Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: Mom of 3, Michelle Parker, vanishes after ‘The People’s Court’ appearance. (episode 1)

Episode Date: January 8, 2021

Michelle Parker is a loving, hardworking mother of 3. She's also a student and a business owner, but one night this reliable employee did not show up for work. Her 11-year-old son, home alone after school couldn't find his mom. Michelle Parker disappears.joining Nancy Grace today: John W. Dill - Personal injury lawyer, Part of the Parker family's legal team  Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder  Dr. Jenn Mann - Marriage and Family Therapist, Host 'Couples Therapy' on VH1, "The Dr. Jenn Show” on Sirius XM, Author: "The Relationship Fix." Steve Helling, People.com Writer based out of Orlando Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. Welcome back to Killers Amongst Us, a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. How many times do you walk into work or the grocery store or the mall and just pause as you're walking through the parking lot or entering the doors and look around at everybody going past, seemingly focused on what they're doing? How many of those people are on probation, out on parole, thinking about something that would probably shock you to the core. You can't look at people and tell what's going on in their heart, in their mind. When you pull up at a red light, look at either side of you, There's no way you would know that there are killers amongst us. I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Killers Amongst Us. Thank you for being with us here at KAU. I want to first talk about a beautiful young mom. Her name, Michelle Parker, in the prime of her life. She just hit 30. Two beautiful twins, just like me, boy-girl twins, plus an 11-year-old son, the joy of her life. So how is it that one day Michelle Parker simply doesn't show up for work? First of all, an all-star panel joining me to dissect the whole thing. Steve Helling with me.

You know his name well from people.com. Joining us, Dr. Jen Mann, marriage family therapist, host of Couples Therapy VH1 and the Dr. Jen Show on Sirius XM, author of The Relationship Fix. Cheryl McCollum, director of the Cold Case Research Institute and crime scene expert. Special lawyer John W. Deal, PI lawyer who has been on the Parker's team from the get-go searching for answers. First of all, take a listen to this. Michelle Parker is no stranger to hard work. It's not easy to juggle multiple jobs and a family. This 33-year-old beauty is a mom of three, a bartender, an entrepreneur, and a student. Not only did she pour drinks at one of the most popular bars in Sanford, Florida, The Barn, she also ran a tanning business using her SUV as a mobile billboard,

a vehicle wrapped with Glow Mobile Airbrush Tanning Salon, clearly visible down the side. On top of this, she was studying cosmetology, working on getting her license to work alongside her mother in the family salon. Good Lord, just hearing all that makes me tired. Whoa, whoa, let me back it up here. Okay, my niece worked as a bartender briefly, and she's brilliant, all right? She got through Stanford with all A's, I might add. She then went on to grad school in creative writing.

But she wanted to work at a bar. Okay. You know how early they have to get there to, quote, set up? They have to cut all the limes, all the lemons. They have to prep and prep and prep. I mean, you might as well go on to the cordon bleu and become a chef. For as much time as it takes you to set up a bar for Pete's sake for one night. So this woman not only is a mom of three, she works at this highly

popular bar, Sanford, Florida, The Barn. She runs a tanning business, uses her SUV as a mobile billboard. And of course, I always stop and nearly run off the road every time I see one of those trucks or a car or an SUV with the ad on the side of it. And this woman seemingly did it all. Plus, she's a student. To Steve Helling, who is this superwoman, Michelle Parker? You know, she was one of those women that you think she's really well put together. I don't know how she did it all, you know, with the kids, with her job, with the school. But she managed to do it and she managed to do it very well to the point where all of her friends and family would question her.

How do you stay so well put together while you are doing all these things? She just had boundless energy and, and she was an amazing woman. You know, Cheryl McCollum, if you looked at her pictures, her hair is actually shiny. You ever seen, she's got beautiful, dark hair, and it's just shiny. You know, there's those treatments you can put on your hair. I guess it's some type of glycerin.

But it can't be that, because in every picture, no matter what she's doing, she looks like a supermodel. She looks like a supermodel and she looks happy. I mean, she looks like the kind of person that you would just want to hang out with. And three children. Of course, I'm putting the cart before the horse. I want to find out who this woman is. John Deal on Team Parker, personal injury lawyer joining us. John, what can you tell me about her? Well, like the others are saying, she was just a bright light,

certainly in her children's lives that, you know, her mom will tell you that she was a great mother herself. The family itself was very close. And she really was a superwoman. And you know how hard it is when you're working not just one job but two to raise children. And she was fantastic at it. Man, tell me about it. John, I have to get up at 5 o'clock every morning just to hold it together. Between the twins, my 89-year-old mother, my husband, two guinea pigs, a cat and a dog. You know, this place is rocking.

I can tell you that much. Take a listen when people ask about who is Michelle Parker. Listen. Ask Michelle Parker's family and friends, and they will tell you her good looks turned heads. Her friends will also tell you that she has an amazing personality and a big heart. It was that combination, her dark hair and bright white smile and big heart that caught the attention of Dale Smith, a former Marine. The couple plans a life together. Smith pops the question with a $5,000 engagement ring. The couple also have

three-year-old twins. A $5,000 engagement ring. Well, that's enough to kidnap somebody right there. All the years I have lived in New York, I say, do not wear that on the subway. Just get rid of that right now, unless you want your finger cut off by the time you get off the subway. You know, this woman sounds like a super mom. I'm just trying to count all of the jobs she has. You know, to Dr. Jen Madden, you're the therapist. I mean, juggling, I know because I've done it, I guess, since I was 15, juggling multiple jobs. You have to be able to, what do you say when you separate, compartmentalize? You have to be able to compartmentalize everything to pull it all off, I guess, Dr. Mann.

And I, too, am a twin mom, and I marvel at all that this woman did and does. I mean, it's just, it's amazing. And, you know, the thing is, and you know, as a mom of twins, that in order to manage children, in order to have a job, in order to, you described in beautiful detail what it takes to open and close a bar or a restaurant, all that sort of stuff, you have to be highly competent and highly devoted to what you do. And this is someone who was functioning at a very, very high level and was very committed to all of the things that she did and all of the people who she took care of. Which, you know, functioning at the high level that you just described tells me that there is no way this

woman just forgot to mention she was going on a vacation. You know, we're talking about a gorgeous young mom, Michelle Parker, twins, boy-girl twins, three years old at the time, plus an 11-year-old son. Then she meets Mr. Right. Take a listen to our friends at HLM. Michelle Parker is like a lot of women that you see around here in Orlando. She had these big dreams. She had these big plans and she was making steps to make her dreams come true. Michelle was just a hardworking single mother of three. She had two jobs. She would bartend at night. She also had a tanning business, which she advertised with decals on her Hummer.

She was also going to cosmetology school. She wanted to make a better life for herself and also her three kids. She worked hard. She loved her kids. She was an awesome mom. Those kids are so well taken care of. If you look at her photos, you can tell the cosmetology was important to her. She was always made up. Always had her nails done. Always had her hair done right. She was in school to get the license and the certification to one day work for her mother and the salon.

Steve Elling, I said HLM, but I'm pretty sure I recognized your voice just then, right? That was me, yes, it was. You know, Steve, I always was told growing up, you know, if you get through school and you make good grades and you go to college, then everything will be in place and everything's going to be fine. And that's, you know, basically what I tell my children, too. You've got to work really hard and you'll break through somehow. And that's what this mom is trying to do. When I hear about her working all day, working at nights as well, and going to school, the burden on her.

But I also think, Steve Helling, of all the people that she comes in contact with, you know, freaks at a bar, you know, how do I know some pervert been sitting at her bar while she's, you know, slicing up the limes and lemons fixating on her? How do I know who watches her leave the parking lot and follows her home and knows where she goes? And then you've got her at school. Who's there? How do I know who she comes in contact with at school? I mean, she's working so many jobs.

She's going to school. You get people get focused on her Hummer that you just described because it's plastered in one of those vehicle wraps. They're always bright colors. And then you look in the driver's seat and there's this gorgeous woman in there. Right. Absolutely. You know, the interesting thing is, you know, people focus on that Hummer and say, oh, OK, this is a woman that just had things handed to her. No, she worked very hard for a very nice vehicle to be her, be a billboard for her business. I mean, this is the woman who knew the value of hard work. And like you said, she came in contact with dozens of people every day and we don't know who all of them were.

Okay. Right there. John W. Deal, high profile, personal injury lawyer joining us. John, where do you practice? Where's your office? I'm in Orlando. I'm in Orlando, Florida, right here. You're in Orlando. John, where do you practice? Where's your office? I'm in Orlando. I'm in Orlando, Florida, right here. You're in Orlando. Do you have a website? Yes, I do. It's johnwdill.com.

Well, I should have guessed that because I want to look at your picture while I'm talking to you. John W. Dill joining us. He's on Team Michelle Parker looking for answers. You know, have you ever looked for a new home or a condo, John, ever in your life? I have. Okay.

Have you ever noticed the real estate agents are always perfect? Right. They look perfect. I mean, I usually have dealt with female agents in the past. Because, no offense, John Deal, sometimes men can be really bossy. Yeah. So I just go with a lady that will hear what I'm saying. No offense, Steve

Helling and John Deal, but they always look perfect and they always have on a perfect outfit. They smell good. They're always driving a fancy car. You know, I pull up in my beat up minivan. They're like, ugh. I guess it's because you want people to believe in you and think you're successful. Because why would you go, let me just put it like this, to a cosmetologist that had horrible nails, makeup and hair? Right. I mean, think about it, deal. Well, exactly. And like Steve was saying, you know, this is a woman who really was pulling herself up, you know, wasn't handed anything, was a hard worker and, you know, put her soul not only into her business and improving her life, but improving her family.

I mean, come on, Cheryl McCollum, you hear what Dilla's saying, right? It's like, why would you go to a cosmetologist if you look down and their nails are like all bitten off and little dots of red or whatever on them. Like, you know, Lucy, as you know, is a perfectionist. But have you ever seen Cheryl McCollum where little girls have their fingernails are all messed up? Is that why this woman's so darn beautiful? Because she's got to present to other people. You know, I think that's part of it. I mean, she wants business.

She's got to look good. Nancy, I think from everything I've heard, and again, when you're looking at the victimology, I think she's beautiful from the inside out. I think her heart is very clear. I think she loves her family. She loves her children. She loves her school. She loves all her clients.

And I think it shows in what she does. So again, for me, the victimology, you start looking at her inner circle, that immediate group, and then that first layer, you know, Alpha Bravo Charlie group. So it reminds me kind of Alison Foy out of South Carolina that went missing. She worked at a bar or was last seen at a bar and just disappeared. So you start thinking, who comes to that bar? Is there a Lyft driver or a taxi cab driver? Is there anybody stalking her? Because she is beautiful. Dr. Jen Mann, could you follow up on, I know I'm just a trial lawyer. You're the shrink. Guys, I'm talking to Dr. Jen Mann, the Dr. Jen show on Sirius XM and author. She is a therapist.

Dr. Mann, what is it? Why are, for instance, real estate people so perfect? Or have you ever looked at car salesmen? They always have on the best shoes and the nicest outfit and their hair is always perfect. Everything about them, there's just something. Oh, I should think of my brother. He was a pharmaceutical sales rep for years.

Can I tell you, he's got more clothes than I have. His hair, his nails, his everything is so much better than mine. I mean, you know, it takes a lot to drag me out of my army jacket. And it's just something that you present. There's something in you. And this woman was like a magnet. As Cheryl McCollum says, she had a good heart. People love being around her.

You know that kind of person that's an upper, not a downer? For sure, for sure. And I think that part of this is that this is someone who, like I was saying before, is just highly confident, and it leaks into every area of her life. She's going to look good. She's going to dress well. She's going to get the job done.

She's going to show up at work and open the bar and make it look really easy and be the mom of twins and an additional child like this is someone who just knew how to get it done and was just very very capable and very able and you know sometimes those kind of people tend to be a little more sort of type A personalities, that they can juggle everything and do it and do it with perfection. Steve Helling, you know his name well, reporter with People Magazine, people.com. I understand then comes in Mr. Wright, who got down on one knee and pops the question with a five thousand dollar engagement ring so tell me about him how did he manage to reel in Michelle Parker

well you know I think Mr. Wright was a handsome guy I think you know she you know you gotta give me more than just handsome because you can say that about Scott Peterson. Well, you know, but I do know he I mean, I'm looking at him right now. He I guess with the accepted version of what is handsome in the world, this would probably he looks like a young Robert Redford to me in this picture. Look at this picture right there. You don't see that comparison i'm making the perfect teeth the strong chin the blonde hair uh rugged but still good looking according to most people so how do these two meet what's their history and how did he get her to agree to get married you know um they they met through work and they met through friends and, you know, like normal people meet.

And then how did he get her? He was charming. He was handsome. And he showed interest in her. And, I mean, she was, you know, very. Wait a minute. That's all it takes? Somebody to show interest?

Sometimes. You know, buy you a Diet Coke at McDonald's and you're in? I think she'd be harder to reel in than that. Just show, you know, Steve Helling, are you married? I, yes, I am. Okay. Please. I hope your wife never hears what you just said.

That Michelle Parker agreed to get married because he, quote, showed interest. I mean, a man is a man. Of course, he's going to show interest in a woman for the most part. Yes. If it's got a skirt, they're going to be interested. But it takes more to get married. Okay? So this guy, what can you tell me?

Steve Howling, I think I'm going to tell your wife what you've just said. I mean, I feel it's my duty to tell her. Go ahead. Go ahead. Well, I will say that, you know, he, you know, when they started dating, he paid attention to her. He cared for her. And, you know, she felt happy and safe and loved by him. So, you know, it was like, I guess my point is this wasn't some weird relationship.

This was the relationships that we all have. You know, we meet, we start getting closer, we fall in love. That's very normal. And that's what Michelle Parker had going on. You know, it just seems picture perfect to me. And then they have the children. John W. Deal, personal injury lawyer out of Orlando. You can find him at johnwdeal.com.

Deal as in pickle. That's right. John, tell me about this guy that managed to snare Michelle Parker. Well, you know, as you see from the picture, he was a good-looking guy, blonde hair, he was in shape, you know, had been a vet. No, no, no, John, John, John. When I look at my husband, I know people may think he's good looking, but you know, I'm looking for somebody that will push the trash out for me. Okay. I'm looking for somebody

that'll be there in the lurch. I'll never forget. John David threw a fit to go rafting. All right. So I was home from New York that weekend and we went up to Cherokee and got on what I thought to be what I thought to be a smooth body of water. And I'll never forget when we were going over there, the guy on the bus said, you guys want life jackets? I'm like, yeah yeah give me some and they had them for the I said at least for the twins for Pete's sake so I put life jackets on the twins well long story short you know where this is going it was not smooth at all there was an undercurrent big time and I managed to get things were going sideways fast. I got Lucy to the side. I couldn't touch the bottom of the water. I somehow went against the current and got John David to the tip of a tree.

And John David, like a little monkey, crawled up in the tree and hung on for dear life. And I finally got my foot on a rock and stupidly was also wearing Crocs just to make it worse. And my foot slipped and I went under and guess what happened? That's where you're supposed to say what. David Lynch, my husband,

with blood running down his face because he had also gone under and hit a rock at the bottom of the white water, grabbed my arm as I was going under and pulled me out. Well, we're thankful to him. Yeah. So I don't want some guy that when I'm in need is running across the street to buy a pack of cigarettes. Okay, don't need it. So all this business about how good looking he is. Yes, I did it myself. But tell me something else.

How did this guy, what's special about him? I suspect that there was a charm factor as well. Right. That he knew how to seduce. He knew how to charm. He knew how to seduce. He knew how to charm. He knew how to put women at ease. Now, that's interesting because you can have a guy. I remember I once dated a guy like this.

Nobody else thought he was cute in the least, but he was so funny and he was so smart that I had the best time dating him. Sadly, he was an atheist. I knew that was never going to work for me. I moved on. Long story short, you don't have to be great looking. You don't have to be a millionaire. But if you have that charm that I think Dr. Jen Mann was just describing, that clinches the deal. So here we go. Take a listen to our friends at HLN. She's like a magnet. She just draws people in.

She's a beautiful, beautiful person. Michelle Parker turned heads and she turned Dale Smith's head and he was good looking. She was good looking. Michelle Parker and Dale Smith had twins together and were even engaged at one point. Michelle was also taking care of her 11-year-old son from a previous relationship.

They met. They fell in love. You know, Steve Helling reporting for HLN right there. Steve Helling joining me from People.com. So the relationship was good. Then they were blessed with boy-girl twins. That can be stressful, but gotta tell you it's the best thing that ever happened to me on this earth anyway is having those twins with david my husband so they had everything going for them steve helling tell me about the twins when did they come along? The twins came along

after Michelle and this guy had been together for a little while. They were surprise twins but both of them were excited to have these babies and by all accounts, Michelle

just screwed herself into taking care of this boy and this little girl. You know, despite everything else that she had going on in her life, I've not talked to a single person who said that she was ever absent from those twins. You know, she was she was with them every spare minute that she had. So how is it that everything's going along just fine, and suddenly she, Michelle Parker, just doesn't show up for work? Steve Helling, reporter at People.com, who raised the alarm? Well, like you said, she didn't show up for work,

and that is not something you would expect of Michelle Parker. She was when she went to work, she was on time to work. And she was one of those who felt like if she wasn't a couple of minutes early, she was late. So, you know, when she didn't show up to work, you know, then everybody started calling around and saying, you know, hey, have you seen Michelle? You know, and, you know, because she was supposed to be there and she wasn't. And that was really out of the ordinary for everybody. And which job was this that she was headed to? This was, she didn't show up to the bartending job that night. Because I know she dropped the twins off for babysitter. And then that was a little after three at 3 30 PM. Michelle's 11 year old son gets home from school. Then shortly after that, he calls his grandma and says, where's a mom? Shortly after that, Michelle's a brother, Dustin sends her a text message, and he gets a reply with a single word, Waterford. Where is Waterford, Steve Helling?

So Waterford, there's an area called Waterford Lakes, which is kind of in the east side of Orlando. It's near the University of Central Florida. It's actually very far from anything that Michelle, it's not close to her work, it's not close to her home, but it's really on the other side of town. And to you, John W. Dill, lawyer on Team Michelle Parker, looking for answers. Do I have the timeline correct? Yeah, that's right. It was around 4, 24, 25 in the afternoon that Michelle's brother texted her and that reply Waterford came back. And then there's more attempts through the next couple hours to get a hold of her by phone and she's not reachable.

You know, Cheryl McCollum, this woman had never, quote, gone missing before. Never. And I mean, you know she's in her right mind. You know, you hear, oh, the mom's overwhelmed. She's got postpartum depression, blah, blah. That's not true here. She was on her way to work looking great as usual. Drop the twins off for a babysitter. Gets back in the car.

And then she seemingly vanishes into thin air. And I always say, when you don't know a horse, look at the track record. She had never taken off with a secret boyfriend. She had never even gone away for the weekend without telling anybody, Cheryl. Not just that, Nancy. They said she had never one time sent a one-word response to a text. She was known for her texts as being novels. I mean, she would send all the story back. So if she was running late, getting home to meet her 11-year-old after school,

she would have been the one calling her brother, not the other way around. And to Dr. Jen Mann, who is the star of the Dr. Jen show on series xm and author she's also a host at vh1 dr jen i always look if i don't know what has happened or what is going to happen i look at a track record and we always hear oh she ran off with a boyfriend, she had a lover. That is so lame. Yes, I would agree. And as therapists, we look at patterns of behavior. And her pattern of behavior was that she was someone who showed up on time,

she took her commitment seriously, she was a devoted mother. The idea that she would leave her children without notifying someone and taking appropriate precautions to make sure they were cared for, that they knew when she was returning, is absurd. It just is totally inconsistent with her values, with her personality, with her ethics, and with who she was at the core. Michelle Parker seemingly vanishing into thin air. I don't buy it. Nancy Grace, Killers Amongst Us, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart podcast