Deborah Roberts talks with ABC Senior National Correspondent Eva Pilgrim about getting an early tip to follow a strange case in South Carolina and how she began doing interviews not knowing where they would lead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the Rose Petal Murder case?
Hi there, everybody, and welcome to 2020 The After Show. I'm Deborah Roberts, and today we're going to take you behind the scenes on a story that is so fascinating. It's a story we're calling the Rose Petal Murder. Christina Parcell was a young woman living in Greer, South Carolina, and then her fiance finds her stabbed to death in her home in what was a gruesome scene.
And then there's a bizarre twist. Rose petals scattered all around her. Well, police zero in on a suspect, Juilliard-trained pianist Zach Hughes, who's a friend of Christina's ex-boyfriend, John Mello. And when Hughes goes to trial, there is a shocking development. He confesses on the stand to killing Christina.
and then accuses her ex-boyfriend of offering him money to do it, something Mello denies. Well, Hughes says he did it to protect Christina's daughter, whom he alleges was being abused. This is truly an unbelievable story of twists and turns. And joining me today to share some of the details about this strange case is my friend and colleague and ABC senior national correspondent, Eva Pilgrim.
Hey, Eva. Hey, Debra. This is good. We always run into each other in the hallway and just chit chat about stuff, but rarely do we get a chance to sit down like this. And actually chat. And actually really chat. Well, this story, I mean, what was it that just grabbed you right away about the story? Because you were involved in the beginning.
Chapter 2: Who is Eva Pilgrim and what was her role in the investigation?
Yeah, I mean, we, one, it's my home state, so I feel like I'm very comfortable there. And It took place in Greer, South Carolina, which isn't too far from Greenville, sort of to place it in everyone's mind. Bob Jones University is in that area, very religious, very conservative area of the state. We found out about it right away. So in a lot of ways, it reminds me of Alec Murdoch's case.
Which you covered as well.
Because we didn't know what was going to happen.
Yeah.
Chapter 3: What are the key twists in the Rose Petal Murder story?
We were literally along for the ride with investigators as they were trying to figure out what was going on and the twists and the turns. We had interviews that we didn't know when we talked to them what would develop later down the road.
Yeah. You got a tip, though, kind of early on to watch out for this story, right?
Yeah. I mean, everyone in my home state was paying attention to it. It was a talker locally. And so it was flack to us. Hey, pay attention to this one. It could be really interesting. Also, because this guy went to Juilliard. Yeah. It was a trained pianist. Yeah. So you just thought, how did this happen? He didn't know this girl. Why would they have been involved with each other? It made no sense.
And then also there's an Italy component to it, too, and it just was like this really bizarre story. Well, let's play a clip from the episode just to remind listeners of what unfolded.
I've been doing this 15 years, and it was pretty gruesome.
And what could you see happened?
First thing I noticed was the rose petals everywhere. I thought that was kind of weird. They were just kind of all over the floor and no particular, not a pattern. It was just kind of everywhere. This is weird, dude. There was also a chemical odor and just a lot of blood, a lot of blood.
Could you tell that it was a stabbing or a shooting?
I couldn't tell at that point.
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Chapter 4: How did Christina Parcell's past affect the investigation?
Eva, this story, what do we know about Christina's life before her death? She was 41.
She was the mother to one little girl. She was a vet tech. She was clearly very bright. She'd gone to the governor's school for math and science. Being from South Carolina, I know that's a really prestigious thing, right? But somehow she didn't. graduate from college. She didn't seem to have very good choices of partners, at least according to her sister.
And she had this really contentious custody battle with her ex-boyfriend, John Mello. At one point, Mello had taken their daughter to Italy, which caused this whole thing for her to try to get her daughter back. But he had dual citizenship? Right. He was also Italian. So he could be in both places. Aha. Aha. Got it. He wanted to have the daughter to himself.
And so remind viewers a little bit about Christina Parcell. And then, you know, we go to her sister, Tina Parcell.
So we were trying to figure out what happened here, right? You go to everyone who you think knows these people. And who would have known Christina Parcell? Her sister, who she was living with, and her ex, who she was in this custody battle with. I mean, the custody battle was really bad, Debra.
When John Mello took the daughter to Italy, Christina Parcell then appealed to the Hague because this was an international custody dispute to try to get back her daughter. And they did eventually grant her that. So her daughter was able to come back to America, back to South Carolina with her.
But we were just reaching out to everyone that might know her to be able to put some context into why this would have happened.
Yeah. And so many of these stories, Eva, and you've covered so many of them and I have, too. When you go to these places, small towns, people are saying, you know, this is so unusual. This never would have happened here. Talk to me a little bit about the flavor of the community. You talked about the Bob Jones University. This is a religious place. This is kind of small town America, right?
Yeah. I mean, Greenville, Greer area. I would say in South Carolina, it feels like a big city. I would have said that too growing up.
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Chapter 5: What is John Mello's perspective on the allegations?
Are you worried? Because, you know, in cases like this, they always look at the fiance or the husband or the father of the child, that at some point they're going to come and they're going to arrest you in connection with this murder.
Two years I've been here. They arrested me for harassment from the mailings two years ago. Did everything, DNA, fingerprints. There's no there there, you know? Okay, well, he must have sent Zach Hughes a crap load of money. Well, where's that? Wasn't in any of Zach's accounts. They talked about the telephone and the messages. They've got it open. There's nothing there.
But, you know, either... Either you had some part of this or you were caught in the craziest murder case that any of us have ever heard of.
Yeah, yeah. But that's it. I'm caught up in it. All I did was try to do the right thing.
Did you have anything at all to do with the murder of Christina Parsons?
No, absolutely not. No, no.
So his tone is pretty strident there. What'd you make of his tone during the interview?
Debra, it's so interesting to listen to it back. You hear how confident he is. We knew he had a rock solid alibi because he was in Italy. So it couldn't have been him. I should also point out that those harassing mailings that he's talking about, he's denied sending them and he's still facing charges and awaiting trial as far as all that goes. How How did he appear to you?
I mean, you know, obviously when we saw him and when you hear his voice, he sounds like a very self-possessed guy, very sharp. How did he appear when you first met him?
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Chapter 6: What was the interview with John Mello like?
He's one of those people who genuinely, I think, feels like he's the smartest one in the room, if not one of the smartest people in the room. And I think he thought it would help his custody dispute because, you know, he was in the midst of still a custody dispute with now Christina Parcells' sister, Tina. And he was trying to, like, help his case a bit.
In the court of public opinion. Right. We're going to take a quick break. And after that, we're going to dive into the strange story of the convicted killer, Zach Hughes. So stay with us. This episode is sponsored by Get Contact. Do you remember back in the days of cell phones when the only people who had your number were friends and loved ones who were actually trying to get in touch with you?
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