The adoptive mother of a teen missing nearly two years says she allowed the girl to live with her biological family.
A Post reporter attempted an interview with Casey Parsons on Thursday at her Miller Chapel Road home, but she declined without her attorney present. She has, however, spoken with other news outlets.
Parsons told other news outlets she believed her daughter, Erica, was with her grandmother.
Parsons said she knew the grandmother as Irene Goodman.
Erica Parsons, 15, has been missing since Nov. 19, 2011, but was only reported missing by her 20-year-old brother, James Parsons, on July 30.
Law enforcement officials have said Casey and her husband, Sandy, have provided false information. The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office is trying to determine the teen’s whereabouts. The State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI have joined the investigation.
Rowan officials said initially the couple told them Erica might be in Asheville with relatives, but investigators determined that information was untrue.
The parents’ attorney, Salisbury’s Carlyle Sherill, said they haven’t intentionally misled authorities and provided information they were given about the girl. The parents initially talked with investigators, but became increasingly uncooperative, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Casey and Sandy Parsons met with law enforcement, but hired Sherrill after they said they felt intimidated by authorities’ questions.
Sherrill said on Wednesday that Erica Parsons was picked up in a car by some people who the Parsons family had met through Erica’s birth mother. He said those people gave the couple false names.
Parsons said she allowed Erica to go live with the woman she believed to be the teen’s biological grandmother around December 2011. She said Irene Goodman knew information about Erica and they had talked with her by phone.
Parsons told reporters Goodman contacted the family in July 2011 and Erica had visited with Goodman twice.
Parsons said she and Erica met Goodman at a McDonald’s in Mooresville. She said by her third visit with Goodman, Erica didn’t want to return to Salisbury.
Casey Parsons said she last spoke with her daughter by phone September 2012 when the teen told her she didn’t want to return home.
Sherrill declined a joint interview with Casey Parsons and a Post reporter Thursday, instead scheduling an interview this morning.

Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253. Twitter: www.twitter.com/salpostpotts

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Shavonne.SalisburyPost.