The Murder of Jack Parkes
For this case I watched an episode of Murder in the Heartland. It’s season 2 episode 9, titled ‘Death Before Marriage.’
A 59 year old man is killed just six weeks before his wedding.
Background
Jack Parkes
Jack Parkes lived in the small town of Kennedy Township, Pennsylvania, with his fiancee Carol Lapaglia. They had been together for about 25 years, and always planned to get married someday.
Jack was described as a happy, soft spoken person, who would do anything for his loved ones.
The Murder
On July 21, 2014, Carol said she left for work around 5:40am. She tried calling Jack all day, starting around 11am. They had been in the process of selling his mom’s home, because she had recently passed away. The real estate agent called Carol about a potential buyer, and she needed to tell Jack.
Carol said she called his cell phone and the home phone, but there was no answer. She called again at noon, and left work at her usual time of 2:30pm. She said she arrived home, and knew something was wrong.
The garage door was open, and Jack’s 1997 Lincoln Continental was in the garage. The gate on the deck was open, and this was unusual, because they had a dog which they never let escape. The door was also dead bolted, which again the couple never used the dead bolt lock.
Carol said she opened the door, and saw Jack’s feet sticking out from behind the coffee table. She ran over to him, and saw him lying on the floor. He had blood behind his head, and she thought he had fallen and hit his head. Carol called 911, and tried performing CPR as she waited for the first responders.
When the police arrived, they pronounced Jack dead. Carol was hysterical, and had to be escorted from the home.
The Investigation
When the Allegheny County Police Force arrived at the scene, the scene had already been taped off, and there was several family members and neighbors outside.
While the scene was being processed, the police discovered that Jack’s cause of death was a single gunshot wound to his head, just near his ear. It was ruled a homicide right away, and no murder weapon was found at the scene. The position that Jack’s body was in was consistent with him letting the killer in, and walking into the living room. He had been shot from behind.
The police walked upstairs, and found the couple’s bedroom in disarray. The dresser drawers had been pulled out, and several jewelry boxes were thrown across the room. The police believed that robbery was the motive, but that it was personal. Someone must have known that the couple had several pieces of jewelry.
The Mysterious Couple
The police brought Carol in for questioning. She was immediately ruled out, she had been at work at the time Jack was killed. The police also let Carol clean up before they started the interview, she had blood on her hands and face from trying to help Jack.
The police asked Carol if she and Jack wore any jewelry. Carol said yes, Jack loved his necklaces and several rings. He also loved his special edition car, but that hadn’t been stolen.
The police contacted several pawn shops around the area, and asked if anyone had pawned any pieces. A pawn shop owner named Theodore Hazlett said that around 1pm on July 21, a couple had come in with several pieces that looked very damaged. He said that the pieces were most likely stolen, and he told the couple that he didn’t have the money for the pieces right now, but would have to call his broker and could give it to them tomorrow. They agreed, and left. He called the police, and told them he had taken pictures of the items.
The police came to the pawn shop, and they recognized the jewelry as being Carol and Jack’s. Carol had described the football and four leaf clover charms, as well as some of the chains from the necklaces.
Theodore was shown several photographs from various suspects, and he pointed out a man named Bryan. The police went to Bryan’s mom’s home to interview him and search the home. The police didn’t find anything connecting him to Jack’s murder, but they did find several purses and other pieces of jewelry. Bryan had been arrested before for various petty theft crimes, and he was held in jail while the police continued their investigation. He denied killing Jack or trying to sell his jewelry.
An Inside Job?
The police looked into several other suspects, including various employees from the Silver Star Meats Factory. The factory was right across the street from Jack and Carol’s, and the employees were known to take their breaks outside in full view of their home. All the employees were eventually cleared, and the police started to believe that the crime was more personal.
Jack and Carol had many nieces and nephews, and they focused on Bradley and Michael. Bradley lived across the street from Jack and Carol, and Michael had a falling out with his family due to drug issues.
The police questioned Bradley. He said he did go to Jack’s on July 21, to ask if he and his girlfriend could move into Jack’s mom’s home. Jack told Bradley he had to talk to Carol about it. Bradley had gone over to Jack’s house while Carol was gone, so that she didn’t put her two cents in. The police thought this was odd, and they also discovered that Bradley owned a .380 caliber gun. This was the same caliber gun that was used to kill Jack.
The Surveillance Footage
On August 4, a week after Jack was killed, the police received information from another pawn shop. A young man had gone to the Pittsburgh Gold Pawnshop on July 22, with several items to sell.
The employee named Becky Halvorson said that the jewelry was smashed and twisted. She gave him $1,076 for the items, and said he seemed happy with it. She also made a copy of his ID, took pictures and descriptions of the items, and had him provide his signature.
The police received a call from the Pittsburgh police pawn department, and went down to the pawn shop to talk to Becky. She gave them the slip that the man had filled out, and showed them the surveillance footage from that day. The man who had brought the items in was Michael Lapaglia, Carol’s nephew.
Bryan and Bradley were ruled out.
Michael’s Story
Michael and his girlfriend Melanie Gigliotti were arrested. Carol received a call from a reporter, who told her that Michael had been arrested for Jack’s murder. She was shocked.
The couple was brought in for questioning, and separated into different rooms. When Melanie was asked about the items, she said it was jewelry she had gotten from her dad, and that she had told Michael it was okay to sell. Melanie also lied to them about where Michael was that day. She had told them he was at a friend’s house.
When the police questioned Michael, he too said he was at his friend’s house. However, his phone records put him at Jack and Carol’s at the time of the murder.
Michael eventually told the police that he wanted to tell them what happened. He said he suffered from PTSD, from his time in the Army, and hadn’t slept in several days. He said on July 21, he asked Melanie to take a ride him with, but that she didn’t know what he was planning. They drove to Jack’s house, and at the time he was estranged from them, because he had stolen jewelry from the house before.
He said he parked down the street, and took his new .380 with him. He said that the fight started immediately. He tried to apologize to Jack, but that he swung at him. Michael said the gun went off while they fought over the gun.
The police knew Michael was lying. The crime scene didn’t match Michael’s story. Jack had been shot from behind, and he didn’t have any defensive wounds on his body.
Michael Lapaglia
Conviction
On June 11, 2015, Michael was found guilty of first degree murder, after a three day trial. The prosecution said that there was no evidence that Michael suffered from PTSD, this was just a claim he made up. They also said it was a planned crime. Michael parked down the street, took his gun and never called the police after the gun went off.
Three months later, he was sentenced to life without parole, plus another 10 to 20 years for robbery. Melanie was never charged with any crime.
Carol shared this emotional statement at Michael’s trial:
““When I came home from work that day and found Jack, I never dreamed in a million years it would have been my nephew, Michael, that took his life,” “How could that same kid that we loved so much, do something so horrific to his uncle? I struggle with that question every day.””
FINAL THOUGHTS
I think Melanie should have been charged with at least lying to the police, however, maybe she really didn’t know what Michael was planning. Michael clearly had issues, but he deliberately killed Jack and took his jewelry for money. Jack loved Michael, he and Carol had taken care of him when he was younger.
Michael chose drugs and money over his family, and he destroyed his life, as well as Jack and Carol’s. He deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life, where he can’t hurt anyone else.
Sources
https://www.monstersandcritics.com/tv/true-crime/murder-of-jack-parkes-by-michael-lapaglia-featured/
