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.