BRADFORD COUNTY, Pa. (TCD) — Three people were arrested this week for allegedly killing and dismembering a 40-year-old man, then burning his body.
On Monday, March 11, at 4:30 a.m., Pennsylvania State Police troopers were called and asked to conduct a welfare check on Ronda Parker due to a “series of disturbing text messages.” When troopers arrived, they conducted an investigation and determined a homicide occurred on Sawyer Road in Springfield Township. As a result, detectives arrested Terry Parker and Ronda Parker on charges of conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence in connection with the death of Michael Pruitt. Summer Heil was also arrested for tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Court records show Terry Parker and Ronda Parker are now being charged with criminal homicide.
According to the criminal complaint cited by WOLF-TV, on Friday, March 8, Terry Parker allegedly lured Pruitt to the home on Sawyer street by pretending to be Ronda Parker, who was Pruitt’s girlfriend. When Pruitt arrived, Terry Parker allegedly shot him in the kitchen. Pruitt reportedly went to a bedroom to hide behind his girlfriend, but Terry Parker fired at him again. After he died, Terry Parker allegedly told Ronda Parker to wipe up the “blatantly obvious” crime scene.
Ronda and Terry Parker were reportedly upset with Pruitt because they accused him of masturbating in front of their children.
WOLF reports Ronda and Terry Parker put Pruitt’s body in the trunk of their car and drove to Terry Parker’s home in Harrisburg with their young children. The family reportedly made a pit stop at an ice cream shop while in town and with Pruitt’s corpse still in the car. On March 10, they drove back to Ronda Parker’s residence and allegedly met up with Heil, Terry Parker’s girlfriend.
WNEP-TV, which also cites the criminal complaint, says Ronda Parker cleaned up the bedroom while Heil and Terry Parker started dismembering Pruitt with an axe. Then, they burned his body in a pit. WOLF reports Heil told investigators she stabbed Pruitt because “she was high on meth and was angry about what he did.”
Terry and Ronda Parker allegedly texted each other while she was cleaning and he was outside. One text reportedly read, “Already got more than half of him in the bags.”
WNEP reports Ronda Parker allegedly messaged several other people, including a pastor, about killing Pruitt. She reportedly said Heil “was inside with me cleaning and bragging about how good it felt to stab a knife repeatedly into his brain.”
Another message reportedly said, “I’m covered in brains and blood.”
The fire pit was still burning when troopers went to the home for the welfare check.
All three suspects are being held without bail.
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