My mom is a 911 dispatcher and worked with Theresa for years. If something like this happened to any of the Walker Co dispatchers it makes sense that the Sheriff of Walker Co would be involved in the conference concerning her discovery, and yes she was found 12 miles from his house but if youve ever been to Lyerly GA then you know how much land there is to look over so whoever created this website, quit printing crap that you dont know anything about. The trial is over. He is guilty and yes there were some things that should have been addressed before he killed Theresa such as his violent behavior but that is over and done with. Let her family and friends mourn her and quit all the finger pointing.

And I also agree with miss Rhinehart above. Steve is the sheriff of Walker County & this crime did occurr in Walker County so it seems to me that he would be the one to conduct the press conference!!!!!!

If you look into the public information regarding the trial you will see that not only did she meet with them, but his ex-wife also met with Mr. Abernathy and Mr. Richardson as well. I will refrain from taking my time and researching the exact day and time during the trial that these testimonies were stated and will leave that up to you.

Can we please let Teresa rest in peace and her family have a moment to take care of the arrangements at hand? For whatever reason too many heads were turned when it came to Sam’s temper it is all behind us now. Let this be a wake-up call to other abused women to speak up and demand something is done. God has Teresa now, and her abuse is over. Let us be mindful of the family still here, and give them our support. God will deal with Sam.

Whoever “LaFayette Underground” claims to be is what law enforcement commonly refer to as 10-96…..CRAZY…This is the most ludicrous, uneducated, radical post I have ever read. Sheriff Wilson conducted the press conference because he is the spokesperson / department head for the Walker County Sheriff’s Dept. Who else would have conducted the press conference? Again, how radical and uneducated can you be folks??

Talk about avoiding the issues… Is Wilson’s prominent place at the press conference really what you want to call LU crazy over? Obviously the rest of the facts are so solid you can’t find anything to attack there.

This is not and should not be over. If doors were held open which allowed Sam to murder his wife, shouldn’t we look to those whose hands held them?
Imagine how far this would be taken if Theresa had been a celebrity: The entire nation would scream for the heads of those who played the tiniest parts in this tragedy. But she was not, and nobody seems to care to look past the one who directly took her life. Nevermind those who had the power to stop him but didn’t.
It’s in the past, let’s close the book!

No. The plot doesn’t end with this chapter. There’s an entire novel to be uncovered, and it MUST be in order that justice is done.

have you sold all your apples yet?

Wow, “tim,” how very creepy of you…

Personally, I like Steve Wilson alot, but I think this whole affair has revealed a serious need for reform in how we manage law enforcement. ANY organization tends to become ingrown and we tend to cut slack for the people that we have relationships with. Sometimes that works well, because we DO know each other. Other times it can become a disaster (Sam Parker). The key is to discern what areas we can NEVER cut slack and which we can. I’m not interested in trying to get public officials to run out in the streets to take the blame for Teresa’s murder (that one is apparently on Sam), but I would like to see some policies in place to make sure that a cop like Sam can never glide through the system again. And when those responsible don’t take care of business, it’s the business of watchdogs to point it out. I appreciate the recent story about the “emotional episode” of the police officer. I only hope he’s facing a different system than Sam did. I want the system to care for our officers, but also protect our community.

The fact is that with the Sam Parker case and the Tonya Craft case, the Lookout Mountain Judicial system has been in the national spotlight. And none of this publicity has been good, (as if we didn’t already look like a bunch of back woods hillbillies from the whole Marsh Crematory fiasco). If we take time to look at all three of these cases, we can easily find a connection to the blatant disregard for common sense law enforcement with this group. First of all with the Marsh case: on at least 2 occasions the Walker County Sherriff’s Dept was called to the property by the propane truck driver who reported seeing bodies, but according to the reports…….” you would expect to see bodies at a crematory”. Really????? Would you not think that storing bodies awaiting cremation outside in the yard (close to the propane tank) would be a little bit unusual? Apparently not if you are a family member of the former “Walker County Citizen of the Year”! And then with the Tonya Craft case: if it could go wrong, it did go wrong. How on earth could it be acceptable to have an un-trained, un-qualified person responsible for conducting interviews with children who may have suffered the worse type of life-altering abuse imaginable? After that was brought to light, the rest of the case just looked like a feeble attempt from the good-old-boys club to cover each other’s exposed asses. The whole thing turned into one of those “you can never have too many friends in law enforcement” bad jokes. Which brings me back to poor old Sam Parker: I have to admit, I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting him. But apparently, he is one charismatic SOB, who for the past 25 years has been able to flash that badge and a smile and get away with abusing those closest to him. What happened to Teresa was inevitable and every single person who knew or even suspected that Sam was dangerous has her blood on their hands. The crazy thing is that we took an innocent person like Tonya Craft and tried every trick in the book to railroad her to jail while we allowed a known crazy, wife beating, badge toting city cop to stay on the force while he killed his wife.
Enough is enough …..my only hope is that we the people of these counties remember each of these atrocities at election time!

Kimberly said:
>>No one said Theresa’s family are not being able to grieve (they have been grieving). <> In this article you say that Theresa met with Steve & Dino “in a final plea for help” but you also stated that she did not want Sam arrested… She could have had him arrested, she could have not went to their house alone to get her stuff. Those were all her decisions.<> It sounds more like you just want to point fingers & blame people for things they have or havent done.<<

That's just what you did to Theresa.

really, mr hoffman? all of those decisions were theresa’s. the only person to blame for her death is sam parker.

We canNOT consider all this “water under the bridge”—for the pure and simple fact that the same lack of help and attention to Theresa Parker’s pleas for help, could doom other abused women. I fail to see how other abused women can look at Theresa Parker’s case and, quoting Kimberly, “find the strength they need to leave & do what they have to to protect themselves.” Seems to me the message to abused women is, “It’s no use trying to get help, because law enforcement won’t help you, especially if the abuser is ‘one of their own’.”

Unless you’ve been abused yourself, it can be very hard to understand why it’s so difficult for victims (female AND male, and yes men get abused by their wives too) to seek help. Abusive personalities tend to seek out partners with low self-confidence. Most initially present themselves as everything the partner could want: strong, someone to rely on, and often someone who *seems* to dote on their partner. Once the ties of the relationship have grown strong (often but not always via marriage), the abuser begins showing their darker side, the real person behind the mask.

And that darker side isn’t just about physical or sexual abuse; it’s primarily about mental and emotional manipulation of the victim. Abusers seek to exert absolute control, to dominate: one of their favorite methods is to chip away at an already unconfident person’s self image. Another is to convince the person that they’re not only worthless, but also powerless, that the abuser holds all the cards, power, control, and that no one will believe or help the victim. In many cases, this also extends to money and property: abusers ensure that their victims can’t afford to move away, to hire a lawyer; they maintain control of household moneys. Back that with fear of being beaten for attempting to access what fund/resources that *can* be accessed by the victim, and you have a potent circle of fear.

It’s quite *easy* to say “Well, if she’d *just* had the strength to leave/ask for help.” The reality is, you can never know how difficult that can be without walking in those shoes yourself. Abuse victims aren’t *sane*—they are people who’ve been encircled by a campaign of abuse from all directions.

Imagine you’ve been locked in a dark closet. Imagine you’ve been there for years, and the one person who brings you food and water and takes away the chamberpot, is also the one telling you how worthless you are, how stupid, how you can’t do anything right. They tell you that you *deserve* to be in that closet; they tell you the myriad ways that you’ve failed them and ways you’ve failed everyone. They tell you that they are your only source for sustenance and care, that no one else would have the magnimity to care for you, worthless as you are. They reinforce these things they say a million times over the years with beatings to prove you are the one in the wrong, that there’s something wrong with you. They may even threaten to kill you. They demand sex as your “wifely” duty, whether you wish it or not.

This is your life. This is what you know. You believe what you’re told, over and over, because of the repetition, because of the reinforcement, because you weren’t sure of your own value to begin with.

Now, lets say that someone, occasionally, slips a note in through a crack in the exterior wall of the closet. You hold it up to the sliver of daylight that comes in, and read it. The note insists that what’s happening to you is wrong, that you don’t deserve it, and that if you will write a reply and sign a call for help, someone will come get you out of that closet.

At first you can barely see to read the note, having lived in darkness for so long, Eventually you puzzle out what it says… and then the internal battle begins, between fear and a miniscule sliver of hope, between years of “you are useless” and a whisper of “you are worth saving,” between other messages you absorbed from your family and your culture of how marriage means compromise and self-sacrifice, and the odd idea that you should actually care about yourself, as well.

Growing a plant in utter darkness is easier than growing in yourself a belief first that you *do* matter, and second in growing a belief and trust that people actually *will* help, that they actually *can* protect you from your abuser.

Now, you’ve managed to come so far as to actually dare to write a reply, a plea for help—but you fear if you stick the note out through the crack, your abuser will find it before your unseen friend. You agonize for hours, days, weeks over whether or not to stick that note through the crack in the wall.

At this point, some victims tear up the note and eat it: their fear is too great. Some will still be debating on sticking the note through the wall when their abuser goes too far and kills them: their time ran out. Some will be caught with the note by their abuser, and pay a heavy price, as the abuser reacts with extreme violence (physical, emotional and mental) to the note. A very few will actually get the note through the crack and into the hands of their outside friend… but still many of these may recant out of fear, when someone *does* show up to help them. And even then, even with the ones who remain firm… sometimes the system doesn’t do enough to protect them, and they end up dying at the vengeful hands of their abuser.

Imagine how hard it is, laboring under the insane mentality of utter worthlessness and powerlessness and the absolute terror of worse abuse, for a victim to TELL someone, to file a report, to TRY to get away. Now think of how much harder it grows, when a victim hears of other victims who *didn’t* make it, who *weren’t* saved despite promises that the system would help, who *weren’t* listened to by those in authority. How can an abused person trust the system to help them, when it’s failed someone else so miserably?

Not to mention, layered atop that the mentality that the wife is *supposed* to submit to the husband, that she is *supposed* to be a secondary partner to his “head of household,” that she has made holy vows and must keep them no matter what the actual situation of her marriage may be, or even that they must remain wedded “for the good of the children.” Women are still raised with these concepts, being told them outright or being told them by assumption via cultural attitudes and things around her people “take for granted,” such as “when [not ‘if’] you get married…” and, well, a thousand-and-one things people say to little girls and young women as cultural expectations for who and what they will become when they grow up.

So, in short, if you fight back, if you try to escape, if you file for divorce, there’s this societal detrius in your head of “I’m failing again, because I’m failing to be what I was told I should be.”

No sane and healthily self-confident/self-loving person would put up with being abused for one moment—and that’s the point: abuse victims aren’t sane. Expecting a sane response from them is like looking for snow in July… and the fact that people *blame* abuse victims for *not* exhibiting a sane response just adds one more layer of people blaming them. Not to mention, that’s not a sane or healthy response either.

The fact that *some* victims somehow manage to find enough self-love and trust in others to actually make it out alive, is a flat out miracle. A lot of that miracle can be attributed to the love and care and trustworthiness of the people trying to help that victim, because they managed to get enough light through the crack for her to read the note, and convey enough strength for the victim to believe rescue was possible. Part of it is the victim too: there’s no telling how, where, or when, but at least some of them manage to grasp enough sanity to reach out a hand for help.

The fact that when they do, sometimes the system doesn’t *deliver* that promised help, or even discounts or turns its back on the victim… is its own kind of crime: not just to that victim, but to all future victims who may, by that backturning of authority to one victim’s pleas, lose any trust that they themselves can gain help from said system.

THAT is why this blog is important. Nothing more can be done for Theresa. A lot could be done for other victims, if the system would own up to its mistakes and implement measures to prevent such abuse of the system from happening again. So far, that doesn’t seem to be happening, and no one seems to be “man enough” to own up to the ways they failed Theresa, and by extension, all other victims of abuse.

Great article LU and thank you for your courage in publishing it. Also thanks to the posters above for their eloquence speaking on behalf of Theresa Parker and other victims of domestic violence.

As I read the posts and thought of my own experiences and those of other women friends and family, it occurred to me that situations like Theresa’s are all too common in this country; hardly a week goes by without a Nancy Grace story about a young woman who has been murdered by her husband or boyfriend. Jane Valez Mitchell calls this a War on Women” .

I would say to any young girl reading this, or to her mother or anyone who can influence her — get your education and a career first before ‘falling in love’.

Believe every minute that you are worthy of the highest respect and that you must be treated well at all times.

The signs of misogyny are readily seen if you look for them and you can head these guys off before they can hurt you. Men like Sam Parker are predators, and they will run like h**l from a woman who shows right away that she won’t tolerate rude, condescending, or dismissive behavior (the first signs that you’ve encountered an abuser). They aren’t man enough to deal with solid self esteem on a first date (and they always show their true colors, even that early, if you are watching closely).

To all women I would say, if you are in a relationship with a Sam Parker type, get yourself and your family some self defense training. Especially get the male relatives to man up and take the abuser to the woodshed if necessary (for a good talking to, you understand). These weaklings who abuse women won’t stand up to another man, or to all the adult men in the family, acting cohesively. Then everybody in the family protect yourself in all ways possible, and I’ll leave that at that without specifics. Do everything legally and safely of course.

Society, beginning with individuals and families must learn to stand up to bullies and in doing so, many women’s lives can be saved.