By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

Casey Parsons, the adoptive mother of Erica Lynn Parsons, a Rowan teen who hasn’t been seen since 2011, has reported to a Texas federal prison.

Casey, 40, and her husband, Sandy, 41, were sentenced in March to 10 years and eight years, respectively. The couple received government-funded adoption assistance, Medicaid, Social Security and Food and Nutrition Services after Erica was no longer still living with them. The pair used mail to commit the fraud, the courts said.

Erica was reported missing July 30, 2013 by her adoptive brother, James “Jamie” Parsons — Casey and Sandy’s biological son. The couple told Rowan County Sheriff’s investigators they let Erica live with her paternal grandmother, a woman they knew as Irene “Nan” Goodman.

Authorities and members of the Goodman family say, Erica’s real grandmother, Cloie Goodman, died in 2005, much earlier than the Parsonses’ story about sending Erica to meet her grandmother in 2011. Rowan County Sheriff’s investigators have also not found any evidence that Irene Goodman exists.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Casey Parsons is listed as an inmate at the Carswell Federal Medical Center, a facility in northern Texas. She is expected to be released December 11, 2023 around the same time when her two youngest children will be in high school.

Casey Parsons pleaded guilty in September to a number of counts including filing a false tax return while a jury found Sandy Parsons guilty of 43 of the original 76-count federal charges including theft of government funds.

Both Sandy and Casey appealed their federal court decisions, but a court date has not been scheduled.

In early May, Sandy was assigned to Butner Federal Prison, a low security facility in eastern North Carolina. According to the facility website Sandy Parsons is expected to be released March 14, 2022.

Both have not been charged in Erica’s disappearance, but a federal court judge inferred the couple did something to get rid of Erica or killed her.

Erica’s biological mother, Carolyn Parsons, who was once married to Sandy’s brother, Stevie Parsons, has continued to keep her daughter in the spotlight.

Carolyn, who returned to North Carolina to live about a year ago, has planned a second candlelight vigil. The vigil will take place August 1 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Myers Park, 338 Lawndale Avenue, Concord at Paul’s Picnic Shelter.

“I figure the more places we have vigils, the more we can get Erica’s name, story and face out there,” Carolyn said.

Concord is also where Erica was born, she said.

Carolyn held a similar vigil last year at Granite Lake Park in Granite Quarry.