00:00:15
Life still goes at a small pace here in in Lof Fett, Walker [music] County. You can be to work in just a few
00:00:23
minutes, be home in a few minutes. [music] We're located uh right in the heart of the Bible belt. And in the end,
00:00:30
David said, "I have sinned." [cheering] >> Being able to go on Friday night, you
00:00:42
know, to watch your children play football or watch your daughter cheerlead as I did. That's what small
00:00:47
towns are all about. >> She was the middle sister and I was the youngest. Teresa loved everybody. She
00:00:59
loved family. That was the most important thing to her. You think of the best sister you could have, and she was
00:01:06
definitely. [music] >> She's one of our own. >> Is he her? >> She's 911 dispatcher.
00:01:13
She's that person on the other end of the radio. When you're in need, she's there.
00:01:23
When I hugged her that night, I just got this feeling of I was never going to see
00:01:28
her again. >> Hey, this is Teresa. >> Saturday, I just kept trying to call her. >> Hey, it's just me. I was just checking
00:01:38
on you. >> I called her just over and over and over. >> Call me. I was kind of worried about
00:01:44
you. >> I was so panicked. She is nowhere to be found. And you don't want to think the worse,
00:01:55
but I mean, you do. >> This case is about a 911 dispatcher and a city police officer. A married couple
00:02:05
and one had turned up missing. >> It's like a [music] horrible dream I can't wake up from. I miss her a lot.
00:02:15
People [music] came out in hundreds to to search for her. We covered about 175 square miles
00:02:25
[music] of land mass. So, the community as a whole was very concerned about Teresa Parker missing.
00:02:34
>> I am hopeful they'll find her. I hope they find her in good health. Every morning when I open my eyes, I
00:02:45
think about her. You know, at night when I lay my head down to go to sleep, I think about her. You know, Teresa, where
00:02:53
could you be? I don't believe that she would have just vanished off the face of the earth.
00:03:01
>> We knew that this was not the typical missing person case in Walker [music] County. This was going to be bigger than
00:03:07
Walker County when it was all said and done. The secret. Tonight's 48 hours mystery.
00:03:49
>> [music] >> It was the first day of spring, March 21st, 2007. A time of new beginnings for
00:03:57
Teresa Parker, according to her sister, Christina Hall. [music] >> She was at my house Wednesday night for
00:04:03
about an hour and we talked and she wanted me to go to her new place. >> The 911 dispatcher and [music] her
00:04:11
police officer husband Sam Parker after 13 years of marriage were divorcing. >> The marriage was playing itself out, but
00:04:19
it wasn't in a in a bad way. Teresa was getting ready to move into her own apartment near her sister and
00:04:26
nephews. >> She was just so excited to be closer and be able to help us out with them and
00:04:32
spend more time with them. [music] >> But when the sisters said their goodbyes that Wednesday night, Christina [music]
00:04:38
says something was different. >> When I hugged her that night, I just got this the emptiest feeling and it was
00:04:45
really strange. The sisters didn't talk at all the next [music] day, Thursday, and Christina figured Teresa was just
00:04:52
busy cleaning her new place. But by Friday morning, March 23rd, that empty feeling in her gut was back.
00:05:01
>> I just woke up and felt like I had this black cloud over me. And I'm not usually
00:05:07
like that. And I thought, I'm going to talk to Teresa. She always made me feel better.
00:05:14
Teresa didn't answer her phone. Christina went to work still hoping she'd hear from her sister at any
00:05:20
[music] moment. >> But every time the phone would ring, I'd check the ID to see if it was her.
00:05:24
>> Could it be Teresa? >> Yeah. I thought, well, she'll be calling anytime since I'd left her a message cuz
00:05:28
it was odd that she didn't call me right back. >> Walker 911. >> Meanwhile, Teresa's friend and coworker
00:05:34
Rhonda Knox was also getting worried after a strange early morning call on Thursday, March 22nd. And at 6:00 in the
00:05:42
morning, my phone rings and it's from Teresa and I answer it and [music] there's just a few seconds there and
00:05:49
then hang up. >> Rhonda knew it was odd for Teresa to call and hang up. >> I thought this isn't Teresa, you know.
00:05:58
So, I called it back. It rang and then went to voicemail and then I started calling the house. I started getting
00:06:03
worried. To ease her mind, she called police officer and friend Shane Green and asked
00:06:09
him as a favor to check out the home Teresa still shared with her soon to [music] be ex police officer Sam Parker.
00:06:17
>> So when Shane went to the house, did he call you? What did he say? >> He was saying, "Okay, we've beat on the
00:06:23
door." And I told him, I said, "Look in the garage. She parks in the garage every
00:06:29
time." And he shined in there. And he told me, he said, "Her car is not here. It's around 6:30 a.m. Teresa's Toyota
00:06:38
4Erunner was nowhere to be found, but her husband Sam Parker's patrol car was in the garage and his pickup [music]
00:06:45
truck was parked outside the house in plain sight. Strangely, Thursday afternoon, Teresa's
00:06:53
SUV was back at the house, but still no one had seen her, and she wasn't answering her cell phone. Teresa, I'm
00:07:00
really worried about you. I'm going to call the house. I love you. Bye. >> Teresa, this is Roger. She'll give me a
00:07:05
call. >> Call me whenever you do. C. Please call me if you get this. Please. I love you.
00:07:11
Bye. >> Everyone was calling her, including husband Sam Parker. >> This is Sam. It's Friday night about
00:07:20
3:00. Just worrying about you where you are. More than 24 hours had come and gone
00:07:28
with no word from Teresa. Her sister Christina was frantic. >> There were just no ifs, ands, or buts
00:07:35
about it. I knew something so horrible and I was just I was scared to death. >> Then on that Friday evening, March 23rd,
00:07:43
Christina got a call from her brother-in-law, Sam Parker. He was on patrol working the night shift. I could
00:07:50
immediately tell with him something wasn't right cuz he was talking really fast and he kept clearing his throat and
00:07:57
that was just out of character and I was like, "Well, we need to do something. We
00:08:01
need to file a missing person's report. You know, this is not Teresa." [music] Christina says Parker told her he'd gone
00:08:08
fishing with a buddy that Thursday morning and that when he left the house, Teresa's SUV was in the garage.
00:08:15
But if Christina was [music] panicked, Sam Parker seemed anything but. >> He said, "Well, I'm at work right now,
00:08:22
but um now when I get off work in the morning, uh I'll see what I can do." >> And who ended up filing the missing
00:08:28
person? >> My mom did. The next morning, Saturday morning, March 24th, 2007, [music]
00:08:37
day three, Teresa's family calls the police. >> Sheriff Wilson. >> Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson. Our
00:08:44
detective was assigned uh the missing person case. He he told me he said, "Sheriff uh said something's just not
00:08:51
right here." >> Wilson knew this case was just too personal for him to investigate.
00:08:57
He not only knew Teresa from 911, he'd gone to the police [music] academy with Sam Parker. So, he called in the GBI,
00:09:06
the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He uh called [music] me about 5:00 on a Saturday and stated he had a missing 911
00:09:14
dispatcher who was married to a Lefaya police officer [music] and he asked for GBI assistance.
00:09:21
>> Special Agent James Harris headed straight for Teresa's new apartment, looking for any clues.
00:09:27
>> We found a few odds and ends, some clothes, some shoes, her 911 uniform. Uh we found where uh Lowe's had stopped in
00:09:36
to deliver a washer and dryer that she had previously purchased [music] and she wasn't there. So they left one of the uh
00:09:42
flyers on the doororknob. >> We all need to pray for her safe return and pray that our greatest fears do not
00:09:51
become reality and no harm has come to her yet. >> With no sign of Teresa, neighbors and
00:09:58
friends join together. Agent James Harris was eager to talk with Sam Parker. And on Sunday, March
00:10:08
25th, 4 days after Teresa went missing, Sam Parker, the police officer, wasn't the one asking the questions. What did
00:10:17
Sam tell you in that interview? >> I knew that we had to lock him in on a timeline. One of the things that jumped
00:10:23
out at me immediately was that he said he was in his truck the whole night. >> But three people had already told agent
00:10:31
Harris a different story. They saw Parker's truck parked at Sam and Teresa's house [music] early that
00:10:38
Thursday morning. And Sam is telling you he was driving around on his truck. >> That's correct. So then that's when red
00:10:46
flags started going up and Sam became a suspect in my eyes. I couldn't understand why he'd lie about
00:10:56
something that small. At least I thought was that small at the time. >> I've not got anything to hide. I've not
00:11:02
got anything to lie about. >> Sam Parker believed Teresa had gone off on her own because they were divorcing.
00:11:10
So he couldn't understand why investigators were looking at him. >> It must have been strange as
00:11:17
>> very strange >> as a police officer to >> to be in uniform. Yeah. And be in [music] being looked at. Yeah.
00:11:24
>> Law enforcement was facing a real mystery. What happened? [music] And why couldn't anyone find the police
00:11:30
officer's wife? We were brothers. We were the Norman Rockwell vision of brothers [music]
00:11:50
growing up next to a river. We grew up uh very close. Very close. >> Kenneth Parker looked up to his big
00:11:58
brother Sam and followed in his footsteps. >> He went in the Marine Corps. [music] I
00:12:03
went in the Marine Corps. He went in the police department, law enforcement. I went into law enforcement.
00:12:11
>> How much of Sam's life was being a cop? >> For him is everything. He was a cop 24
00:12:18
hours a day. >> And he says his proud police officer brother was quickly smitten with a young
00:12:24
911 operator. He started talking about this new dispatcher who's very attractive and started talking about,
00:12:31
you know, he [music] would like to try to take her out. One thing led to another and he started dating her and it
00:12:36
took off from there. >> Do you remember on the job first impressions of her? >> She was thin.
00:12:42
>> She was [laughter] thin. >> Yeah. >> Was she super skinny >> for around here? Yeah. [laughter]
00:12:51
You'd instantly fall in love with her just about when you get to talk to her because she was that way. She just made
00:12:57
you feel comfortable. [music] >> Her nickname was Mother Teresa. And according to younger sister Christina,
00:13:03
she [music] was the glue that held their family together. >> You know, she was the type of [music]
00:13:08
person if you needed her, you called her. She was there. >> Teresa's [music] first marriage had
00:13:14
ended in divorce, and Sam Parker already had two ex-wives. couple little love birds.
00:13:21
>> Despite their past failed relationships, Sam and Teresa seemed like a good match.
00:13:27
>> When I first met him, I liked him. He had a good, funny sense of humor and seemed to be a gentleman to her.
00:13:34
>> Did you think, "Oh, maybe this is the one for her." >> I thought he probably is. You know, he's
00:13:41
going to be the one cuz she was just crazy about him. Teresa and Sam Parker married on
00:13:47
September 11th, 1993. They seemed happy at [music] first, but then after a few years, their relationship turned rocky.
00:13:55
>> They were fighting one moment, in love with each other the next. It was a seessaw, [music] and evidently they
00:14:01
liked it that way. >> But it seems Teresa finally had enough [music] and decided to pull the plug
00:14:07
after 13 years of marriage. >> She's a missing person and I don't know where she is.
00:14:16
Part of the problem investigators have in searching for Terresa Parker is the terrain. Just look at this. This is the
00:14:22
woods right across from the Parker home. And this goes on for miles and miles in
00:14:26
every direction. This is mountain country. It's thick with trees. There's brush all over the ground. It's the
00:14:32
perfect place to hide something. And chances are no one will ever find it. >> There's hundreds and hundreds of old
00:14:40
whales in this area. And Mr. Parker grew up here. >> FBI [music] special agent Mark Vzy.
00:14:48
>> His childhood was spent hunting in [music] these woods. His adulthood is spent fishing in the ponds all around
00:14:54
this area. He knows this like the back of his hand. >> And investigators discovered that Sam
00:15:02
told people, perhaps jokingly, he could use that knowledge to do some pretty awful things. He told everybody in
00:15:09
Walker County, but a couple, that he knew how to get rid of a body no one would ever find it. He'd talk about
00:15:15
putting them in ponds and the turtles would eat them. >> Law enforcement and volunteers searched
00:15:21
fingertip to fingertip through the woods. They drained and searched ponds and combed through the local landfill.
00:15:31
Authorities even searched Parker's home five times. [music] They confiscated a collection of old guns and rifles, but
00:15:39
investigators didn't believe they were connected to Teresa's disappearance. I told him, I said, "Y'all went You
00:15:47
didn't even search your closet. You didn't look through her personal stuff. You went in and you looked for
00:15:55
things and took things of mine and only looked at me." You brought dogs out here?
00:16:05
>> Yes. We provided them a scent that we collected of Mr. Parker's clothes and also off of his patrol car. And they ran
00:16:13
as they alerted to his scent all up this hill and all back down this way in indicating to us that he had been here.
00:16:24
>> They're drawing conclusions that, you know, she may have been harmed and she may possibly be dead.
00:16:31
Uh me personally, I'm not going to let that enter my mind until I have to. If in fact it did, [music] if something has
00:16:40
happened, >> there were other people we looked at, but we went where the evidence led us
00:16:46
and it kept funneling us to Sam Parker. >> Mr. Parker is, in my [music] opinion,
00:16:53
very cold and calculating, very meticulous in his actions. He was [music] very meticulous in the way he was a
00:17:01
police officer. His uniform was always perfect. His car was always perfect. >> But investigators were finding Sam
00:17:10
Parker's story was [music] less than perfect. >> Mr. Parker advised us that the last time
00:17:15
that he saw or talked to Teresa was approximately 7:30 on Wednesday, March 21st, when she was loading up her
00:17:23
vehicle and and taking things to her new apartment. But according to the phone records, Sam
00:17:28
Parker had called Teresa several times in the early morning hours. On that Thursday, she disappeared.
00:17:35
>> And in fact, there were two telephone calls. Uh we believe that Mr. Parker was
00:17:39
trying to get in touch with her. Um he denied making any additional uh telephone conversations.
00:17:45
>> Now, that's bizarre behavior for a seasoned police officer who would know you'd pull the phone records. I don't
00:17:51
know if he forgot about them or if he was trying to cover that fact up. I'm not sure.
00:17:57
>> Then the crime scene specialist examined Teresa's Toyota 4Erunner. >> He turned around to me and said, "Uh,
00:18:04
we've got blood back here." But I knew it was on then. >> And there was more. >> The back of the 4Erunner had been
00:18:12
obviously vacuumed. You could see the vacuum marks. >> So, what'd that say to you?
00:18:16
>> Well, someone cleaned it. >> I knew we were looking the right way. >> Looking the right way meaning what?
00:18:20
meaning Sam Parker. >> You know, they were ready to lynch me in this town. And that that's just beyond me.
00:18:31
>> The crime lab tests confirmed [music] Teresa's blood and Parker's DNA were in
00:18:36
the back of her SUV. Investigators [music] now had what they needed to make an arrest.
00:18:43
>> We placed him in handcuffs [snorts] and uh the only thing he said was he asked
00:18:48
me if I'd turn his coffee pot off for him. So, I did. >> Nearly one year after 911 dispatcher
00:18:55
Teresa [music] Parker disappeared, her police officer husband Sam Parker was charged with his
00:19:01
wife's murder. >> Did you kill Teresa Parker? >> No, I did not. >> What do you think happened to her?
00:19:09
>> I do not know. >> Nobody knows that she was killed. [music] There's no physical. There's no
00:19:13
forensic evidence. There's nothing to show that she was killed. Defense attorney David Dunn has a whole other
00:19:20
theory to explain Terresa Parker's disappearance. Did Teresa have a boyfriend? >> I believe she did.
00:19:44
The week before [music] 41-year-old Teresa Parker disappeared, she took a trip to the Smoky Mountains.
00:19:51
>> She called me her first morning there and was like, "I'm having coffee outside. It's just beautiful."
00:19:59
>> 3 days in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was supposed to be a quick getaway before
00:20:04
her move and the divorce. Teresa made a reservation at her favorite cabin, the Honeybee Hideaway.
00:20:12
You know, she told me, she said, "I want to be by myself and think about things,
00:20:16
clear my mind." She'd been so stressed >> and she was alone. >> And she was alone. Yes.
00:20:24
>> 51-year-old Sam Parker knew his wife was going to Gatlinburg. He had even given
00:20:29
her money for shopping. >> [music] >> But there was something about her trip that troubled him. So he decided to do a
00:20:35
little investigating on his own. [music] >> He was, you know, a husband just like
00:20:39
any other husband, trying to find out who went off for a couple of days with his wife.
00:20:46
>> Parker called the lodge and convinced the clerk to send him Teresa's registration. Defense attorney David
00:20:53
Dunn. >> She registered for a room using the [music] name Barker. Whether someone
00:21:00
actually went [music] with her or visited her there while she was there, we don't know that.
00:21:07
>> Prosecutor Lee Patterson. [clears throat] >> He was very angry about the Gatlinburgg
00:21:12
trip because he was convinced that she had cheated on him. >> Parker's suspicions about Teresa and
00:21:17
another man grew when he found something else puzzling on her room reservation. >> She listed two adults. We know from the
00:21:26
statement that Shane Green made that he was at least invited to accompany her. We know that much.
00:21:34
>> Remember Shane Green was the police officer who discovered Teresa's SUV missing the morning the prosecution
00:21:40
believes she was murdered. >> You don't think that this could have just been a work relationship?
00:21:45
>> No, I don't. Not between those two. >> The defense says that there were two people staying at that lodge that Teresa
00:21:51
had somebody with her. >> No. >> No, there were not. Our information is there was nobody there to see her. And
00:21:57
if the defense wants to say that Shane Green was there with her, the phone cell phone towers show that his cell phone
00:22:03
activity was not in Gatlinburg. >> Green says he was not in Gatlinburgg and was never romantically involved with
00:22:11
Teresa. >> So all of this jealousy that Sam seems to have is unfounded. >> In my opinion, yes. He was a very
00:22:20
controlling, manipulative person. And I think that Teresa was tired of being controlled and manipulated.
00:22:27
>> According to prosecutors, Teresa Parker [music] did have one big secret. The 911
00:22:33
dispatcher who had helped so many people in crisis was dealing with a very personal crisis of her own. An angry
00:22:40
[music] and abusive husband. >> I think she hid it very well. I think she hid it from everybody.
00:22:48
>> Did Sam have a drinking problem? >> No, he could drink real well. Yes, he could. He could drink. Yes, he
00:22:54
he he drank way too much. >> What was he like when he drank? >> Funny. >> Funny.
00:22:59
>> Happy drunk. [music] >> Teresa's sister, Christina, says there was nothing funny about her
00:23:05
brother-in-law when he had too much alcohol. >> He became a violent, mean drunk.
00:23:13
He would keep a water bottle in the refrigerator during family dinners [music] or whatever, and he would sneak
00:23:18
over there and drink out of this bottle, and it was straight vodka. like I had seen him in action, you know, so scary.
00:23:26
>> There have been allegations that you've had some issues with uh drinking, >> you know, something that got blown up
00:23:32
way out of proportion. >> So, you did drink, but it didn't affect your job. Is that fair to say?
00:23:38
>> That's very fair to say. Yes. >> Christina says Sam Parker's behavior could change from nice to nasty in an
00:23:46
instant. They had went out to eat for dinner one night and of course he started out
00:23:53
drinking. >> Christina says when her sister left the restaurant, Parker followed [music] her.
00:23:59
>> They got into the car and he started threatening her, took his gun out, was shooting his gun
00:24:07
up in the air in the parking lot. Teresa called 911, but when the police arrived, they didn't arrest Parker.
00:24:17
Instead, they took him to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. After an incident like that, why didn't
00:24:25
Teresa walk away? >> You know, uh, she just didn't want to give up. And, you know, and she she
00:24:33
loved him. She was in love with him. >> It's a story Kila Beard says she knows all too well because she lived it. She
00:24:42
was Parker's second wife and was married to him for four years. One time he was drinking a glass of water and he threw
00:24:50
the glass on the floor and it [music] broke and he actually took me by the hair and drug me through the living room into
00:25:00
the bedroom and he drugged my feet. I was barefooted. He drug my feet through that
00:25:05
broken glass and they were bleeding and pulled out his handcuffs all up off of his belt and handcuffed me to the bed
00:25:11
post. He eventually let her go [music] because he had to go back to work. But Kela says when Parker abused her again a
00:25:19
few months later, he gave her a [music] warning. >> He told me uh before he left that I
00:25:23
better not tell anybody or call anybody because if I did, he would he would kill
00:25:29
me. He said, "You can believe me that I know how to do it without getting caught
00:25:34
and they won't ever find your body." >> He said that to you. >> He said that to me. Still, neither Kila
00:25:40
nor Teresa ever filed a police report about Parker's alleged abuse. His brother Kenneth doubts it was ever that
00:25:48
bad. >> Did Sam ever hit her? >> Not that I know of. >> Do you think he was physically abusive
00:25:55
to Teresa in any way? >> No. No, not physically. Mentally, both ways. Because they like to play mind
00:26:01
games, honestly. Believe. And he had always said that she knew exactly what button to push if she wanted to fight.
00:26:09
Kenneth says his big brother is simply misunderstood and not a murderer. In fact, he's convinced his sister-in-law,
00:26:16
Teresa, is still alive. Where'd she go? >> I have my own theory. I believe that she's either in Mexico or California.
00:26:26
>> I think I know where she is. I mean, I really do. Uh >> Sam Parker revealed his theory to
00:26:32
special agent James Harris. His exact words to me were, "She's in Mexico with a guy named Elvis."
00:26:40
>> Elvis. >> Yes. >> It turns out Teresa had vacationed in Mexico with her nieces, and on that
00:26:48
trip, they met a resort entertainer named Elvis. Investigators followed up on Parker's hunch and traveled to sunny
00:26:56
Cancun. >> Is it possible that you missed Elvis and Teresa in Mexico? >> No. >> You're trying not to laugh. I've tried
00:27:03
very hard not to laugh. >> If she's somewhere and she wants to be there and she's happy, then fine. You know, I
00:27:13
don't care. >> Is [music] it possible that she could still be walking around alive? That she
00:27:21
just wanted to get away? >> No. [music] It just doesn't make sense and it's not a reasonable theory. Sam
00:27:26
Parker murdered her and disposed of her body. [music] And obviously it doesn't bother him that her family still cries
00:27:33
for her [music] every day. >> Everyone is obsessed with it. They blog about it. They all have their own
00:27:48
theories. At Suz's Sunset Cafe, the breakfast crowd is buzzing about the Sam Parker
00:27:55
trial, and everyone has an opinion. >> I don't know where she's at, but she's not dead.
00:28:00
>> You don't think she's dead? >> I don't think she's dead. >> So, you think she's still alive?
00:28:03
>> I do. >> With no body, no crime scene, and no murder weapon, prosecutor Lee Patterson
00:28:10
has an uphill battle. >> You wish that [music] you had everything, but that's not how a case
00:28:15
works. And we felt like even though we didn't have a lot of forensics that we had a lot of other stuff that was really
00:28:23
good. >> Defense attorney David Dunn. >> How unique is this in that there's no body.
00:28:29
>> It's very rare in the history of the state of Georgia. There's been about four of those over 200 years.
00:28:36
>> The prosecution admits they don't know exactly how Teresa died, but they're convinced the circumstantial [music]
00:28:42
evidence against Parker proves he's a murderer. He had threatened people in the past and said, "If you don't do such
00:28:49
and such, or if you keep bothering me, I will uh kill you and bury you where nobody will ever find you."
00:28:56
>> What we're going to see at trial is we're going to see a trial by character assassination.
00:29:01
>> Teresa's niece, Ashton Gilbert. >> Anytime she would turn her back, he would flip her off and cuss her behind
00:29:07
her back. >> Parker's second wife, Kila Beard. He told me he would kill me and that he
00:29:13
knew how to do it without getting caught when they never would ever find my body.
00:29:19
>> The prosecution lays out its theory. Teresa left her new apartment shortly [music] after midnight, driving to the
00:29:26
home she shared with Parker. She didn't think he'd be there, but he was waiting for her. Sometime between 12:30 and 1:30
00:29:35
a.m. on March 22nd, 2007, he killed her. After he [music] killed her, he put her
00:29:42
body in the back of the SUV and then he went to Christy Bellflower's house. >> Incredibly, prosecutors say Sam Parker
00:29:50
was heading out on a date. >> Can you state your name for the record, please? Ma'am,
00:29:55
>> Christy Bellflower. >> And Miss Bellflower. When the defendant got there, did he have anything with him
00:30:01
to drink? >> Yes. >> What did he have with him? >> Vodka. >> All right. Well, tell me, what kind of
00:30:07
container did he have it in? a water bottle. >> Okay. So, an hour to kill her and then
00:30:14
you say he left her body in her SUV. >> That's right. >> At their home and went on a date. He had
00:30:20
to have an alibi and Christy Bellflower had expected him to come over there. How's he going to explain? Well, I had a
00:30:26
date, but I broke it. >> After the date with Christy Bellflower early Thursday morning, prosecutors
00:30:34
believe Parker drove home. Then sometime between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m., he drove off
00:30:41
in Teresa's SUV with her dead body inside and dumped her. >> That's our theory of the case because
00:30:50
that fits with the timeline. He goes back because he has to dispose of her body. He can't leave her lying in the
00:30:55
carport. Defense attorneys Doug Woodruff and David Dunn said that scenario is ludicrous.
00:31:02
>> Murder is a messy business. It's virtually impossible to do this kind of thing and leave no traces, no
00:31:09
indications, no evidence. >> What do you make of the blood that was found on the rear bumper of Teresa's
00:31:16
car? >> They had no idea how old the DNA was. They simply could not say whether it was
00:31:21
a paper cut or an accidental injury or anything else. >> But then prosecutors would call their
00:31:30
most controversial witness. Would you please raise your right hand? >> Police officer Ben Chaffen.
00:31:36
>> Were you and Sam friends? >> Yes, ma'am. I considered him my big brother. >> Had you ever seen Sam and Teresa have a
00:31:43
fight? >> Yes, ma'am. I have. >> Chaffen would tell the jury the most explosive evidence of the trial. A phone
00:31:50
call from Sam Parker the night Teresa disappeared. >> He said, uh, he'd really done it this
00:31:56
time or he's really going to do it this time. >> What else did he say? He said that he had a place that was
00:32:03
going to be hard to find or they never would find it. >> What else? >> And that u he had shot Teresa through
00:32:10
the head. >> Chaffen told the jury after that confession, he hung up the phone, but a
00:32:17
few minutes later, Parker called him back. >> He said, "If I told anybody, you'd have
00:32:22
to kill me, too." >> Devastating testimony. Maybe not. It turns out Ben Chaffen had given
00:32:30
investigators five different stories and he'd been arrested for helping Parker hack into Teresa's computer. The
00:32:38
prosecution gave him immunity [music] in exchange for testifying. >> In your very first conversation with the
00:32:45
GBI about Terresa Parker being missing, you didn't tell them about this so-called murder confession you heard
00:32:54
simply because it you forgot about it. >> I forgot about it. If somebody calls you and says, "I
00:33:01
killed my wife." That's something you remember. How could you forget that? >> That was my initial reaction when I
00:33:06
first started reading his statements. But when we talked to him, it became very clear to us that he was very, very
00:33:12
close to Sam Parker. The person that he looked at as a father, as a brother, had
00:33:17
done something so terrible [music] he couldn't wrap his mind around it. >> Step back.
00:33:22
>> Is Ben Chaffin a a good witness? A believable witness? Oh, he's probably the most unbelievable witness I've seen
00:33:28
in 26 years of practicing law. >> Can you give me a sense of what's been going through your head?
00:33:37
>> You know, just the people that's been in my life for 25, 30 years, you know, they recall
00:33:44
things one way and I recall them a little bit differently. >> Have you been looking at the jury at
00:33:49
all, wondering? >> I'm not wondering. I'm going to accept what they say and that's that's what I'm
00:33:55
going to do. >> And Sam Parker may have the jury [music] on his side. >> How many of you thought Ben Chaffen was
00:34:02
believable? >> He wasn't. >> Nobody thought he was. >> None of us, even the slight [music] bit,
00:34:09
thought he was credible at all. We all felt like he was lying. >> Not only did they dismiss Chaffen's
00:34:15
testimony, they had problems with other evidence, too. >> How strong was that blood evidence? To
00:34:21
me, the blood was another circumstantial thing. It wasn't hard evidence for me. >> Most of the evidence was all
00:34:27
circumstantial. It was more so for us. We were putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
00:34:32
>> The jury would have to piece it all together, but it was beginning to look like the prosecution's [music] murder
00:34:38
case against Sam Parker wasn't adding up. >> [music] >> How Teresa may have died has always been
00:34:53
a mystery, but the prosecution believes these photos showing bruises on Parker's
00:34:59
right arm, are a significant [music] clue to what happened. FBI special agent Mark Vzy.
00:35:06
>> What we felt was that Mr. Parker, who is known to have used choke holds in the
00:35:11
past, had used this maneuver on Teresa and that she had fought back by putting her hands up and that's what left the
00:35:19
bruises on the inside of his arm. >> I think she fought for her life at the end and [music] those bruises are
00:35:25
evidence of that. But you would argue they didn't come from a struggle with Teresa.
00:35:29
>> Oh, no. They're inconsistent with that. Certainly, I didn't see them as a significant factor.
00:35:37
Your honor, at this time I'd like to ask the defendant >> Prosecutor Lee Patterson gives the
00:35:41
courtroom a dramatic demonstration. I was going to [clears throat] take my heels off so I won't power over you.
00:35:46
>> The rear naked chokeold. The move she believes Parker used to kill his wife Teresa.
00:35:53
>> What did you think when the prosecutor brought up the chokeold and actually asked to be put in a chokeold?
00:35:59
>> I think it was absolute fabrication. There was no evidence to base that upon.
00:36:06
>> There's one more piece of explosive evidence the jury would see before they deliberate. This poster with a crude
00:36:14
title discovered in Parker's police locker. [snorts] >> Should have thrown it in the garbage.
00:36:20
Probably should have done that, but instead just threw it in the locker and that's where it sat until it was pulled
00:36:26
out. So, we shouldn't read into it that he had some >> issue with women. >> No, it means nothing.
00:36:34
>> But it meant [music] something to prosecutor Lee Patterson. >> This is the guy who thought this was
00:36:40
funny. Ladies and gentlemen, Teresa Parker almost made it out. She almost made it
00:36:46
to her new life. Find him accountable. Find him guilty. Thank you. Prove your innoc.
00:36:54
>> Defense attorney David Dunn pleads with the jury to be mindful of reasonable doubt.
00:36:59
>> Listen to the charge, especially the charge on circumstantial evidence. Follow the law. Find Sam Parker not
00:37:08
guilty. >> It was like, >> these jurors say the task of deciding Sam Parker's fate was particularly
00:37:15
daunting because [music] they had an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence, but not much else. In the
00:37:22
beginning, it was very split. Two and >> 10. >> Two and 10. >> Two and 10. Two were guilty. And the 10
00:37:29
were undecided. >> Undecided. Wow. How tense did it get as you all wrestled with this?
00:37:35
>> Very tense. >> It got quite heated at times. >> How many of you watched Sam during the
00:37:42
trial? >> We all did. >> I mean, I tried to get eye contact with him as much as I possibly could.
00:37:47
>> Why? I just needed to just because of the feeling of this could be my uncle, this could be my brother, you know, I
00:37:55
had to do that. >> After 3 days of deliberation, the juror seemed hopelessly deadlocked.
00:38:05
>> But on count one, which is murder, still no verdict. >> There wasn't that smoking gun. We did
00:38:12
have to make a decision on someone else's life. I was very worried about sending an innocent man to jail or
00:38:19
releasing a guilty man to do the same thing again. >> The judge urged the jury to give it one
00:38:27
more try. And this time they would take an even closer look at the cell phone evidence.
00:38:34
>> It threw up that red flag of, "Hey, here I am." And looking at the cell phone
00:38:39
records, he was not where he was telling us he was. On September 3rd, 2009, 2 and a half
00:38:52
years after Terresa Parker disappeared, her family would finally have a verdict.
00:38:57
>> Madam Fore, I understand y'all arrived at verdicts. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. Your honor,
00:39:02
>> in the Superior Court of Walker County, state of Georgia, state of Georgia versus Samuel L. Parker, we the jury
00:39:09
after due deliberation find the defendant count one guilty. >> Guilty of firstdegree murder. Parker
00:39:17
shows no emotion. >> The judge hands down the ex- cop's sentence on the spot. >> Life in prison.
00:39:29
>> Teresa's [music] family leaves the courthouse in tears. >> Can you just tell us how you're feeling?
00:39:35
He got just exactly what he deserved. >> It's a victory for the prosecution team.
00:39:39
>> Can you give us a comment on how you're feeling? >> Lighter. I got to talk to the thing.
00:39:44
>> And a defeat for the defense. >> I can't comment. Sorry, guys. This fight has not ended. It's barely just begun.
00:39:54
>> Does Sam still have a little bit of power? Sure. He's still He's still got some control because he hasn't told us
00:40:01
where she is. is still about manipulation and control. Still >> in your gut, do you think that you'll
00:40:08
ever find Teresa? >> I hope so. We're gonna keep trying. >> Sam Parker, the former police officer,
00:40:15
is now a convicted murderer and still willing [music] to talk to us. >> I never caused her any any, you know,
00:40:24
bad times or, you know, I never never once ever hurt her. >> You never hurt her?
00:40:28
>> No, never. >> Did you kill Terresa Parker? No, >> her family thinks that you did and
00:40:35
thinks that you could ease their agony by saying where she is. Can you help them at all?
00:40:43
>> No, I can't. Christina hangs on to memories of her older sister, grateful for the guilty
00:40:52
verdict, but painfully aware that the man destined to spend the rest of his life in prison may be the only one who
00:41:00
holds the key to finding Teresa. >> Christina, do you think you're ever going to find her?
00:41:07
>> Oh, I don't know. You want to find her? Bring her home. Lay her to rest. That's what she deserves. You know,
00:41:17
she's not a [snorts] piece of trash. And that's how I feel like he has treated her. Wherever she is out there, she just
00:41:26
doesn't deserve to be there. >> [music] [music] [music] [music]