The Murder of Corey Parker
For this case I watched an episode of Betrayed. It’s season 3 episode 4, titled ‘Deadly Crush.’
A young woman is killed in her apartment, after a night out with friends.
Background
Corey Parker
Corey Parker grew up in Rochester, New York, but moved to Jacksonville, Florida just months before she was killed. She had always had dreams of living somewhere warm.
Corey was described as a friendly person with a magnetic personality. Many of her friends said that she attracted a lot of admirers due to her beauty and smile. She was also hardworking, attending classes at the local community college and working at Ragtime Tavern. On her days off, she loved to spend time with her friends and go to the beach.
Thanksgiving Plans
Corey couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving, due to her work schedule. She was planning to have an “orphan Thanksgiving” with her friends.
On November 26, 1998, Corey went out to a local bar called The Ritz with her friends. They had a good time, and one of her friends named Tiffany was going to spend the night, but never did. Corey arrived home around 1am, and went to bed.
The next morning, Corey didn’t show up for work, which was very alarming to her manager. Corey was reliable and never missed a day of work. Her manager sent one of the cooks over to her apartment to check on her.
When the cook arrived, he noticed that Corey’s bedroom window was cracked open. He was able to pry the window open enough to move the blinds, and noticed a bloody leg. He went back to the restaurant and reported it to the manager. The manager then called the police.
The Crime Scene
The Jacksonville Beach police department arrived at Corey’s apartment. They noticed that Corey’s car was there, and her kitchen window was also open. One of the officers was lifted up so he could enter through the window. The front door had been locked, but he let the other officers inside.
The police walked through the apartment, and found Corey dead in her bedroom. She was propped up on her mattress, nude, and covered in blood. There was blood covering the walls, and Corey looked like she had been backed into a corner. She had also been posed with her legs open, but there was no sign of sexual assault. Corey had been stabbed 101 times. Her cause of death was two slashes to her throat, and 54 of her stab wounds had been post mortem. The police described it as being one of the most brutal crimes they had ever seen.
Corey’s underwear and sock were also found in her bedroom. Both items had a single hair on them. The hairs were sent in for testing.
After finding Corey, the police looked around the rest of the apartment. There was no sign of a struggle, but a blood smear was found on the window sill in the kitchen. The police believed that the killer had left through the window.
The Suspects
The police started looking into Corey’s friend group. There were several rumors that Corey’s friend Tiffany was obsessed with her, and that she knew details about Corey that hadn’t been released to the media.
Tiffany was brought in for questioning. They asked her about her claim that she called Corey around 2:30-3am on the night of the murder. Tiffany said she did call Corey, but that Corey was asleep. The phone records showed that Tiffany didn’t call Corey at all. Tiffany wasn’t cooperative, and got a lawyer almost right away. The police did get a court order for her DNA, but her DNA wasn’t a match.
The next suspect was Corey’s boyfriend David. They asked David to come to Corey’s apartment to see if anything was out of place or missing. David was eliminated almost right away, he had been in Pensacola at the time of the murder.
About six weeks after Corey’s death, another suspect came into focus. Tiffany had told the police that there was a dishwasher at Ragtime named Eric, who was obsessed with Corey.
The police went to Eric’s to question him, and immediately became suspicious. A knife and some blood were found in Eric’s apartment. Eric also made several statements about how in love he was with Corey, and that he invited her over for Thanksgiving. Corey had no interest in Eric, but he took her being nice to him as her liking him back.
The police also asked Eric how he would have killed Corey, if he had done it. Eric said he would’ve done it the same way Corey had actually been murdered. Eric’s DNA was taken, but it wasn’t a match. The blood found in his apartment was actually from his acne.
A New Lead
By the spring of 2000, the police had no new leads. This was until a friend of Corey’s called the police about a neighbor of Corey’s named Robert Denney.
The police looked into Robert’s background, and discovered that murder ran in the family. When Robert was eight years old, his brother killed a woman, stabbing her 98 times.
The police also discovered that Robert had relocated to Easton, Maryland. In July 2000, The Jacksonville police contacted the Easton police asking for their help to obtain Robert’s DNA.
Robert was called in to the police department for “help” on a separate crime. The police tried several times to get his DNA. They tried to give him some water, a cigarette and they tried to get him to seal an envelope. However, Robert was smarter than they thought, and he refused.
Robert Denney
Arrest and Conviction
After the police couldn’t get Robert’s DNA, they set up surveillance outside of Robert’s work. They said he went outside every 45 minutes for a smoke break, but would put the cigarettes behind his ear. Until one day, when Robert spit on the ground. The police collected Robert’s spit, and waited for the results.
A few weeks later, the FBI contacted the Jacksonville police about Robert’s DNA being a match.
On November 28, 2000, 2 years after Corey’s murder, Robert Denney was arrested. The police said Robert appeared dazed, and when the police confronted him, he said “the evidence you have is bullshit.” He denied killing Corey.
The police used the DNA evidence to determine that Robert had been watching Corey for some time, and was possibly already in her apartment on the night of the murder. The police also believed that Robert had wanted to beat his brother, and that he had fantasized about Corey.
On May 9, 2005, after 45 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Robert Denney guilty of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
To this day, Robert still denies killing Corey. He had asked for a new trial, claiming the evidence was tampered with.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Robert Denney was a disturbed individual. I believe he too thought that Corey liked him because she was nice. He watched her because he could look down into her apartment, and fantasized about being like his brother. Robert deserves to rot in prison for life. Corey didn’t deserve to be killed simply for being a nice person.
Sources
https://thecinemaholic.com/corey-parkers-murder-how-did-she-die-who-killed-her/
