The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
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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.
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.
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.
Was there anything else about that room that seemed odd to you?
You could tell there was a struggle inside the house at some point.
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.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the Rose Petal Murder case?
0:26–1:48
2
Who is Eva Pilgrim and what was her role in the investigation?
1:48–2:12
3
What are the key twists in the Rose Petal Murder story?
2:12–3:35
4
How did Christina Parcell's past affect the investigation?
3:35–6:22
5
What is John Mello's perspective on the allegations?
6:22–8:30
6
What was the interview with John Mello like?
8:30–20:10