so Parker forced her to go to the bank and withdraw it. They had an argument on Strickland Road and Covington hit her with her purse. At that point, Parker said she grabbed Covington by her shirt, tearing it in the process, and shoved her back into the car.

Dr. James Edwards performed the autopsy on Alice Covington. No obvious cause of death could be determined. She had not been strangled nor did she suffer a heart attack, stroke, blood clot, or hemorrhage. The upper body had assorted bruises on it and the lungs were swollen and contained fluid, which could be caused by drowning. Edwards concluded that despite some external injuries, the examination was inconclusive in proving a cause of death.

A second autopsy was performed by Dr. Robert Thompson. Once again no obvious cause of death was detected. Covington had no traumatic injuries and despite her age was in good overall health with no signs of underlying organic disease. Her coronary arteries had only minor plaque build up, so a heart attack was ruled out. Two small, swollen red patches on her skin could have been caused by a stun gun found in Parker's possession. Dr. Thompson wrote on the death certificate "freshwater drowning" as the cause of death and the manner of death as "homicide." Covington's personal physician Dr. Wells Edmunson testified that she was in overall excellent health for 86 and still active in her community; she attended weekly church services and worked at a local general store. Her last physical had found her vital signs to be largely normal.

Parker was formally arrested and charged with first degree murder on May 21. At her trial in March 1999, evidence included the above-mentioned details about the victim's personal health and autopsy results, and Parker's previous history of attempted theft from elderly persons in her care. After her 1995 convictions, she had been ordered by a judge to pay back the victim in monthly payments of $920. By the beginning of April 1998, Parker was behind by over $4,000 and was wondering how she could make these payments. On April 30, she cashed a $2,500 check in Alice Covington's name at Crabtree First Union Bank. Later the same day, she brought $2,000 worth of money orders to the probation office. When asked where she got this money, Parker replied "From making a lot of dolls."

On May 8, just four days before Covington's death, Parker tried to cash a $600 check at the drive through window of a bank in Dunn. The teller told her she didn't have enough money in her account for this transaction. Parker became agitated and started honking her car horn and yelling. The teller stepped away from the window. Parker then went inside the bank but again was told she couldn't cash the check. She started yelling obscenities; the bank staff called police, but Parker had left by the time they got there.

The prosecution depicted Parker as a callous individual who had murdered a small, sub-100 pound octogenarian woman out of greed and who had a prior track record of theft of money from elderly persons.

Parker was found guilty of murdering Alice Covington and sentenced to death on April 1, 1999. As of 2024, she remains on death row awaiting execution, although North Carolina has not executed anyone since 2006.

>>17904274
>>17904271
she dindonuffin

Please do not post threads about black on white crimes. Thank you.

>>17904269
This shouldn't have happened but you know this was a white woman who grew up in the pre-civil rights era South we don't know how racist she was (certainly not out of the question) or if she said something to Ms. Parker that set her off. Quite possible.

>>17904393
fuck off SJW

N

This is what awaits white people when they get old

>>17904986
boomers deserve it tbqh

>>17904393
TND

>>17904393
low effort bait even by this subhuman brainlet board's standards

>>17905207
he obviously said that to get a rise, by taking it seriously you're making it more likely that more posts like that are going to be made. think, anon, think

>>17905207
just saying people who grew up in the South when she did might have been a bit racist tbqh

>>17904393
why are blacks so fragile they become violently homicidal at one little word?

>>17904393
low quality b8