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Hours after the highly anticipated murder trial of accused killer Zachary Hughes was set to begin in the South Carolina Upstate, Greenville County solicitor Walt Wilkins announced yet another delay in the proceedings against the classically trained concert pianist.
The reason for the latest hold-up? A lack of qualified jurors available to decide his fate…
Hughes is accused of perpetrating the ritualistic ‘Rose Petal Murder’ of 41-year-old Christina Parcell in the fall of 2021. He was set to stand trial at the county courthouse in Greenville, S.C. with jury selection beginning on Monday (January 13, 2025). After S.C. circuit court judge Patrick C. Fant III issued an updated media order governing coverage of the proceedings, prosecutors and Hughes’ attorneys moved to an adjacent courtroom to begin qualifying a jury pool.
Shortly after 1:00 p.m. EDT, Wilkins announced they were unable to seat a jury and that the trial would be continued for at least 45 days. That would push the next window for the trial into late February or early March.
According to a statement from the Greenville County clerk of court’s office, only 59 of the 161 individuals summoned for jury duty appeared as required by law.
“This critical shortage has already delayed not only the anticipated trial but also other cases on the general sessions trial docket,” the statement noted.
(Click to view)
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As we noted in the latest edition of our Week In Review, the Rose Petal Murder is one of the most graphic – and convoluted – cases we have ever covered.
To recap: Parcell’s body was discovered shortly after 11:00 a.m. EST on October 13, 2021 in the front living room of a suburban home owned by her sister. She was found, unresponsive, by her fiancée, Bradly Post. According to Post, he placed multiple calls to Parcell on the morning of her murder – calls which went unanswered. When he drove to the home to check on her, he found her savagely slain.
In a statement, Greenville County sheriff Hobart Lewis confirmed Parcell had been “brutally stabbed multiple times” and “murdered in a very violent way.”
Sources close to the investigation told FITSNews the killer allegedly sprinkled rose petals – or deadheaded roses – around Parcell’s body after dragging (and posing) her in the front living room of the 2,100-square foot home.
“Rose petals were sprinkled around her body,” a source familiar with the killing told this news outlet. “She was dragged – there were drag marks. The scene was staged.”
(Click to view)
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Officially, Parcell’s cause of death was recorded by the Greenville county coroner as a homicide due to “multiple sharp force injuries.”
How many such “sharp-force injuries” are we talking about? During an April 6, 2022 court hearing related to this case, Wilkins indicated Parcell had been “brutally stabbed to death in her neck and head area” – sustaining “approximately 31 different stab wounds by a sharp object.”
Hughes was arrested on November 3, 2021 by GCSO deputies and charged with Parcell’s murder. The arrest shocked the Upstate seeing as he had no known connection to Parcell at the time. Hughes has been held without bond at the Greenville County detention center since his arrest.
At the time of her murder, Parcell was involved in an extremely contentious custody battle with 64-year-old John Mello – her ex-boyfriend and the father of her young daughter. Mello and Hughes were “very close friends,” Wilkins has claimed, and the two reportedly used the encrypted smartphone application WhatsApp to communicate with each other.
In fact, Mello and Hughes are said to have exchanged at least 1,769 encrypted WhatsApp messages.
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In one conversation on WhatsApp on April 17, 2021, Mello indicated he had obtained Christina’s private number and instructed Hughes to use it to “harass the shit out of her.”
Authorities also uncovered numerous conversations between Mello and Zachary Hughes via WhatsApp between October 8 and October 13, 2021 – the day of Christina Parcell’s murder. On October 13, for example, there is a conversation in which Mello asked Hughes, “How did the music research go?”
“Good,” Hughes responded. “I’ll tell you over the phone.”
Prosecutors contend a Ring camera showed Hughes “dressed in a black hoodie and (wearing) a backpack entering the front door” of Parcell’s home just before her murder. He was later seen on another Ring camera “leaving the subdivision on a bicycle” after Parcell’s murder. A bicycle “matching the exact bicycle leaving the neighborhood at the time of the murder” – was spotted on yet another camera in the back of Hughes’ truck, according to Wilkins.
As prosecutors left the courthouse, our Dylan Nolan spotted them wheeling out a black bicycle believed to be the one featured in the Ring camera footage.
Hughes’ attorneys disputed the video evidence, claiming the clips cited by prosecutors “don’t show Zach.”
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The trial of Zachary Hughes for the alleged murder of Christina Parcell was scheduled to begin today, but was continued for 45 days due to an insufficient number of jurors.
— Dylan Nolan (@dnolan2000) January 13, 2025
I captured video of prosecutors wheeling out the bike on which Hughes is alleged to have left the scene. pic.twitter.com/cs277hb04Z
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However, prosecutors further asserted that DNA collected from under Parcell’s fingernails belonged to Hughes – which would definitively link him to the crime scene.
“The victim’s fingernails were processed for DNA, and the (result) conclusively shows that Zach Hughes’ DNA was under the fingernails of the victim,” Wilkins said at the pretrial hearing.
In September of 2023, Hughes and Mello were charged with first degree harassment and conspiracy for allegedly disseminating nude photos of Parcell to an undisclosed group of recipients. Those charges are pending.
Hughes was originally scheduled to stand trial for Parcell’s murder on October 28, 2024, but those proceedings were delayed by a discovery battle tied to the testimony of Bradley Post.
Hughes’ attorneys have sought for months to compel prosecutors to produce Post’s phone – which would open the door to a discussion of the child porn allegations – while Wilkins’ office countered with a motion (.pdf) asking the court to exclude any reference to child pornography during the trial as well as a motion (.pdf) to limit the scope of Post’s cross-examination. Those pre-trial motions related to this discovery – which were expected to be heard after a jury was seated – are once again on hold.
FITSNews has covered this case from the very beginning. Count on us to keep our audience up to speed on any new developments – including a rescheduled trial date.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Jenn Wood is FITSNews’ incomparable research director. She’s also the producer of the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts and leading expert on all things Murdaugh/ South Carolina justice. A former private investigator with a criminal justice degree, evildoers beware, Jenn Wood is far from your average journalist! A deep dive researcher with a passion for truth and a heart for victims, this mom of two is pretty much a superhero in FITSNews country. Did we mention she’s married to a rocket scientist? (Lucky guy!) Got a story idea or a tip for Jenn? Email her at jenn@fitsnews.com.
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