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Background

Carlette Parker was born in 1963, and as an adult, she started working in healthcare.

Instead of committing to the profession and making an honest living, she saw it as an opportunity to take advantage of elderly patients. In 1995, she stole 44,000 dollars from 85-year-old Catherine Stevenson.

Her criminal activities soon caught up with her, and she pleaded guilty to 16 felonies. She was handed a suspended sentence and 48 months of probation and was required to make monthly restitution payments of $920.43. However, she soon fell behind on these payments.

Despite the consequences, Parker didn’t learn her lesson from the incident. She continued working in the healthcare industry while actively seeking additional potential victims.

Crime

From December 1996 to March 1997, Parker took care of Charles Holtz. Hotlz was close friends with 86-year-old Alice Covington, and they lived in the same retirement home.

On May 12th, 1998, Parker and Covington crossed paths in a Kroger parking lot between 9 and 10 a.m.

It’s unclear if Parker kidnapped Covington or if Covington left with her voluntarily, but later that morning, witnesses saw Parker attacking Covington at a different location, but no one intervened.

Later that day, Parker drove to a Smithfield, North Carolina bank in a Convington’s 1993 Mecury Sable.

Parker went to the drive-thru and sent the teller Covington’s driver’s license with a $2,500 check. The teller could see Convinton in the passenger seat, and she looked like she was sleeping. The teller wasn’t alarmed and processed the transaction.

After Parker got the money, they returned to the Kroger parking lot. The two left behind Covington’s Mercury and got into Parker’s Ford Fiesta. Parker took Convington to her trailer in Angier, North Carolina, and drowned her in the bathtub.

She then undressed the victim, washed her clothes, put the clothes back on her, and put her in the back of her Ford Fiesta.

The following day, Parker went back to Kroger, put Covington’s body back in her Mercury, and then abandoned the vehicle along the road in Morrisville.

On May 14th, 1998, Someone spotted Covington’s Mercury and saw her body inside; they immediately contacted authorities.

Investigation

Parker became a suspect in the case right away. During her first interview with detectives, she claimed she crossed paths with Covington between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on May 12th, 1998. Parker said they went to a car wash and Covington’s home. Parker claimed she left the home after about three minutes.

Parker also said she had never been to banks in Smithfield, and she had never been to Morrisville where the body was found.

In a second interview, detectives showed Parker a copy of the $2500 check that was cashed on May 12th, and they told her a bank teller had described her.

Parker went home and came up with some new lies. In her final interviews, Parker said that she and Covington went to the bank together, and Covington cashed the check and gave her money for her doll business. After that, Parker said they went to her trailer in Angier.

She said Covington took a bath and drowned. Authorities questioned the trained medical professional why she didn’t perform CPR or call 911, but she didn’t have an answer.

Arrest & Conviction

Parker was arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping. In March 1999, she was convicted of both charges and sentenced to death.

She is one of two women on death row in North Carolina.