Chilling twist in case of missing girl after parents pleaded for help on TV

Seven years after the adoptive parents of a missing teenage girl went on hit US TV show Dr Phil to plead for help, police have made a chilling discovery.

Erica Parsons was just 13 years old when she was last seen alive in 2011.

Two years later, her adoptive parents, Sandy and Casey Parsons recalled to Dr Phil how she had gone on a trip to a farm with Irene Goodman, a woman they claimed was her biological grandmother.

Dr Phil questioned the parents saying “the police can’t find any Irene Goodman ... we can’t find any Irene Goodman and we’ve done everything we can ... every ‘Irene Goodman’ we’ve found has no connection to this case whatsoever”.

"This just has a stench to the whole thing," he told the parents.

For two years, the Parsons did not pursue bringing their teenage daughter home, insisting “she was safe and she was being looked after”.

The North Carolina couple were eventually forced to address her whereabouts when her younger brother raised the alarm.

Their version of events quickly fell apart and in 2016, Sandy Parsons led authorities to Erica’s body in Chesterfield County, South Carolina.

An autopsy showed she had broken bones all over her body but the indictment failed to list a specific cause of death, other than to say that she died of ‘homicidal violence.’

Sandy and Casey Parsons, who were already serving sentences on fraud convictions for accepting federal benefits for Erica after she went missing, were this week charged with her murder.

Local media reported the pair had been charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, concealment of death, and obstruction of justice.

"It's been a long time in coming," Rowan County Sheriff Kevin Auten said.

"There are people who think that the Parsons should have already been hung on the square.

"They’ll have their day in court and we’ll let the jury decide their fate."