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Local story. I feel a bit remiss not having posted it.

Family can't fathom why Norfolk teen killed parents

By Janie Bryant
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 30, 2014

NORFOLK

Family members sat together as 16-year-old Vincent Parker told a judge that he had killed his mother and father.

For Angela Barclift-McGee, hearing his admission was as unreal as everything else she has felt since the day in December when she learned that Carol and Wayne Parker had been killed.

She had immediately gone to her husband and told him they should take in the Parkers' beloved son. It's what Carol, her cousin, would have done for her if the situation had been reversed.

She had called her uncle - Carol Parker's 80-year-old father, Allen Taylor - and that's when she had learned just how horrible the news was.

"I could not fathom that he could do anything bad like that," she said of the Parkers' only child. "Especially as tight as he and his mother were."

Vincent Parker had been scheduled to be tried as an adult Wednesday. Instead, he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. There was no plea agreement, and he will be sentenced Sept. 18.

For now, he is being held in a detention center.

Barclift-McGee said she hasn't been able yet to talk to the boy she watched grow up.

"I go from really being angry at him to wanting to put my arms around him," she said. "I go back and forth every day."

Carol Parker was like a sister to her, she said, and they were part of a tight-knit clan that holds regular family meetings at a church. They pay dues, plan educational trips and hold family events to raise money for scholarships for their children.

They treasure each other, she said, and that's the family that Vincent Parker knows.

His father worked as a heating and air-conditioning mechanic. His mother had worked for Dominion Power for years.

Their son was always one of the model children - well-mannered, a good student and a talented artist.

On Wednesday, after Parker's lawyer told the judge that the teenager's grandfather was in the courtroom, the boy turned around and gave him a smile.

He stood up straight and was polite as the judge questioned him.

Barclift-McGee said she blew him a kiss, a small gesture in the midst of a pain she never thought she'd have to describe.

Parker calls his grandfather a lot now, she said. But no one has answers.

She's heard he tells relatives that he can't believe he did it.

The details are contained in a stipulation of facts entered into court records Wednesday.

Wayne Parker, 55, managed to call 911 and tell dispatchers what his son had done.

When medics got there, they found the father with injuries to his abdomen and face. He told them to go upstairs and help his wife.

Carol Parker, 57, was pronounced dead at the scene, and her husband was taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. He died about an hour after help got to him.

Meanwhile, Vincent Parker, who had fled the house, at 1008 Bland St., went to a police station covered in blood. He told officers his father had attacked him.

He eventually admitted that he'd killed his mother when he got home from school, according to the stipulation.

He said he pepper-sprayed her, then stabbed and beat her with a crowbar and baseball bat. When his father got home, he hit him with the crowbar and stabbed him multiple times. The teenager told police he "just got mad and went off."

"It's all from my dad," he said, according to the court report. "All this stuff like my dad taking away my iPod and stuff."

Parker was in the 10th grade at Norview High School.

He was an honor roll student, his lawyer, Emily Munn, said when the judge questioned her about his ability to understand his plea. Munn said a psychologist who evaluated him said he was "not only competent" to stand trial, "but very intelligent."

Allen Taylor spoke briefly to reporters, saying he forgives his grandson.

"One day, he'll understand, and I told him to pray," he said.

Barclift-McGee, who had stayed near her uncle throughout the court hearing, said they would continue to pray as a family.

Later, she acknowledged how hard it's been for everyone.

"We do so much for our children to make sure they all are healthy and whole," she said. "How could this happen to us?

" Janie Bryant, 757-446-2453, janie.bryant@pilotonline.com