Law&Crime Sidebar - Mom Drowned 2-Year-Old, Shot 9-Year-Old Before Turning Herself In: Cops

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

Authorities in two Missouri counties have charged Ashley Parmeley, 36, with murder after she reportedly confessed to killing both her children. Parmeley’s 2-year-old son Isaac was found dea...d in a fountain, while officers found 9-year-old Scarlet dead from a gunshot. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber speaks with Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak about the brutal killings.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will
Starting point is 00:00:35 keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A horrific tragedy that spans two Missouri counties has a mom facing murder charges accused of killing her own young children. She turned herself into investigators this week allegedly confessing to shooting her daughter and drowning her son. We're getting more details from Sheriff Dave Marshack. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber.
Starting point is 00:01:13 I'm going to tell you right now, right off the bat, that this is another tough story to get through. A 36-year-old woman turned herself into the Jefferson County authorities out in Missouri on Tuesday. That's the allegation. and this is after an alleged murder spree. And who did she reportedly kill? Well, Ashley Parmali apparently went to the Festus Police Department and told the officers there that she'd shot her daughter, identified as nine-year-old Scarlett Parmally, and said the little girl was outside in her car. Officers rushed out to try to save her, but it was too late.
Starting point is 00:01:54 According to court documents, she was in the trunk of the SUV. But it doesn't end there. No, because Parmali also told officers that her son, two-year-old Isaac, was also dead at another location. According to the probable cause statement, his body was found in the pool of a fountain at a resort. Authorities believe that this mother drowned her son. Parmali now faces first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges in two different counties because of where each child died. And with respect to Isaac, specifically, the charge was upgraded from second-degree murder to first. To talk more about this, I want to bring in a special guest.
Starting point is 00:02:35 I'm joined right now by the sheriff of Jefferson County, Dave Marshack, to talk more about this. Sheriff, first of all, thank you so much for coming here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for the work that you do, particularly with this kind of case. I know this can't be easy. It is unthinkable to kind of process what we're talking about here. What is your initial impressions of this case? And then we'll get more specifics. Well, obviously, how the case unfolded was disturbing from the onset.
Starting point is 00:03:07 I think for the officers who continue to investigate, they continue to be surprised at some of the evil that they're witnessing. And, of course, our seasoned investigators, they deal with all. a lot of violence, but at the same time, this was particularly disturbing for our people and continues. They're very passionate about this investigation and getting to the bottom of it. Can you talk to us about how she showed up to the station and what she said? Well, when she arrived Tuesday morning, she parked in the parking lot in her vehicle, casually walked in and approached the clerk. you know she was a little disheveled and some of her clothes were wet but other than that
Starting point is 00:03:55 you know according to the video when you look in it just like a normal person walking into a business and what did she say well she approached the clerk first and shared that she had killed her two children the clerk immediately ran back to where a detective and another police supervisor were sitting and told them, you know, that this person just walked into the lobby and claimed this. Now, from law enforcement circles, I don't want to say it's not uncommon, but, you know, because we deal with so many people with mental health issues, it's not extremely out of the ordinary to have somebody come into your law enforcement lobby who has a mental health issue or mental health crisis. So I think there was probably some disbelief and questioning.
Starting point is 00:04:43 first. But the officers, multiple officers, quickly exited, including a detective and ran out there to, you know, to talk to her and interview her to see what was going on. Did she give any indication about why she did this? No. And, you know, it's too early to talk about some of those things. You know, everybody always wants to know the motive. You know, how could this be? Why would this person do these things? And we're careful not to speculate on that. And, of course, we don't want disrupt anything that the prosecutor may want to use later. And so we're cautious about that. I will share with you that during the course of that interview and, you know, with multiple
Starting point is 00:05:25 officers, she did share that the daughter that she had shot was in the vehicle. And so one of the officers ran out to the vehicle to investigate, look in the vehicle and saw the small child that had been shot, immediately unlocked the doors and was able to remove the child, excuse me, into the parking lot, and then start CPR, while the other officer who happened to be a detective started, you know, making inquiries in terms of where the other child was. And that's how, you know, other law enforcement agencies, including ours, received the information to immediately and urgently respond to that location to start investigating. This is not an easy story to cover.
Starting point is 00:06:12 Now, it is absolutely horrifying, but given that, I have to tell you, this is an important story to tell. And one of the reasons that we're able to bring you these stories and produce these shows for you is because we get incredible support from our partners. And I just want to highlight one in particular, one of our sponsors, Morgan and Morgan, we talk about them a lot. This is a firm that you would want in your corner because they are specialists in the personal injury space. Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury law firm. And for a reason, they win a lot. They have secured multi-million dollar verdicts in settlements. In fact, they secured a $120 million verdict in one of the first personal injury trials post-pandemic.
Starting point is 00:06:54 And by the way, in that case, there was a pretrial offer of just $20,000. Yeah, so Morgan and Morgan, they don't settle for low-ball offers. They fight to protect your legal rights and for what you deserve in compensation. But one of the best things about Morgan and Morgan is how easy they make this whole process for their clients. from starting your claim to uploading documents to signing contracts to talk in your whole legal team it can all be done from your smartphone that's it seeing if you have a case only takes a few minutes oh and by the way no upfront fee no you only pay them if you win so if you're injured you could start your claim really easily eight clicks or less you don't even have to leave your couch
Starting point is 00:07:29 just go to for the people dot com slash lc sidebar or by dialing pound law that's pound 529 on your phone. Do you have any idea about when the children were killed or what succession? Was it who was shot? Who was, you know, was it Isaac that was thrown in the fountain first? Was it Scarlett who was shot? Second, do you know how long before that gun shot? Yeah, so you'd walk us through that? Yeah, so part of the investigative process, as you can imagine, with technology today is our investigators continue to comb through an unbelievable amount of data. including everything from ring doorbell cameras, surveillance systems on businesses. You know, one of the standards for law enforcement is some location services and using Google Maps
Starting point is 00:08:19 and try to work backwards on a timeline. From what we have right now, and we do have some evidence that really kind of pinpointed it, a little after 915 in the morning, is when the end. incident happens in St. Francis County, where we believe the nine-year-old daughter was shot, and we also have evidence to suggest that the boy was with him at the time. She arrived at the Festus police station a little over an hour later, but we also have evidence to put her in the area of Festus around 945 in the morning. Do we know why Isaac was in that fountain of that resort?
Starting point is 00:09:10 Was there any connection between this mother and that resort? You know, again, the investigation is ongoing, and I think more pieces will fall into place later. I try not to talk about evidence necessarily, and of course, you know, for the prosecution. But at the same time, there are some knowns because of the probable cause statements and the affidavits that have been completed by law enforcement. you know she is familiar with the area she grew up in the area she might have had some different residences but um i think there's uh i don't know that there's any specific reason she was at that particular resort other than you know there is uh from the incident where the original incident that happened to the fastest police station you know it's about halfway do and and what
Starting point is 00:10:00 about her um do we know about her a criminal record her past her history anything like that? You know, there's no major law enforcement indicators per se. The past has been some minor violations, but nothing significant that would have alerted law enforcement as to a potential problem. Yeah, our understanding is according to a probable cause statement, she pulled off the road near a lake or pond where she allegedly shot her daughter. There was video footage that showed a vehicle near that scene, and witnesses had reported
Starting point is 00:10:33 hearing gunshots from the location. Have you had, again, I know you, there's only so much you can talk about. I guess the question that people might be wondering, and if you could help clarify, at this point, are you confident, if you can tell us, was this an isolated crime and was she working by herself or was there anybody else that might have been a part of this? Is there anybody else that's, does the community have to be concerned at this point? No, absolutely not. Look, Jefferson County is a safe community.
Starting point is 00:11:02 It's a bedroom community to St. Louis. As a matter of fact, in 2023, our homicide rate was the lowest per capita in the entire St. Louis region. And so when you, particularly when you travel south into the end of our county, it tends to be more rural, even though it's considered the suburbs. And so we continue to have a safe community. This is what I would classify as an isolated incident. you know for whatever reason the victims were specifically targeted for lack of better terms and we don't see this as being a danger to the rest of the community in terms of the investigation you know we're working backwards to get an accurate timeline and that timeline will also dictate
Starting point is 00:11:51 and let us know who she was with who she was visiting with the hours and days preceding this So those interviews will be conducted to shed some light in terms of the, you know, the things that we're preceding this event. And obviously there's only, I know you can't reveal what the conversations were, but just to confirm, did she, was she interviewed by law enforcement and was she opened with law enforcement or did she, if you can tell us, you know, decide to request a lawyer and she didn't really say anything. If there's anything you could tell us, has she spoken to law enforcement about what happened here? She's been interviewed by law enforcement. And, you know, prior to Miranda, she made several statements, right, including the one in which she reported that she had killed her two children. So, you know, I don't know, based on the information that I have now, that there'll be any other interviews. I feel like the investigative process will play out from here with external interviews and the data collection of evidence. to put things together. I wanted to ask your perspective on something else, and I'll give everybody a little bit background here.
Starting point is 00:13:04 So Scarlett, let's talk about these kids for a second. So Scarlett was due to start fourth grade in August. Her third grade teacher, Abby Tinnon, posted what is a heartbreaking message about the little girl's death on Facebook, including photos of her with the nine-year-old girl. She wrote, quote, Scarlet was a kind, bubbly, caring, and spunky little girl. She was always the first to join me in classroom karaoke.
Starting point is 00:13:25 We had the best time laughing, singing, dancing around the room. She loved telling and writing stories. She loved playing softball and talking about her little brother. She could carry on a conversation with just about anyone. At the end of the year, the award I chose for her was the Squirrel Award because of her ability to gather people up who needed a friend and make them feel included. And according to Tinnin's Post, Scarlett had recently been baptized and was excited to share the news with her teacher and friends at school. And as for Isaac, Scarlett's half-brother, who again was just two years old, his father wrote on Facebook, My whole heart was ripped out.
Starting point is 00:13:59 Where do I find the pieces to put myself back together when the most precious part of me was taken? The Missouri State Highway Patrol dive team came in to help find the little boy's body. I can't imagine sheriff something like that, law enforcement rallying together to try to find Isaac, but also the community and what effect this has. Yeah, and just for a point of clarification, the two-year-old child was quickly recovered. on scene by a sheriff's deputy who immediately started life-saving measures from that fountain. The you mentioned, we did ask the assistance of the Missouri State Highway Patrol Dive Team to potentially locate any evidence near the shooting where it occurred in St. Francis County. So just to point of clarification there.
Starting point is 00:14:49 In terms of the impact, in terms of the impact to this community, she was known in the community last night. There was a candlelight vigil. She was expected to be playing softball over some community fields, and hundreds of people turned out to mourn and hopefully start the recovery process. You know, I don't have any recommendations on what it takes for a community to recover from something like this. But it is impacted our community, and certainly those families, and what a devastating tragedy that's happened.
Starting point is 00:15:31 Yeah, and separate GoFundMe pages have already raised several thousand dollars to help go towards funeral expenses and anything else the family might need permanently remains locked up in the Jefferson County J.L. without bond. I mentioned before with respect to Isaac, her charge was upgraded from second degree murder to first degree murder. Can you tell us why? Well, you know, in the state of Missouri, the way the statute reads between second and first is, and some of your listeners may coordinate or correlate a murder first degree charge in the state of Missouri to something like capital punishment. But in the state of Missouri, there has to be a time of reflection and cool calculation. And I think from the initial investigation to where we're at now is we now have evidence to suggest that there was this time lapse between, you know, the time where these decisions were made. And so that was enough
Starting point is 00:16:31 for the prosecutor to review and believe that they have the evidence to charge a murder first, which is more serious charge than the murder second. And my understanding, it's, you know, we're talking life in prison without the possibility parole or even the death penalty, right, if she's convicted. In the state of Missouri, we do have the death penalty. I don't know if this will meet the burden for that. And I'll leave that up to the prosecuting attorney. But, you know, look, I can share this with you. You know, in Jefferson County, we're incredibly lucky to have a prosecuting attorney that is
Starting point is 00:17:04 aggressive. And despite what you've heard about the St. Louis community and having a progressive prosecutor in the past, in Jefferson County, we are a law and order county. And our prosecutors are very aggressive because they want this community to be known as a law in order community, and I'm confident that we'll find resolution and success to start the justice process. I appreciate you saying that, Sheriff, particularly in this case. I wanted to leave off just if you can tell us how the family is doing, and I mentioned, you know, Isaac's father made a statement. Have you gotten any insight from the family members about this woman, about this
Starting point is 00:17:43 situation, anything you can share? And we, of course, understand if you can't. But just how's the family doing? And if they're giving you any information. Look, you know, the city of Festus, where this occurred is a small community. It's less than 12,000. So a lot of people know each other. I will share with you, we've got probably 18 different detectives working on this case who have coordinated and spoke with the family at different times based on what their particular investigative assignment is. I have not personally spoken with the family. And so I'm a little cautious about speculating what that looks like.
Starting point is 00:18:21 but I can only imagine the devastation in this impact that is unfortunate. Yeah, let me end with this. I'm just going to say, you know, our hearts and our prayers go out to this family and the friends of these children because it's a heartbreaking, heartbreaking story to cover. But I want to thank you, Sheriff, and I want to thank your team and law enforcement for the work that you do each and every day, but particularly, as I said, with these kinds of cases, how difficult they are. and having to continue to investigate this and find out details what happened. Thank you for what you do.
Starting point is 00:18:56 Thank you for coming on here on Sidebar. We really appreciate giving us a little bit more context and perspective and details about what's happening here. But Sheriff Dave Morrshack, thank you. Thank you for having me, and I will leave you with this. You know, this incident has brought light to the fact that our first responders continue to do amazing work every single day. And that goes from the dispatchers to the. the officers that provided CPR and tried life-saving measures to the medical examiner,
Starting point is 00:19:27 these are difficult situations, and I would just ask for your listeners to take a moment to reflect on the job that they're doing and the difficult jobs they do every single day. And I would just ask that, and I appreciate you having me on. Thank you for that, Sheriff. We appreciate it too, and we will make sure to keep them in our thoughts as well. Sheriff Dave Marshach. Thanks. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:19:51 All right, everybody, that is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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