Going West: True Crime - Kay Parsons // 491

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

In March of 2009, a 41-year-old woman living in Grovetown, Georgia was found beaten nearly to death in her home after she and her neighbor were robbed on the same morning. But when said neighbor was shot just two days later while leaving work, police uncovered a tangled web of deception and lies. This is the murder of Kay Parsons.

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going West. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Big shout out to Shanique for recommending today's case that I had not heard about previously. I feel like there's really not a lot of coverage on this. There's the research that we had to do was a little bit more of a deep dive than usual just because it doesn't feel like the story is floating around very much. Well, I mean, it did happen about 20 years ago, but this story, this case has so many twists and turns.

It's honestly unbelievable. Yeah, there is truly so much betrayal in this story. So appreciate everybody tuning in for it. I want to mention really quick before we dive in and just remind you guys that we have 131 bonus episodes on patreon.com slash going west podcast also on apple subscriptions that is just a great way to support the show and get a ton of ad free episodes that you haven't heard yet on going west. Absolutely.

If you guys are on apple subscriptions or you're using apple to listen to this show, it's so easy to subscribe and it really helps us out. So thank you guys for checking that out and thank you to everybody who's joined. And we just released two new episodes last week. The Mercy Island murders that happened only a couple years ago off the coast of England and then the Balanglo Forest murders that is about a serial killer in Australia murdering hitchhikers. Another crazy tale. Yeah, loosely based on the 2005 movie Wolf Creek. The murders are based on the movie. The murder is based on the murder. That's what I meant. That's what I meant.

Anyways, go check out those bonus episodes. We love you guys. And without further ado, this is episode 491 of going west so let's get into it In In March of 2009, a 41-year-old woman living in Grovetown, Georgia was found beaten nearly to death in her home after she and her neighbor were robbed on the same morning. But when said neighbor was shot just two days later while leaving work, police uncovered a tangled web of deception and lies. The humble suburb of Grove Town, Georgia is a classic small town in the Peach State, about a two-hour drive east of Georgia's capital, Atlanta. Upon entering the modest suburb of Grove Town, a wooden sign reads, Welcome to Grove Town, a community that cares.

It was previously voted one of the safest areas in Georgia, where a crime-like homicide occurs incredibly infrequently. But today's case takes place right here within Grovetown, in the picturesque neighborhood of Orchard Hill. While Grovetown at large has about 16,000 residents today, the family-friendly community of Orchard Hill is occupied by only 2,000 people. It's actually pretty adorable. It's like a large loop of homes that's surrounded by a wooded area. It's complete with manicured front lawns and moderate-sized homes. And while it's not considered super upscale, Orchard Hill is well-maintained,

appealing, and home to many families living out their stereotypical American dreams. And two of those small-town families are at the center of our story today. A story that would send shockwaves across this Georgian suburbia. And eventually, the whole country. Now first, meet the Parsons, the all-American family who seemed to fit right in. Their home, located on Hot Springs Drive, was a somewhat modern build, and the two-story brick house had an open green front yard and a covered front porch looking out at the many other homes on their open street.

But before discussing what happens in this neighborhood, let's backtrack a bit. Laverne Catherine Parsons, who went by Kay, was born on February 11th, 1968 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania to parents Arthur and Mabel Sanner. She graduated from Laurel Highlands High School in Uniontown, Pennsylvania in 1987 and went on to marry her high school sweetheart, David Parsons. Together, Kay and David Parsons moved into the Georgia community of Orchard Hill back

in 2005 with their young son Derek. Four years later in 2009, 41-year-old Kay Parsons, her husband David, and 12-year-old Derek were a busy, happy little family. According to neighbors and friends, Kay was a loving friend and a very devoted army wife and mother. Her husband David had a military career and previously worked at Fort Gordon in the nearby city of Augusta. Although he had since retired from active duty, David worked as a civilian contractor

for the government, which was great because this job kind of provided the family with a stable income, but it also meant that he had to travel for work quite a bit. Alongside being a dedicated mother to Derek, Kay also worked at a local physical therapy office called Healing Hands Physical Therapy. Now, in Orchard Hill just next door to the Parsons, the Sears family lived in an equally pleasant home. The Parsons' neighbors on Hot Springs Drive were a married couple named Becky and Tony Sears, and it was definitely a busy household over there, too.

Becky, who has been described as friendly and outgoing by many, was a mother to five children. Her eldest two sons were from a previous relationship, and Becky shared her younger three kids with her husband, Tony. Becky's two older boys, Michael and Christopher, were only a few years apart, but very, very different. Michael, who was the eldest and in his early twenties at this point, was living at home in 2009 and was considered by some as a bit troubled. He had a hard time holding down a job, and in the past he had gotten mixed up in drugs. But then there was Christopher, who was 19 years old with a stable job, and he even had a house of his own nearby. So, in the Sears' home

was a total of four kids, one of whom was friends with the Parson's son Derek, and played little league with him. And this was perfect, with the Parsons' son Derek and played Little League with him. And this was perfect because Kay Parsons and Becky Sears weren't just next door neighbors, but they had become like best friends. Both blonde and in their early 40s, Kay and Becky would go out for dinner and drinks frequently like any friends would, and they even joined Weight Watchers together at one point. They did a lot with each other. I mean, they even worked together at Healing Hands Physical Therapy.

So this seems like a perfect scenario, you know, your next door neighbors are your best friends and your kids hang out together. So it just seemed really great. Yeah, and this honestly is such a rarity because oftentimes you can't pick your neighbors. The chances of you having so many commonalities with your neighbor is not super common. And also on top of this actually, their husbands, David and Tony, were buddies as well.

And they would often go on, you know, different outings for double dates, whether it was out to dinner or playing mixed doubles on their local tennis courts. So they did a lot of stuff together. Like over the four years of friendship since the Parsons had moved on to Hot Springs Drive, the two couples even vacationed together. So any outsider could see that their lives were certainly intertwined, but only time would

tell just how woven together they would ultimately become. At about 8.30am on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009, a handyman arrived to the home of Kay and David Parsons for a general repair. When a pile of broken glass on the ground caught his attention, something just didn't seem right and he wanted to check it out. Something just didn't seem right and he wanted to check it out. Behind the Parsons brick home, the handyman realized the back door had been smashed in, leaving a mess of glass shards and broken fragments around the exterior of the house. The repairman called out to see if anyone was home, but there was no answer and Kay was supposed to be there, so the fact that

he sees this kind of troubling scene and she's not answering, he feels like something happened. So puzzled at why the door was in such a state, the handyman knew better than to enter the house. Admittedly, he actually watched lots of television and knew that it would be best to keep his prints far from inside the home if something did happen. If someone did break in and somebody was hurt, like his mind was immediately going to that possibility.

Probably watched a lot of true crime shows. Absolutely. So he called 911 and waited for officials to arrive before doing anything else. But while he waited, the handyman was looking around for a bit for any other signs of disturbance when he noticed another strange detail. A young man sitting on a rock near the house who seemed to be a bit distraught. The young man said his name was Michael and he lived next door which as we know would be Michael Sears. He had heard the handyman's call to 911 to report the broken glass outside the Parsons home, and Michael said his home, where he lived with his parents, Becky and stepfather

Tony, had been broken into as well. So by the time they're chatting, Michael had just called his mom Becky to let her know that something had happened, but he hadn't called 911 With the 911 call from the handyman regarding the assumed robbery at the Parsons house a local sergeant and a couple other officers Drove through the residential streets, and they parked on Hot Springs Drive right outside as The sergeant peeked around the house himself. he spotted blood through a window of the parson's home. So it's safe to say that it was not looking good. And as he entered, things only got worse.

The sergeant trudged through the home and followed a trail of blood on the floor, accompanied by a crumpled up McDonald's bag, a spilled cup of coffee, and a woman's handbag. As the sergeant made his way through the house, a handprint on the door leading into the garage prompted him to turn the handle. His eyes widened as he discovered a woman's body lying in a large puddle of blood on the concrete garage floor. What they would soon discover was that this woman was 41-year-old Kay Parsons.

As the sergeant knelt down to check her pulse, to his amazement, she still had one. She was still alive. So he loudly called out to his team and requested an ambulance immediately. I mean, he knew that they needed to act fast if they wanted any chance of saving her life. Within minutes, Kay Parsons was rushed to the hospital, bloodied, battered, and barely clinging to life. And like Daphne said a few minutes ago, this is a quaint and calm neighborhood. So the police were absolutely stunned that it seemed that they had two break-ins on their hands and one assault on the same street So let's talk about how things got to this state when Kay woke up in bed that morning She was alone and this wasn't unusual for her

Her husband David was out of town on a work trip again this time in Los Angeles, California Her husband David was out of town on a work trip, again this time in Los Angeles, California, though one report said that it was in San Francisco, but either way, this was hard on their small family, because a lot of his trips were out of state, so his frequent absence kind of frustrated Kay a little bit. You know, naturally she wanted him around more, but that day he was gone. It was just Kay and their tween son, Derek, in the house. So Kay got up and got herself ready for the day before waking up Derek to get ready for school since it was a Wednesday.

The pre-teens scarfed down a bowl of cereal, Kay grabbed her handbag, and the two rushed out the door for the routine morning school run. After dropping Derek off, Kay went through the McDonald's drive-thru for a quick breakfast for herself and a coffee before heading back home. And remember, like Heath just said, there was a crumpled McDonald's bag, a spilled cup

of coffee, and her handbag all in the same area of the house. So it really seemed like right when she got home she was ambushed. So she arrived home at about 7 15 a.m. knowing the handyman was scheduled to come over that morning and would be arriving in a little over an hour from then. But as we know when the handyman arrived at about 8 30 his calls were met unanswered, meaning something happened to Kay between 7 1515am and 8.30am. When Kay was rushed to the hospital at about 9am that morning, her son was still none the wiser that she had been hurt, so police made the harrowing call first to Kay's husband Dave.

Receiving the phone call all the way in California in the very early morning hours, police asked that he return home immediately. While authorities were hesitant to share details over the phone, David had a gut-wrenching feeling that his life was about to change forever. As we know, the robbery at the Parsons residence would prove not to be a singular attack. As Kay was rushed to receive emergency care, police made their way next door regarding the burglary at the Sears' home.

Because based on the horrific condition of Kay's body in her garage, police wondered if someone inside the Sears' home had been met with a similar fate, you know naturally so fearful of what they may find Police entered the Sears house with purpose and found a total mess Similar to the state of the Parsons home there were drawers pulled out of cabinets and jewelry was missing and On the inside of the back door police noticed blood, but we'll talk more about that later. Preparing to find themselves another body to their surprise, there weren't any. In fact, nobody was even home.

So it seemed like someone had broken into both houses looking to steal items, and at the Parsons' home, the intruder may have been surprised to find someone was at the house, and then a struggle ensued. At least that's what it seemed like. Obviously, we mentioned that Michael was home at the time, he was outside, but he wasn't like in the house home when it happened, so he's saying that he doesn't know what happened, he didn't see anybody, he was not there for the attacks. But of course, you know, naturally police's brain, their brains are going to go towards Michael because

he's the only person of note in that area right around the time that these burglaries took place. Yeah, absolutely. But they wanted to call the homeowner, so police, even though Michael had already called his mom, police also called Becky Sears to alert her of the break-in at her house because she was already at work for the day at the physical therapy office when it happened. Her youngest kids were already at school by then, just like Derek was, and Becky's husband Tony, who also worked for the military like David, was out of town as well. So the only people that were in and around the Parsons and Sears home that morning, of course other than the handyman, were Kay Parsons and Michael,

who remember was in his early 20s at this time. But after the urgent call from police as well as the call just before this from Michael, Becky headed to the house with one of her other elder sons, 19-year-old Christopher. Remember, Michael, who was seen on the rock outside the houses after the burglaries, is the eldest who lived with the family, and Christopher is the one who lives on his own nearby. So, when Becky and Christopher arrived at the house that day, Becky was already panicked and actually crying out for Kay when she got word that something terrible had happened to her during this seemingly random attack.

Over at the hospital, several of Kay's friends hurried over when the news caught on about what happened, just hoping that she would pull through. In an interview with Dateline, a dear friend of Kay's recalls that her face was heavily swollen and covered in bandages Making her unrecognizable as she lay in the hospital bed Within hours after jumping on a flight from LA David arrived at the hospital and he rushed to Kay's side But unfortunately Kay's condition worsened as the day went on she was definitely not out of the woods at all and Sadly the very same day that she was attacked at her house, March 25th 2009, 41 year old Kay Parsons

died in the hospital from traumatic head wounds. And to explain how this fatal wound occurred, back at the Parsons house, police discovered a bloodied baseball bat beside Kay's body. And under her parked car, a bloodied claw hammer was discovered, which would both later be revealed to be the murder weapons. And it's so eerie because that baseball bat actually belonged to her son Derek, because playing baseball was one of his favorite things to do, and because the hammer was found under the car it

actually seemed to police like you know if this was committed by one person that the hammer had gotten away from the killer somehow so then they picked up the bat in an attempt to finish the job of murdering this poor woman yeah I mean it's it's crazy to think that this attack first occurred with one weapon and then somehow, whether it was through some sort of fight that happened between the two, that claw hammer got lost and then what's right next to him? Oh, a child's baseball bat.

Let me grab that. Yeah, it's just absolutely horrific. So with a young mother dead from an unthinkable attack and two daytime home invasions, police immediately jumped to action and started conjuring some persons of interest. And naturally, like you were saying before Heath, they immediately looked at Becky's eldest son Michael. Again, he had been sitting outside the home shortly after the burglaries were committed and he was a known

drug user so they wondered, you know, being home alone that morning maybe he decided to break into the Parsons home before things kind of went south and then he staged a break in at his own home to look innocent. Well in an interrogation with police, Michael admitted to taking methadone the morning of the murder. So that morning. Now, for those who don't know, methadone is an addictive medication that's used to treat opioid use disorder and chronic pain.

It doesn't actually make a person feel high. It usually gives this feeling of relaxation and like positive well-being. Like I said, it's pain relief. But it can have many side effects like dizziness, mood changes, and agitation as well. And robbery can of course be a common crime committed by drug users, which is often only aided in these types of side effects. Now as we mentioned, Michael was unemployed at the time as well, meaning he had very few responsibilities. So, investigators were highly suspicious that perhaps Michael could have broken into

Kay's home to commit a burglary before killing her. As investigators questioned Michael, they noted the fact that he didn't have any blood on him, which would have been very unlikely, considering the amount of blood at the scene and the vicious nature of the attack on Kay. Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna if you're gonna beat a person to death with a baseball bat, there's gonna be an and a hammer, there's gonna be some blood spatters on your shoes, your clothes all over the place. Oh, absolutely. So and there was no evidence that he all over the place. Oh, absolutely. So, and there was no evidence that he was washing his clothes

or anything like that. You know, of course, we're still not into the search, the full search of the home, but that was standing out to them that he did not have any blood on him. However, they did find shards of glass stuck to the bottom of his shoes, which of course would place Michael

at the scene of the smashed in door, but did he walk through it accidentally when he was going into his own house, or did it happen when he was breaking the windows? This is what police needed to figure out. Well, Becky's other son, Christopher, was also interrogated by police and was heavily questioned regarding his older brother Michael, so they could get the inside scoop on who he was. Investigators hit Christopher with hard questions insinuating that his brother might have killed Kay, but Christopher defended Michael, saying that there was absolutely no way that Michael was guilty.

He did admit that his brother had used drugs, but Christopher claimed that it wasn't possible that his brother could possibly commit such a horrific act. It just wasn't at all in his character. Yeah and just because he was home at the time like Kay had been to be fair and sometimes used drugs didn't mean that he was violent and capable or interested in stealing or killing like I understand why police want to look at him to see but you can't just say, drug user, he's a criminal, you know, he'll do other horrible things. Exactly, you can't, you can't kind of make that assumption.

But Christopher did note that Michael had some pretty sketchy friends, and he was very suggestive that investigators should look deeper into this circle of friends. Like, maybe someone who'd been over at the house at some point decided to cause trouble in his family's nice neighborhood. Regarding Christopher's own alibi, he had been with his mom Becky at her place of work again healing hands therapy that morning. He told police that he woke up in his own home nearby at 7am, and his mom Becky picked him up at 7-10am before they

both headed to the physical therapy office in a neighboring town which was about 10 miles away. Everyone's waking up, getting up at 7am this day. I guess so. Well, Michael went in with Becky that day to help her out at work where they remained until they got the call from Michael and police regarding the break-ins on their street. While police were still looking deeper into Michael, he explained his whereabouts in Alibi 2. He said that earlier that morning, at about 7am of course, his mom, Becky, dropped him off at work. But the problem is, as we've just said, Michael didn't have a job.

So this was obviously a lie. Yeah, and his mom didn't know this either so he said hey mom can you drop me off at work and she did but he didn't actually have a job so he had her drop him off at like a job site that he didn't actually work at and was lying to her about having a job and now he was telling the police that he had a job too that he had somehow been out before the break-ins and then back at home right after they occurred which only made him look way more suspicious. Yeah what did you work

for an hour like no. Well exactly so he pretty much had to come clean to detectives as they were prying for more details he probably thought he could just say yeah I know I didn't do this. I was at work. Expecting maybe that they wouldn't look into that, but they're saying, where do you work? Tell us about this, tell us about this. And he's saying, okay, look, I don't have a job. I'm lying to you, I'm lying to my mom. And he said that actually that morning, he was not at work,

but he was at his friend Anthony's house. At this point, not only were police suspicious of Michael, but they were also suspicious of Michael's friends, per the conversation they had with Christopher. So they asked his friend Anthony to come down to the station. And there, Anthony claimed that he was with Michael that morning, March 25th, when Kay was murdered and the break-ins occurred. Anthony said that Michael had planned on going to his place that morning and he arrived around 6.45 AM, which is obviously very early for

two young men to be hanging out on a weekday. But this does match kind of loosely with the timeline that Michael said. He said it was around 7 AM and Anthony said it was at 6.45 a.m. But even so, Anthony said that they were just hanging out and watching TV for a while before Michael left to go back to his house. And I will say, it would make sense for him to go to Anthony's if he had his mom drop him off somewhere and he has to pretend he's at work to kind of keep up the ruse.

So he says, hey, I'm out of the house. Want to hang out? Yeah. You got to do something to kind of kill that time while you're not at your job. Yeah. You don't have exactly at least for a little bit before going home when you're like, okay, I've had enough. However, police had Anthony take a polygraph test to prove to them that he was telling the truth and he failed it. His test showed deception. You know, we don't like to put a ton of weight in polygraph tests. There are so many factors to them being accurate. But it did seem like some of his answers were deceptive. Though Anthony was adamant that he was not involved

in Kay's murder and that he and Michael were together that morning. Well, Anthony said that Michael left his house at exactly 8.27 a.m., which is minutes before the handyman arrived at the Parsons' home, meaning that Michael would have arrived home to stumble upon the same mess that the handyman had stumbled upon at the exact same time, if this was true. And while it does seem suspicious for Anthony to recall the exact time that Michael left, Anthony said he remembered looking at the clock as Michael departed, and just said that it stuck with him. Although police had their suspicions against Michael and Anthony, they had the same story, and because they had questioned Michael so quickly that morning,

they kinda knew that he wouldn't really have time to create or fake a story or timeline with Anthony. And usually when fake alibis are made, someone usually messes up, but they said the same things in detail, so it kinda makes sense here. Now, since K had arrived home at approximately 7.15 that morning, after dropping Derek off at school and grabbing some McDonald's breakfast, that leaves a little over an hour before the handyman arrived there at around 8.30am. According to Michael and Anthony, they were both at Anthony's house during this window of time.

With Anthony seemingly off the table and Michael still investigators main person of interest, another event took place that really thickened the plot here. Two days after the murder of Kay Parsons, another alarming 911 call was made. But this time, Kay's neighbor and best friend Becky would be the victim. The emergency call was made from a cell phone right outside of Healing Hands Therapy. Becky Sears was frantic on the other end of the receiver, and between panic and labored breathing, Becky claimed that she had been shot. Sirens filled the quiet streets,

and police arrived to the parking lot to investigate. In light of the attack on the Parsons' home just two days earlier, police were led to believe that there was a madman on the loose, with two neighbors, two best friends, being attacked by an unknown perpetrator, one right after the other. while Becky was only shot in the leg, it was actually more of a leg grazed than a gunshot wound, she was in the hospital when police sat at her bedside and took notes on what happened. She told them she was leaving work when an unknown black man came out from behind a tree in the parking lot. She said the man startled her while she was walking towards

her vehicle and demanded cash. When she didn't give him any as it all happened so fast, she explained that the assailant shot her in the leg and told her that when he came back next time, he would shoot her in the face. In a flash, the man turned around and disappeared back into the bushes, prompting her call to 911. So we have two really strange situations on our hands. I mean, usually with robberies, the burglar doesn't want to commit violence because it's such a larger offense than stealing, obviously. So the fact that Kay was murdered so violently was already kind of confusing, but now

Allegedly or presumably the same person demands money from Becky and before she even has time to get any from her bag He shoots her in the leg threatens her and leaves like Absolutely doesn't make sense. Yeah, it seems like this whole story is just Something is being made up here. They're just trying to figure out what it is. Well, while in the hospital, police questioned Becky again, of course, to get her full account of what happened. But this time, they're wondering if she specifically had any enemies that would not only want to

break into her house, but shoot her and potentially of course, harm her friend. And it was during this conversation that she said, you know, mentioned very casually that she had had an affair, but that it was over. Like she wouldn't even tell them who she stepped out on Tony with. She said it wasn't relevant. This guy would not be involved. And then she wanted to shut down the conversation. She was immediately trying to kind of backpedal and eat her words So of course police found this very suspicious But they put it on the back burner for the time being and this is kind of crazy because they're not pushing her about this

This would be motive for somebody to want to hurt you if there's an affair going on That could be a motive here. So the fact that they're just like, well, okay, let's put this on the back burner. Like I get it. They don't have, if she's not going to say anything, there's not much they can do, but you would assume that she would want to help the investigation as well. Yeah. The only thing I could think of, or like a reason why she wouldn't want to do that is if she was having an affair and hiding it, obviously from her husband and her family, then maybe she wouldn't want it dredged up because this would mean if she's saying, I know that he

wasn't involved in this, I don't want it to destroy my marriage. And that's probably what she was thinking in that moment. Right. So they're kind of like, okay, that's kind of weird. But obviously they want to know who this guy is because he could be the person behind all of this. But anyway, back at the scene in the parking lot of Healing Hands, Becky's shoes and a bullet casing were found which proved that an

attack did occur. This being 2009, authorities hoped that there would be some footage of this attack, but there were no cameras at Healing Hands Physical Therapy that could help lead them to any possible shooter. They only had Becky's word. The morning after Becky was shot in the parking lot, and still only a couple days after Kay's murder, police continued to try and piece together this strange puzzle. And things were about to get even weirder when that day, three days after Kay's murder, a jailhouse informant provided some fascinating information to police.

Enter Jerry Jacobs. Jerry was in jail for a previous and unrelated crime, and he decided to tell the police that his sister was Becky Sears, and Becky had been having an affair. And obviously they already knew this by now, but it was Jerry who finally explained who the affair was with, which turns out was extremely relevant to this case. Because this affair was with none other than David Parsons, her best friend Kay's husband. In a shocking turn of events, it was revealed that Becky and David had been seeing each other for more than six months.

Some best friend. Right, totally backstabbing her best friend. Well, to corroborate Jerry's statement, police found a series of handwritten love letters between David and Becky that proved the intensity of how close they had become. And I mean, this wasn't just some little hookup. They had seemingly been in a full-blown relationship and would write each other lengthy, sincere love letters when they were apart.

An excerpt of a note that David penned to Becky while he was on a work trip months prior read, quote, Rebecca, I just wanted to let you know that even when you don't think I'm thinking about you, I am. I can't wait to see you. I love you, baby. I miss you so much when we aren't together. And in one of the countless letters Becky wrote to David, one line reads, Being apart from you is very difficult, but being in love with you and knowing that you love me makes all of the time that we are apart bearable.'"

Well, in spite of their full-on romance, David told Becky that he couldn't leave Kay, because if he divorced his wife, she would be entitled to half his pension. He also told Becky that he didn't want to leave Kay until their 12-year-old son Derek graduated from college, as is the case with many married folks. And while many extramarital affairs usually remain between the two people involved, this wasn't the case for David Parsons and Becky Sears.

Obviously, we all know about it right now, but I mean before the murder even occurred, because a month before it occurred, K learned about all of it. She confronted her husband David that she had found out, and she was completely devastated. David admitted to the affair, but promised her that it would end, and they could work on their marriage to save their family. They figured the best way to move on from this was to relocate and sell their house so that they could have some physical distance from the Sears. And actually, the Parsons put the house on Hot Springs Drive for sale in an effort to make that first big step into fixing their relationship. make that first big step into fixing their relationship. But of course, Kay was killed before they could get that far.

So with the knowledge of the affair, police now had David on their radar, even though he was out of town when the crime occurred, but it doesn't mean that he didn't hire somebody to do it or was at least part of the plot, right? Yes, exactly. So through tears of guilt and possibly regret after Kay's funeral, David admitted to the affair to police. He came clean about all of his wrongdoings, but he also

said that he didn't kill his wife. It was kind of hard too because he was showing a lot of emotion upon Kay's death. Again, were these tears of guilt for being a part of her murder or guilt for cheating on her. You know, the police were paying attention to his emotions. So when they questioned David further, he told police that he and Becky would have rendezvous all over town, admitting that they had sex many times at both of their homes, in Becky's mom's house, but mostly in their cars. But David also admitted that he and Becky continued to secretly see each other even after he promised his wife Kade that

the affair was over. Ugh, cheater. God, you just can't quit it. This is what really bothers me about the fact that he's like, let's sell the house Let's get out of here You know I understand why you would both actually want to move because he doesn't want to see his mistress all the time and she doesn't Want to see her backstabbing best friend who was stepping out on her own husband for her husband every day?

But the fact that he's like, hey, let's just move, and then he keeps seeing her, like, you are the problem. Address your cowardly behavior, and then we'll talk about moving. Exactly, if you wanna move, and you wanna be out of the woods here, and you wanna really work on our marriage, then stop fucking cheating, bro.

Yeah, it's wild that he just continued, but, you know, it seems like it really was all a lie. And it seems like he really didn't want her, Kay, I mean, to get half his pension. And he didn't want to go through a divorce while their son was still in school. And he wanted to still continue to have a mistress. But he did tell police that he and Becky's affair was not physical after they called it off, though he did admit to meeting up with Becky where he said they would just talk. But I mean, come on. This is hard to believe considering police also found out that David and Becky had phone sex with each other the night before Kay was murdered while David was in California.

So it really seemed like he had promised Kay one thing, but he was still stepping out on her and on their marriage. Yeah, I mean, he's completely lying. Well, after questioning David, investigators absolutely recognized David as a scummy adulterer, but they didn't believe that he was involved in his wife's murder. Which is such a rarity in cases like this.

Yeah, usually the husband is involved, or the cheater is involved. Well, while the dirty truths of Hot Springs Drive were nothing less than a soap opera, Becky's older son Michael was still getting grilled by investigators. So obviously the police believed that this affair angle was pretty interesting, but they kind of thought, you know, maybe the people that were involved in this affair had nothing to do with the murder and that maybe Michael had found out about it, and upset that his own family could be broken up, even though Tony wasn't his biological father, that he killed Kay because of this.

In a three hour long interrogation, police tried to persuade him to admit his knowledge about the affair, but Michael didn't budge. He claimed that he had no idea about the affair and would have no reason to kill or even harm Kay. Yeah, like in Michael's defense, it's not Kay's fault. I would get this angle if maybe David was the one dead, but not Kay. It's like police are really trying to create a narrative that is not lining up. Yeah, it's just not there.

So at this point, Michael was maintaining his innocence, and considering his fairly solid alibi for the morning that Kay was murdered, investigators were starting to believe that maybe Michael wasn't the guy that they were looking for. While he did have a lot going against him, officials knew that they had to keep an open mind. And they were getting some more interesting information from Becky's brother, you know, the jailhouse informant, Jerry Jacobs. Yeah, because Jerry had also spilled to police that Becky had asked him to execute the crime, the crime of Kay's murder. So here's her brother claiming that Becky was at the helm of this murder.

So Jerry said that she asked him if he could help her make Kay's death look like an accident by cutting the brakes on her car to cause a horrible car wreck. And Jerry, you know, yes, he was in jail at this point, but he was like a small time criminal. He's not, he's not trying to get involved in something like this. So he was just in total disbelief that his sister is asking him to do something so wild. So he said absolutely not. He did not want to get involved in her drama, especially when the repercussions could be so great. The repercussions of murder are huge.

Yeah, it's not very casual. Even if your brother is doing small petty crimes and shit and he's in jail, it's not something that people really want, you know, it's not... He's already in jail. He doesn't want to stay in jail and he's not gonna get anything out of this Yeah, he'd be in jail for the rest of his life if he was caught exactly So he's like absolutely not even though he's saying she asked him multiple times But back to the actual affair because not only did Kay know about it We know Jerry did but before the murders Becky would also

Incessantly call her 19 year old son Christopher crying in desperation about how badly she wanted David to leave Kay. And imagine this, like this is a mother in her 40s calling her 19 year old son all the time crying to him about her love life. Like yeah about her affair. That's so crazy. Yeah, it's so oh my God, it's so weird. And obviously again, Tony wasn't Christopher's biological dad.

So he wouldn't have had the same reaction if, you know, Becky was telling her younger kids, but still Becky made it clear to Christopher that she wanted Kay gone, no matter the lengths it took to make it happen. As we know, during the morning of the attack, Christopher told police that he hadn't shown up to his own job that day, but instead went to Healing Hands Physical Therapy to help his mom at the office,

which we also mentioned earlier had no security cameras. So the lack of footage proving that they were there and the shaky alibi only made Christopher and Becky look all the more guilty. And to police, it was clear that Christopher was a die-hard mama's boy, and he would do anything for Becky. In fact, the only reason that he owned a home was because Becky bought it for him. So even though it seemed like Michael was the troubled one and Christopher was the upstanding citizen that had his shit together, it was actually the opposite. And because Becky did so much for Christopher, he was kind of at her mercy.

In another interrogation, still three days after Kay's murder, the day that Jerry called them to expose the affair, police brought Christopher Bowers into the station again, but he decided to lawyer up and stop talking. But unfortunately for Christopher, it was too late. Investigators had enough reason to believe that he was behind Kay's murder, and he was arrested right there and right then. As you can probably guess, investigators knew Christopher wasn't solely guilty. So that same afternoon, Friday, March 28th, 2009, Becky Sears was also arrested in connection with Kay's murder.

And the unique thing about this case was that there was no trial. The police had enough evidence from DNA and witnesses to make both Becky and Christopher really think about their options in jail for the next three years as legal proceedings delayed. Because guess what? Christopher Bauer's DNA was on the baseball bat and hammer that was found at the scene. There was also blood found in Becky's vehicle on the driver's side door, the parking brake, and the seat.

Based on what Jerry Jacobs told them about the affair, along with informing them that Becky had asked him on multiple occasions to get rid of K-4, everything was falling into place. So police posited that Becky staged the two home break-ins in an attempt to throw investigators off, meaning the home invasions were a red herring to cover up the real purpose, which was Kay's murder. But things were about to get even more insane, because Becky, ever the loyal friend, spouse, and mother, turned the tables on her own son. After her arrest,

41-year-old Becky Sears explained to police that on the morning of March 25th, 2009, she had taken her youngest three children to school before briefly coming back home before work. When she arrived, she told police that Christopher was in her house with blood on his face and that he admitted to Kay's murder Before the police showed up and said to her quote. I took care of everything I beat the fuck out of her this woman is like the biggest backstabber I've ever seen she's such a piece of shit like even your own son who like you're the one who made him do this and Obviously, I'm not saying he's innocent. He did this

I don't care who asked you to murder somebody you don't do it, but I just can't believe she's saying all this It's honestly just very manipulative like she's manipulating everybody in her life She convinced her son to murder the woman that was getting in the way of her affair And then she rolls over on him and manipulates police into, you know, by saying that, oh, it was all his fault. Like, he's the one that killed her, and I'm just trying to help him out.

And that's all after she complained about the fact that David wasn't leaving Kay to her son over and over again, and it's like, why are you asking everybody in your life to murder somebody for you? her son over and over again and it's like why are you asking everybody in your life to murder somebody for you? Like that really is such manipulation because she's not doing it herself. She's trying to make sure that if somebody goes down for it it's not going to be her even though she's the one who wants this done. But there was proof that Becky was involved. We

know at least she was at the helm of the plan, thanks to confessions, phone pings, and DNA evidence. It was determined that that morning, Becky picked up her son Christopher from his house and brought him to her house. Christopher hid in the backyard of Kay's home awaiting her return while Becky dropped off the other kids at school. And then when Kay arrived home, Christopher entered her house and attacked her brutally. This is when she would have dropped her coffee and her breakfast.

When he was done, he called his mom Becky, she picked him up, and helped him dispose of his bloody clothes. They then decided to stage a shooting outside of Healing Hands with Christopher grazing Becky's leg with a bullet. Which, by the way, apparently was not the plan and she was very upset about the fact that he shot her. Yeah, he's like, he's like, okay, I'm just gonna pretend that I'm gonna shoot you and then actually fucking shoot her. Yeah, seriously. Idiots. Well, although both Becky and Christopher said originally that they were not guilty of the crimes, with all this evidence, Becky and Christopher's attorneys negotiated a guilty plea on both of their accounts, which I also feel

like is a rarity. Usually they push and they push and they try to prove that they are innocent and then they keep that and they take it to the grave, but they were like, shit, we're caught. Yeah, there's nothing we can do now. So on May 11th, 2012, so three years, over three years after they were arrested, they were sitting in jail for three years, Becky and Christopher were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, avoiding trial and the death penalty for their idiotic and horrific scheme.

Kay Parsons, the innocent suburban wife and mother, was bludgeoned to death in her own home with a claw hammer and a baseball bat. Her neighbor and best friend Becky had masterminded the staged break-ins and the murder, acting as a puppet master, pulling the strings of her son Christopher, who did what she asked. As for the rest of their families, when Becky got sentenced her husband Tony divorced her, of course. Becky's son Michael was innocent all along. Which is so sad, this poor kid, you know, he was looked at as this...

this criminal and this horrible guy just because he didn't have a job and he did drugs sometimes. And the guy who was looked at, like you said earlier, Heath, as this upstanding citizen... Yeah, the golden child. Yeah, was actually the murderer and thanks to Michael and his help this case was solved Well Kay's widowed husband David eventually remarried and remained living in the home on Hot Springs Drive Where the crime took place? Their son Derek later joined the Marine Corps and is now in his late 20s The week after Kay's death her funeral service was held in Uniontown,

Pennsylvania, near where she grew up, creating a permanent resting place where her loved ones can now go to remember the wonderful woman and mother whose life was senselessly cut far too short. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. This is one of those cases where you really don't know what's going to happen until the very end. I mean, it's like at first you thought it might've been Michael, you thought it might've been David, it could've been Tony, it could've been somebody else altogether.

And it was such a twist that it was Christopher, like honestly still shocked that he was the one behind this, but he was manipulated by his mother and now his entire life is over. I can't even believe that. It's just all around heartbreaking and so dumb. And horrifying from Kay's perspective to walk into her house and hears her best friend's son in her house with a hammer coming at her so suddenly. Like that must have been so confusing for her. And this is a kid that she's known for a long time, because, you know, the families would take vacations together.

They knew each other really well. They went on double dates together. I'm sure their kids grew up together. So it's just so sad that this happened. Yeah, because even though they only lived there for four years, that's still four years of living right next to these people. And Christopher had only moved into his own house within that past year. So there was three years of this kid living next door to you and now he's in your house with a hammer attacking you. I also feel for Tony because he had no idea that, you know, his very good friend David was having sex with his wife. Yeah, this whole, I mean, true, true, true betrayal, manipulation, backstabbing, all

of that. So thank you guys so much for tuning in. Make sure you check out our socials if you guys want to see photos from this case and the other cases we cover. And don't forget to check out all of our bonus episodes, all 131 and counting of them, because we cover some crazy cases over there on patreon.com slash going west podcast and apple subscriptions, many of which take place outside of the US. Yes, make sure you go check those out. All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world,

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