48 Hours - The Secret

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

In March 2007, 911 operator Theresa Parker vanished without a trace. Nearly a year later, her husband, police officer Sam Parker, was charged with her murder. Theresa's family believes that Parker may be the only one who can reveal the secret of where her body is. "48 Hours" correspondent Tracy Smith reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 8/14/2010. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Life still goes at a small pace here in Lafette, Walker County. You can be to work in just a few minutes, be home in a few minutes. We're located right in the heart of the Bible Belt. In the end, David said, I have sin. Being able to go on Friday night to watch your children play football or watch your daughter cheerlead as I did, as I did. That's what small towns are all about. She was the middle sister and I was the youngest. Trisa loved everybody. She loved family. That was the most important thing to her.

You think of the best sister you could have and she was definitely. She's one of our own. She's 911 dispatcher. She's that person on the other end of the radio. When you're in need, she's there. When I hugged her that night, I just got this feeling up. I was never going to see her again. Saturday, I just kept trying to call her. Hey, it's just me. I was just checking on you.

I called her just over and over and over. I was so panicked. She is nowhere to be found. And you don't want to think the worse, but I mean you do. This case is about a 911 dispatcher and a city police officer. A married couple, and one had turned up missing. It's like a horrible dream I can't wake up from. I miss her a lot.

People came out in hundreds to search for her. We covered about 175 square miles of land mass. So the community as a whole was very concerned about Teresa Parker. missing. I am hopeful they'll find her. I hope they find her in good health. Every morning when I open my eyes I think about her. You know at night when I lay my head down to go to sleep I think about her you know Teresa where could you be? I don't believe that she would have just vanished off the face of the earth. We knew that this was not the typical missing person case in Walker County. This was going to be bigger

than Walker County when it was all said and done. It was the first day of spring, March 21st, 2007, a time of new beginnings for Teresa Parker, according to her sister, Christina Hall. She was at my house Wednesday night for about an hour, and we talked, and she wanted me to go to her new place. The 911 dispatcher and her police officer husband, Sam Parker, after 13 years of marriage, were divorcing.

The marriage was playing itself out, but it wasn't in a bad way. Teresa was getting ready to move into her own apartment near her sister and nephews. She was just so excited to be closer and be able to help us out with them and spend more time with them. But when the sisters said their goodbyes that Wednesday night, Christina says something was different. When I hugged her that night, I just got the emptiest feeling, and it was really strange. The sisters didn't talk at all the next day, Thursday. And Christina figured Teresa was just busy cleaning her new place. But by Friday morning, March 23rd, that empty feeling in her gut was back.

I just woke up and felt like I had this black cloud over me. And I'm not usually like that. And I thought, I'm going to talk to Teresa. She always made me feel better. Teresa didn't answer her phone. Christina went to work, still hoping she was. she'd hear from her sister at any moment. But every time the phone would ring, I'd check the ID to see if it was her.

Could it be Teresa? Yeah, I thought, well, she'll be calling any time since I'd left her a message, because it was odd that she didn't call me right back. Walker 911. Meanwhile, Teresa's friend and co-worker Rhonda Knox was also getting worried after a strange early morning call on Thursday, March 22nd. And at 6 o'clock in the morning, my phone rings, and it's from Teresa, and I answer it. and there's just a few seconds there and then hang out.

Rhonda knew it was odd for Teresa to call and hang up. I thought, this isn't Teresa, you know. So I called it back. It rang and then went to voicemail. And then I started calling the house. I started getting worried. To ease her mind, she called police officer and friend Shane Green and asked him as a favor to check out the home Teresa still shared with her soon-to-be ex,

police officer Sam Parker. So when Shane went to the house, did he call you? What did he say? He was saying, okay, we've beat on the door. And I told him, I said, look in the garage. She parks in the garage every time. And he shined in there. And he told me he said, her car's not here.

It's around 6.30 a.m. Teresa's Toyota forerunner was nowhere to be found. But her husband, Sam Parker's patrol car was in the garage. and his pickup truck was parked outside the house in plain sight. Strangely, Thursday afternoon, Teresa's SUV was back at the house, but still no one had seen her, and she wasn't answering her cell phone. Trisa, I'm really worried about you. I'm going to call the house. Teresa, this is you Roger. She doesn't get a call.

Call me whenever you get a chance. Please call me if you get this. Please, I love you. Everyone was calling her, including husband Sam Parker. Teresa, this is Sam. It's Friday about this. Just worried about you, where you are. More than 24 hours had come and gone with no word from Teresa. Her sister Christina was frantic.

There were just no ifs, answer, buts about it. I knew something so horrible. And I was just, I was scared to dad. Then on that Friday evening, March 23rd, Christina got a call from her brother-in-law, Sam Parker. He was on patrol working the night shift. I could immediately tell with him something wasn't right because he was talking really fast and he kept clear in his throat.

And that was just out of character. And I was like, well, we need to do something. We need to file a missing person's report. You know this is not Teresa. Christina says Parker told her he'd gone fishing with a buddy that Thursday morning and that when he left the house, Teresa's SUV, was in the garage. But if Christina was panicked, Sam Parker seemed anything but.

He said, well, I'm at work right now, but now when I get off work in the morning, I'll see what I can do. And who ended up filing the missing who were persons report? My mom did the next morning. Saturday morning, March 24, 2007, day three. Teresa's family calls the police.

Sheriff Wilson. Walker County Sheriff, Steve Wilson. Our detective was assigned the missing person case. He told me, the sheriff said something's just not right here. Wilson knew this case was just too personal for him to investigate. He not only knew Teresa from 911, he'd gone to the police academy with Sam Parker. So he called in the GBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He called me about 5 o'clock on a Saturday and stated he had a missing 911.

dispatcher who was married to a Lafayette police officer and he asked for GBI assistance. Special agent James Harris headed straight for Teresa's new apartment looking for any clues. We found a few odds in and in some clothes, some shoes, her 911 uniform. We found where Lowe had stopped in to deliver a washer dryer that she had previously purchased and she wasn't there so they left one of the flyers on the doorknob. We all need to pray for her safe return and pray that our greatest fears do not become reality and no harm has come to her yet. With no sign of Teresa, neighbors and friends joined together. Agent James Harris was eager to talk with Sam Parker.

And on Sunday, March 25th, four days after Teresa went missing, Sam Parker, the police officer, wasn't the one asking the questions. What did Sam tell you in that interview? I knew that we had to lock him in on a timeline. One of the things that jumped out at me immediately was that he said he was in his truck the whole night. But three people had already told Agent Harris a different story. They saw Parker's truck parked at Sam and Teresa's house early that Thursday morning. And Sam is telling you he was driving around in his truck. That's correct.

So then that's when red flags started going up and Sam became a suspect in my eyes. I couldn't understand why he had to lie about something that small, at least I thought, was that small at the time. I've not got anything to hide. I've not got anything to lie about. Sam Parker believed Teresa had gone off on her own because they were divorcing, so he couldn't understand why investigators were looking at him. It must have been strange as a police officer to be in uniform, yeah, and being looked at. Law enforcement was facing a real mystery. What happened, and why couldn't anyone find the police officer's wife?

We were brothers. We were the Norman Rockwell vision of brothers growing up next to a river. We grew up very close, very close. Kenneth Parker looked up to his big brother Sam and followed in his footsteps. He went in the Marine Corps. I went in the Marine Corps. He went in the police department law enforcement. I went into law enforcement. How much of Sam's life was being a cop? For him is everything. It was a cop 24 hours a day.

And he says his proud police officer brother was quickly smitten with a young 911 operator. He started talking about this new dispatcher. It was very attractive and start talking about he would like to try to take her out. One thing led to another and he started dating her and it took off from there. Do you remember on the job first impressions of her? She was thin. She was thin. Was she super skinny?

For around here, yeah. You'd instantly fall in love with her just about when you get to talk to her. Because she was that way, she just made you feel comfortable. Her nickname was Mother Teresa, and according to younger sister Christina, she was the glue that held their family together. You know, she was the type of person, if you needed her, you called her. She was there. Teresa's first marriage had ended in divorce, and Sam Parker already had two ex-wives. Look at a couple of lovebirds. Despite their past failed relationships, Sam and Teresa seemed like...

like a good match. When I first met him, I liked him. He had a good, funny sense of humor, and seemed to be a gentleman to her. Did you think, oh, maybe this is the one for her? I thought, he probably is. He's going to be the one, because she was just crazy about him. Teresa and Sam Parker married on September 11, 1993. They seemed happy at first.

But then, after a few years, their relationship turned rocky. They were fighting one moment in love with each other the next. It was a seesaw, and evidently they liked it that way. But it seems Teresa finally had enough and decided to pull the plug after 13 years of marriage. She's a missing person, and I don't know where she is. Part of the problem investigators have in searching for Teresa Parker is the terrain. Just look at this. This is the woods right across from the Parker home, and this goes on for miles and miles in every direction.

This is mountain country. It's thick with trees. There's brush all over the ground. It's the perfect place to hide something. And chances are no one will ever find it. There's hundreds and hundreds of old wells in this area. And Mr. Parker grew up here. FBI Special Agent Mark Vizi. His childhood was spent hunting in these woods. His adulthood is spent fishing in the ponds all around this area. He knows this like the back of his area.

like the back of his hand. And investigators discovered that Sam told people, perhaps jokingly, he could use that knowledge to do some pretty awful things. He told everybody in Walker County but a couple that he knew how to get rid of a body and no one would ever find it. He'd talk about putting them in ponds

and the turtles would eat them. Law enforcement and volunteers searched fingertip to fingertip through the woods. They drained and searched ponds and combed through the local landfill. Authorities even searched Parker's home five times. They confiscated a collection of old guns and rifles, but investigators didn't believe they were connected to Teresa's disappearance.

I told them, I said, y'all went, you didn't even search your closet. You didn't look through her personal stuff. You went in and you looked for things, and took things of mine and only looked at me. You brought dogs out here. Yes. We provided them a scent that we collected of Mr. Parker's clothes and also off of his patrol car.

And they ran as they alerted to his scent all up this hill and all back down this way, indicating to us that he had been here. They're drawing conclusions that, you know, she may have been harmed. And she's maybe, possibly be dead. Me personally I'm not going to let that enter my mind until I have to if in fact it did as something has happened. There were other people we looked at

but we went where the evidence led us and it kept funneling us to Sam Parker. Mr. Parker is in my opinion very cold and calculating very meticulous in his actions. He was very meticulous in the way he was a police officer. His uniform was always perfect. His car was always perfect. But investigators were finding Sam Parker's story was less than perfect. Mr. Parker advised us that the last time that he saw or talked to Teresa was approximately 7.30 on Wednesday, March 21st,

when she was loading up her vehicle and taking things to her new apartment. But according to the phone records, Sam Parker, had called Teresa several times in the early morning hours. On that Thursday, she disappeared. And in fact, there were two telephone calls. We believe that Mr. Parker was trying to get in touch with her. He denied making any additional telephone conversations. Now, that's bizarre behavior for a seasoned police officer

who would know you'd pull the phone records. I don't know if he forgot about them or if he was trying to cover that fact up, I'm not sure. Then the crime scene specialist examined Teresa's Toyota forerunner. He turned around to me and said, we've got blood back here. But I knew it was on then. And there was more. The back of the forerunner had been obviously vacuumed.

You could see the vacuum marks. So what'd that say to you? Well, someone cleaned it. I knew we were looking the right way. Looking the right way, meaning what? Meaning Sam Parker. You know, they were ready to lynch me in this town. And that's just beyond me.

The crime lab tests confirmed Teresa's blood and Parker's DNA were in the back of her SUV. Investigators now had what they needed to make an arrest. We placed him in handcuffs, and the only thing he said was he asked me if I'd turn his coffee pot off for him, so I did. Nearly one year after 911 dispatcher Teresa Parker disappeared, her police officer husband, Sam Parker, was charged with his wife's murder.

Did you kill Teresa Parker? No, I did not. What do you think happened to her? I do not know. Nobody knows that she was killed. There's no physical, there's no forensic evidence. There's nothing to show that she was killed. Defense attorney David Dunn has a whole other theory to explain Teresa Parker's disappearance.

Did Teresa have a boyfriend? I believe she did. Staples Preferred Business Membership, built for busy business owners, because you've got bigger things to think about. With Staples Preferred, get free delivery, no minimums. Staples Preferred unlocks up to 3% back, plus 10% savings on print and exclusive wireless offers.

One less thing on your plate. Actually, a lot less. Visit staples.ca.ca. Preferred. That was easy. The week before 41-year-old Teresa Parker disappeared, she took a trip to the Smoky Mountains. She called me her first morning there and was like I'm having coffee outside. It was just beautiful.

Three days in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was supposed to be a quick getaway before her move and the divorce. Teresa made a reservation at her favorite cabin, the Honeybee Hideaway. You know, she told me, she said, I want to be by myself. and think about things, clear my mind. She'd been so stressed. And she was alone? And she was alone, yes.

51-year-old Sam Parker knew his wife was going to Gatlinburg. He had even given her money for shopping. But there was something about her trip that troubled him, so he decided to do a little investigating on his own. He was, you know, a husband, just like any other husband, trying to find out who went off for a couple of, days with his wife. Parker called the lodge

and convinced the clerk to send him Teresa's registration, defense attorney David Dunn. She registered for a room using the name Barker. Whether someone actually went with her or visited her there while she was

there, we don't know that. Prosecutor, Lee Patterson. He was very angry about the Gatlinburg trip because he was convinced that she had cheated on him. Parker's suspicions about Teresa and another man grew when he found something else puzzling on her room reservation.

She listed two adults. We know from the statement that Shane Green made that he was at least invited to accompany her. We know that much. Remember, Shane was the police officer who discovered Teresa's SUV missing the morning the prosecution believes she was murdered. You don't think.

think that this could have just been a work relationship? No. I don't, I'm between those two. The defense says that there were two people staying at that lodge, that Teresa had somebody with her. No? No, there were not. Our information is there was nobody there to see her.

And if the defense wants to say that Shane Green was there with her, the phone cell phone tower show that his cell phone activity was not in Gatlinburg. Green says he was not in Gatlinburg and was never romantically involved with Teresa. So all of this is a lot of this is not in Gatlinburg. All of this jealousy that Sam seems to have is unfounded? In my opinion, yes. He was a very controlling, manipulative person. And I think that Teresa was tired of being controlled and manipulated.

According to prosecutors, Teresa Parker did have one big secret. The 911 dispatcher, who had helped so many people in crisis, was dealing with a very personal crisis of her own, an angry and abusive husband. I think she hit it very well. I think she hid it from everybody. Did Sam have a drinking problem? No, he could drink real well. Very funny.

He could drink, yes, he drank way too much. What was he like when he drank? Funny. Funny? Happy drunk. Teresa's sister Christina says there was nothing funny about her brother-in-law when he had too much alcohol. He became a violent, mean drink.

He would keep a water bottle in the refrigerator during family dinners or whatever, and he would sneak over there and drink out of this bottle. It was straight vodka. Like, I had seen him in action, you know, so scary. There have been allegations that you've had some issues with drinking. You know, something that got blown up way out of proportion. So you did drink, but it didn't affect your job? Is that fair to say? That's very fair to say, yes. Christina says Sam Parker's behavior could change from nice to nasty in an instant.

They had went out to eat for dinner one night, and of course he started out drinking. Christina says when her sister left the restaurant, Parker followed her. They got into the car, and he started threatening her. It took his gun out, was shooting his gun up in the air, in the parking lot. Teresa called 911, but when he was. When the police arrived, they didn't arrest Parker. Instead, they took him to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. After an incident like that, why didn't Teresa walk away?

You know, she just didn't want to give up and, you know, she loved him. She was in love with him. It's a story Keila Beard says she knows all too well because she lived it. She was Parker's second wife and was married to him for four years. In time, he was drinking a glass of water and he threw the glass on the floor and it broke. Then he actually took me by the hair and drug me through the living room into the bedroom. And he drugged my feet, I was barefooted, and he drugged my feet through that broken glass and they were bleeding. And pulled out his handcuffs off of his belt and handcuffed me to the bedpost.

He eventually let her go because he had to go back to work. But Keela says when Parker abused her again a few months later, he gave her a warning. He told me before he left that I better not tell anybody or call anybody because if I did, he would kill me. He said, you can believe me that I know how to do it without getting caught and they won't ever find your body. He said that to you. He said that to me. Still, neither Keila nor Teresa ever filed a police report about Parker's alleged abuse. His brother Kenneth doubts it was ever that bad.

Did Sam ever hit her? Not that I know of. Do you think he was physically abusive to Teresa in any way? No, no, not physically. Mentally, both ways, because they like to play mind games, honestly believe. And he had always said that she knew exactly what button to push if she wanted to fight. Kenneth says his big brother is simply misunderstood and not a murderer. In fact, he's convinced his sister-in-law Teresa is still alive.

Where'd she go? I have my own theory. I believe that she's either in Mexico or California. I think I know where she is. I mean, I really do. Sam Parker revealed his theory to Special Agent James Harris. His exact words to me were, she's in Mexico with a guy. My name Elvis.

Elvis? Yes. It turns out Teresa had vacationed in Mexico with her nieces, and on that trip, they met a resort entertainer named Elvis. Investigators followed up on Parker's hunch and traveled to sunny Cancun. Is it possible that you missed Elvis and Teresa in Mexico? No. You're trying not to laugh? I'm trying very hard not to laugh.

If she's somewhere, she wants to be there, and... she's happy, then fine. No, I don't care. Is it possible that she could still be walking around alive, that she just wanted to get away? No, it just doesn't make sense, and it's not a reasonable theory. Sam Parker murdered her, disposed of her body, and obviously it doesn't bother him that her family still cries for her every day.

Hi, my name is Lloyd Lockridge, and I'm the host of a new podcast from Odyssey called Family Lore. In this podcast, I'm going to have people on to tell unusual and sometimes far-fetched stories about their families. I've heard my whole life that she invented the margarita. And then we're going to investigate those stories and find out how much of it is true. He gets a patent one month before the Wright brothers. Oh, my God. Please follow and listen to Family Lore, an Odyssey podcast, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. Everyone is obsessed with it. They blog about it. They all have their own theories.

At Susie's Sunset Cafe, the breakfast crowd is buzzing about the Sam Parker trial, and everyone has an opinion. I don't know where she's at, but she's not dead. You don't think she's dead? I don't think she's dead. So you think she's still alive? I do. With no body, no crime scene, and no murder weapon, prosecutor Lee Patterson has an uphill battle. You wish that you had everything, but that's not how a case works.

And we felt like, even though we didn't have a lot of forensics, that we had a lot of other stuff that was really good. Defense attorney David Dunn. How unique is this in that there's no body? It's very rare. In the history of the state of Georgia, there's been about four of those over 200 years. The prosecution admits they don't know exactly how Teresa died, but they're convinced the circumstantial evidence against Parker proves he's a murderer. He had threatened people in the past and said, if you don't do such and such, or if you keep bothering me, I will kill you and bury you where nobody will ever find you.

What we're going to see at trial is we're going to see a trial by character assassination. Teresa's niece, Ashton Gilbert. Any time she would turn her back, he would flip her off and cuss her behind her back. Parker's second wife, Kila Beard. He told me he would kill me and that he knew how to do it without getting called. and they never would ever find my body. The prosecution lays out its theory. Teresa left her new apartment shortly after midnight,

driving to the home she shared with Parker. She didn't think he'd be there, but he was waiting for her. Sometime between 12.30 and 1.30 a.m. on March 22nd, 2007, he killed her. After he killed her, he put her body in the back of the SUV, and then he went to Christy-year-old. Bellflower's house. Incredibly, prosecutors say, Sam Parker was heading out on a date. Can you state your name for the record, please, ma'am?

Christy Bellflower. And Ms. Bellflower, when the defendant got there, did he have anything with him to drink? Yes. What did he have with him? Vodka. All right. Well, tell me what kind of container did he have it in? I'm water bottle.

Okay, so an hour to kill her. And then you say he left her body in her SUV That's right. At their home and went on a date? He had to have an alibi and Christy Bellflower had expected him to come over there. How's he going to explain, well, I had a date, but I broke it. After the date with Christy Bellflower early Thursday morning, prosecutors believe Parker drove home.

Then, sometime between 5.30 and 7.30 a.m., he drove off in Teresa's SUV with her dead body inside and dumped her. That's our theory of the case because that fits with the timeline. He goes back because he has to dispose of her body. He can't leave her lying in the carport. Defense attorneys Doug Woodruff and David Dunn said that scenario is ludicrous. Murder's a messy business. It's virtually impossible to do this kind of thing and leave no traces, no indications,

no evidence. What do you make of the blood? that was found on the rear bumper of Teresa's car. They had no idea how old the DNA was. They simply could not say whether it was a paper cut or an accidental injury or anything else. But then prosecutors would call their most controversial witness.

Would you please raise your right hand? Police officer Ben Chafin. Were you and Sam friends? Yes, ma'am. I considered him a big brother. Had you ever seen Sam and Teresa have a fight? Yes, ma'am I have. Chaffin would tell the jury the most explosive evidence of the trial.

A phone call from Sam Parker, the night Teresa disappeared. He said he'd really done it this time or he's really going to do it this time. What else did he say? He said that he had a place that was going to be hard to find or they never would find it. What else? And that he had shot Teresa through the aid. Chafin told the jury that he had shot Teresa through the aid. Chafin told the jury.

after that confession, he hung up the phone. But a few minutes later, Parker called him back. He said, if I told anybody, he'd have to kill me to. Devastating testimony? Maybe not. It turns out Ben Chaffin had given investigators five different stories, and he'd been arrested for helping Parker

hack into Teresa's computer. The prosecution gave him immunity in exchange for testifying. In your very first conversation with the GBI about Teresa Parker being missing, you didn't tell them about this so-called murder confession you heard simply because you forgot about it. I forgot about it. If somebody calls you and says, I killed my wife, that's something you remember. How could you forget that? That was my initial reaction when I first started reading his statements.

But when we talked to him, it became very clear to us that he was very, very, very, very. close to Sam Parker. The person that he looked at as a father, as a brother, had done something so terrible he couldn't wrap his mind around it. He'd step back. Is Ben Chafin a good witness, a believable witness? Oh, he's probably the most unbelievable witness I've seen in 26 years of practicing law. Can you give me a sense of what's been going through your head? You know, just the people that's been in my life for 25, 30 years, you know, you know,

know, they recall things one way and I recall them a little bit differently. Have you been looking at the jury at all, wondering? I'm not wondering. I'm going to accept what they say, and that's what I'm going to do. And Sam Parker may have the jury on his side. How many of you thought Ben Chaffin was believable? He wasn't. Nobody thought he was.

None of us, even the slight bit, thought he was credible at all. We all fit like he was lying. Not only did they dismiss Chaffin's testimony, they had problems with other evidence, too. How strong was that blood evidence? To me, the blood was another circumstantial thing. It wasn't hard evidence for me. Most of the evidence was all circumstantial.

It was more so for us we were putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The jury would have to piece it all together, but it was beginning to look like the prosecution's murder case against Sam Parker wasn't adding up. How Teresa may have died has always been a mystery, but the prosecution believes these photos showing bruises on Parker's right arm are a significant clue to what happened. FBI Special Agent Mark Visi. What we felt was that Mr. Parker, who is known to have used chokeholds in the past,

had used this maneuver on Teresa and that she had fought back by putting her hands up, and that's what left the bruises on the inside of his arm. I think she fought for her life at the end. And those bruises are evidence of that. But you would argue they didn't come from a struggle with Teresa. Oh, no. They're inconsistent with that, certainly. I didn't see them as a significant factor.

Prosecutor, Lee Patterson, gives the courtroom a dramatic demonstration. The rear naked chokehold, the move she believes Parker used to kill his wife Teresa. What did you think when the prosecutor brought up the chokehold and actually asked to be put in a chokehold? I think it was absolute fabrication. There was no evidence to base that upon. There's one more piece of explosive evidence the jury would see before they deliberate.

This poster, with a crude title, discovered in Parker's police locker. Should have thrown it in the garbage. Probably should have done that. instead just threw it in the locker and that's where it sat until it was pulled out. So we shouldn't read into it that he had some issue with women. No. It means nothing. But it meant something to prosecutor Lee Patterson. This is the guy who thought this was funny.

Ladies and gentlemen, Teresa Parker almost made it out. She almost made it to her new life. Find him accountable. Find him guilty. Thank you. Defense attorney David Dunn pleads with the jury to be mindful of reasonable doubt. Listen to the charge, especially the charge on circumstantial evidence, follow the law, find Sam Parker not guilty.

These jurors say the task of deciding Sam Parker's fate was particularly daunting because they had an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence, but not much else. In the beginning, it was very split. it two and ten. Two and ten. Two and ten. Ten were undecided. Undecided. Wow. How tense did it get as you all wrestled with this?

Very. It did get tense. It got quite heated at times. How many of you watched Sam during the trial? Oh, we all of us. I mean, I tried to get eye contact with him as much as I possibly could. Why? I just needed to.

Just because of the feeling of this could be my uncle. This could be my uncle. This could be. be my brother. You know, I had to do that. After three days of deliberation, the jurors seemed hopelessly deadlocked. But on count one, which is murder, still no verdict. There wasn't that smoking gun. We did have to make a decision on someone else's life. I was very worried about sending an innocent man to jail or releasing a guilty man to do the same thing again.

The judge urged the jury to give it one more try. And this time, they would take an even closer look at the cell phone evidence. It threw up that red flag of, hey, here I am. And looking at the cell phone records, he was not where he was telling us he was. On September 3rd, 2009, two and a half years after Teresa Parker disappeared, her family would finally have a verdict. Lady, I understand y'all arrive at the verdict. Is that correct?

Yes, sir, Your Honor. In the Superior Court of Woffon County, State of Georgia, State of Georgia versus Samuel L. Parker, we, the jury, after due deliberation, find the defendant, count one, guilty. Guilty. Guilty of first-degree murder. Parker shows no emotion.

The judge hands down the ex-cop sentence on the spot, life in prison. Teresa's family, Teresa's family leaves the courthouse in tears. Can you just tell us how you're feeling? It's a victory for the prosecution team. Can you give us a comment on how you're feeling? Medi later, I gotta talk to the thing.

And a defeat for the defense. I can't count that. Sorry, guys. This fight has not ended. It's barely just begun. Does Sam still have a little bit of power? Sure. He's still got some control because he hasn't told us where she is.

It's still about manipulation and control. Still. In your gut, do you think that you'll ever find Teresa? I hope so. We're going to keep trying. Sam Parker, the former police officer, is now a convicted murderer and still willing to talk to us. I never caused her any, you know, bad times or, you know, I never once ever hurt her. You never heard her.

No, never. Did you kill Teresa Parker? No. Her family thinks that you did and thinks that you could ease their agony by saying where she is. Can you help them at all? No, I can't.

Christina hangs on to memories of her older sister, grateful for the guilty verdict, but painfully aware that the man destined to spend the rest of his life in prison may be the only one who holds the key to finding Teresa. Christina, do you think you're ever going to find her? Oh, I don't know. You want to find her, bring her home, lay her to rest.

That's what she deserves. You know, she's not a piece of trash, and that's how I feel like he has treated her. Wherever she is out there, she just doesn't deserve to be there. More than three years after she disappeared, Teresa Parker's skeletal remains were found in Chituga County, about 12 miles from where Sam grew up. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation ruled her death a homicide, but could not determine the exact cause.