Search warrants obtained by WSOC Wednesday morning detail the life of horror and torture suffered by Erica Parsons before her disappearance and death.
The search warrants were dated Sept. 27 -- just two days before investigators finally found Erica's body in a shallow grave in Chesterfield County.
The warrant came from a confession by Sandy Parsons, Erica's adoptive father. In August, Sandy told authorities that Erica was dead, according to the warrant.
She was 13 years old when she died.
He also described to investigators how he would beat the girl with a belt buckle, bending her fingers back, locking her in a closet and choking her.
In the warrants, a UNC School of Medicine doctor characterized Erica’s treatment as child torture.
It is the kind of abuse others in Erica’s family had been talking about for several years.
>>Read: Body of Erica Parsons discovered five years after she disappeared
“No, I'm not surprised. I'm actually surprised that it took this long,” said Jamie Parsons, Erica’s adoptive brother in a telephone interview with Eyewitness News.
Jamie Parsons said it was his mother, Casey Parsons, who ran the house and was behind most of the abuse that everyone else was afraid to confront.
“They beat her with a belt buckle, that's why Erica was bald on the top of her head, is because momma would always, or Casey, excuse me, Casey, would always beat her on the top of her head with the belt buckle,” he said.
Asked if Casey Parsons would ever admit to the abuse and to Erica’s murder, Jamie answered quickly, “No. The day that she's charged is the day that Casey will realize, 'I've been caught. It's time to confess’” he said.
Sandy Parsons also told detectives when Erica was buried -- Dec. 19, 2011 -- which is significant because detectives have said that although the girl had not been seen since late in 2011, she was not reported missing until two years later.
The warrant also went into detail how Rowan County detectives were able to find the remains of Erica in South Carolina.
The warrant states that in August, Sandy Parsons told a Rowan County investigator that Erica was dead and said that the girl’s body was discarded off Taylor Chapel Road in Pageland, South Carolina, near the home of Sandy Parsons' mother.
Investigators were able to get a release for Sandy Parsons to get out of Butner Prison so that he could lead them to the location of Erica’s “clandestine grave."
The girl’s body was then recovered and Sandy Parsons was taken back to prison.
Sandy and Casey Parsons are both serving time, accused of collecting federal benefits for Erica, even though she was no longer living in their home.
At this point, neither has been charged in her death, or for abuse.
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