Music, a bicycle and rose petals are clues to catch the killer of a South Carolina mom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who is Christina Parcell?
You went in the back.
You want to help me clear it real quick?
And what did you find when you got inside?
So I went in with another deputy. We started clearing. Sheriff's office. I do smell something. All right, let me see what we got. There is a smell in here. You want to hold right, and I'll clear this on the left. We didn't know who was inside. Barely seeing, I could see her feet at that point, so I kind of knew what was going on. All right, I got her feet right here in front of me.
Continued clearing, made it up to her, saw that there was no signs of life. We kept moving and cleared the rest of the house. Yes, ma'am, we're clearing the house now. Just to make sure there's no one in the house. Correct. Pushing in. Sheriff's office. Take one, I'll take the other.
Sheriff's office.
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.
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Chapter 2: What happened on the day of the murder?
Were you trying to have a relationship?
No, no, I was married. No, no, I just liked talking to people. And throughout my life, most of my closest friends have been females. So it's just, I just, you know, easier to look at. But no, no, not at all. It just kind of evolved later.
At what point did it become a romantic relationship?
I'd say 2009, you know? My marriage was not good, so it just happens.
Mello and Christina dated for the next six years. So you had a discussion, decided you were going to try to have a baby? Yes, yeah, planned it. That's a little surprising to me, because you were married.
It is to most people. Yeah, no, we planned her. She was born phenomenal. And things were pretty good at the beginning, you know, with all that.
But while things were going well with the new baby, by then Christina had become estranged from her sister and the rest of her family.
Between April and May of 2010, my sister cut off ties with our whole immediate family. She sent a letter to my parents, addressed it to all of us. She had been with John for a year when she sent this. She was being increasingly cut off from the world around her. So when you started to talk to her again, how did she explain that letter? It's what John wanted.
The estrangement would last over four years.
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Chapter 3: What evidence was found at the crime scene?
Chapter 4: Who are the key suspects in Christina's murder?
No. Of course not. No. It's not my style. You know what I mean? It's just, it's, no.
We still were looking at Mr. Mello and people that he knew. But we did know that he's not the person that walked in the front door and killed Christina.
And then, a huge turning point in the case, thanks to a neighbor's ring camera.
Rarely do you ever get to see the bad guy walk through the front door before he engages in a horrific murder.
And a shocking arrest. But it's not what you think.
We were dumbfounded.
Police are investigating Christina Parcell's murder. Her fiance, Bradley Post, tells them he's convinced John Mello, despite being in Italy, should be the prime suspect.
There's been a heavy custody battle. This guy's been a , he's a threatener, he's a thug.
Although authorities have their suspicions about Bradley Post himself, their investigation seems to be pointing away from him.
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Chapter 5: What role did the custody battle play?
When we were able to blow up that footage, we were able to tell the person we were looking for was white. Mr. Manigault is African-American.
But when investigators ask Manigault what he knows about Christina's death, he gives them a new name.
Tell me again how you heard about Christina. A mutual friend of yours, Zach Hughes?
He goes on to tell us that Zach Hughes cleans John Mello's house with him. At that point, you start looking into Zach Hughes, find out who he is.
Master Deputy Wolf, he did just a basic internet search. There's a YouTube video of Zachary Hughes.
The videos are from a virtual concert series Hughes did with a local museum and posted on his YouTube channel.
Zach is a pretty extraordinary musician.
I noticed that he's a pianist and there's a lot of articles about him and his accomplishments. I was very surprised. He had no criminal record. I couldn't even find a speeding ticket. Once I have his name, I can pull up every vehicle you have with your license plate within 10 minutes.
We're able to learn that he in fact owned a gold Ford truck.
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