The Rose Petal Murder Episode Two: A Surprising Arrest - FITSFiles

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On October 13, 2021, the savage murder of a 41-year old woman shocked the sleepy town of Greer, South Carolina. The body of Christina Parcell was discovered shortly after 11:00 a.m. in the front living room of a suburban home owned by her sister.. She was found, unresponsive, by her fiance, Bradly Post.

According to Post, he had placed multiple calls to Christina on the morning of her murder – calls which went unanswered. Post told authorities he drove to her sister’s home to check on her and when he arrived, he found her savagely slain

Parcell’s cause of death was recorded by the Greenville county coroner as a homicide caused by “multiple sharp force injuries.” 

While the details of the homicide were shocking, what truly shocked investigators was the disturbing ritualistic components observed at the crime scene. FITSNews has learned the killer allegedly sprinkled rose petals around Parcell’s body after dragging and posing her in the front living room of the modest 2,100-square foot home.

Six days after Christina’s murder - her fiance, Bradley Post was arrested. But to the shock of the community, the charges weren’t for murder.

The twist and turns in this case will shock you!

FITSNews is an independent, unapologetic media outlet covering news and politics in South Carolina.

From its humble origins as a state government blog, FITSNews has gained national acclaim after breaking both the Murdaugh Murders crime and corruption saga and the Rockstar Cheer scandal – two major national news stories.

FITSNews is devoted to hosting a conversation of competing ideas. In that role, we welcome all intelligent perspectives as part of a collective, community-based pursuit of truth, justice, fundamental fairness, and individual and institutional accountability as we cover the latest news headlines of the day.

If you believe in the value of independent news organizations, we encourage you to support FITSNews by going to FITSNews.com and subscribing. 

The Rose Petal Murder is the first of many true crime & corruption stories we plan to cover and our articles play a vital role in our recorded content. 

All articles and documents referenced in this podcast are available on FITSNews.com:

https://www.fitsnews.com/2023/03/16/rose-petal-murder-south-carolinas-next-true-crime-saga/

https://www.fitsnews.com/2023/03/22/rose-petal-murder-bestiality-charge-exposes-dark-side-of-investigation/

https://www.fitsnews.com/2023/03/25/stephen-smith-case-rose-petal-murder-and-political-stock-index-week-in-review-3-25-2023/

Transcript

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This episode contains graphic content that may be disturbing or traumatizing to some audiences. Listener discretion is advised. On November 3 2021, deputies from the Greenville County South Carolina sheriff's office issued an arrest warrant for Zachary David Hughes in connection with a horrific rose petal murder. Hughes was charged with murder in use of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime. During the savage October 13 2021, slain a 41 year old Christina Purcell in Greer, South Carolina. Parcels body was found by her fiance Bradley posed at the home of her sister Tina Purcell, the veterinary technician had been stabbed 31 times in the face and neck area, and in a shocking ritualistic display. Her killer allegedly sprinkled rose petals around her body after dragging and posing her in the front living room of this 2100 square foot suburban home. This shocking crime shook South Carolina, people wanted justice and they wanted to know Purcell's killer was off the streets. When Bradley post was arrested just six days after the murder on unrelated charges tied to a child pornography and exploitation investigation. Many believe the investigation would soon reveal him as the murder suspect. But the community was shocked when the arrest of Hughes was announced instead. Like we said on last week's episode, this was a bolt from the blue. By all accounts Zachary David Hughes, a California native and graduate at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City was an unlikely suspect. Impossible suspect a human, a classically trained concert pianist who studied and performed concertos written by famed composer Ludwig von Beethoven. He was preparing to begin his new job as a pianist on an international cruise line and was in Detroit, Michigan, awaiting a flight to Europe the following day, when he learned warrants had been issued for his arrest, according to a motion filed by his defense team, when Hughes found out he was wanted in connection with Parcells murder, he didn't try and board his flight, skip across the border into Canada, or attempt to flee into middle America. There was no manhunt no Chase, no Stakeout, no drama. Instead, Hughes rented a car drove nearly 700 miles from Detroit to Greenville, and promptly turned himself in to authorities. With no apparent connections to Christina Purcell. Hughes's motive was a complete mystery, but as we noted last week, the evidence against him was seemingly damning. During an April 2022 bond hearing before Circuit Court Judge Edward W. Miller, South Carolina 13th circuit solicitor Walt Wilkins, detailed some of this evidence. Here again, is solicitor Wilkins. The facts that that show the shows that he's tied to this case and the basis of the arrest warrant show that about 10 o'clock that morning, a ring camera from across the street, shows the defendant dressed in a black hoodie in a backpack entering the front door. The defendant is seen on camera from another ring camera leaving the subdivision on a bicycle. The investigation moved to flat cameras, which are cameras that are located around Rebo County and these cameras located that huge truck with a bicycle in the back of the truck matching the exact bicycle leading to the neighborhood at the time of the murder. The bicycle was located at a residence where the defendant was living with another family here briefly the city of Brea. A resident of that house stated that it was his bicycle and it had recently been moved. While it has not been used for a long time. Hughes's attorney Mark Moyer disputed that video evidence though, claiming the clips are a case of mistaken identity. Videos, as I watched don't show don't show that. However, prosecutors have further asserted that DNA collected from under parcels fingernails belong to us, which would definitively link him to the crime scene. And then finally, Your Honor. The victims fingernails were processed for DNA. And the DNA conclusively shows that that fuse DNA was under the fingernails of the victim. The premeditation and calculation planning that had to go into this crime was was was pretty incredible. Who is sakrete David Hughes? How was he connected to Christina Marcel in what could have possibly motivated this talented young man with no known ties to the victim to murder her in such a brutal and ritualistic manner? Those are the questions we hope to start answering in this. Our second bits Biles episode dedicated to the mysteriously McCobb rose pedal murder. Welcome back to FITS files True Crime podcast hosted and produced by the news team at Fitz news.com. Where the crew that broke the Murdoch murders, crime and corruption saga and America's cheer incorporated sex abuse scandal wide open. This news is an independent tenacious media outlet covering the intersection of crime, justice, politics and corruption in South Carolina and beyond. I'm your host Fitz, founding editor will folks I'll be joined on the show by Dylan Nolan Ginn Wood, who you just heard from, and the rest of our news team as we dive deeper into the stories we cover on fits news.com Our goal is to go beyond the headlines, uncovering facts, deciphering their meaning, and holding everyone involved accountable, including ourselves will follow these stories, no matter where they take us. And no matter who we managed to piss off. Because on this podcast, it's not about agendas, and it's not about egos. It's about seeking the truth and finding true justice. That FITS files. We're fierce advocates for justice and justice reform. With a proven track record of clean up dirty cops, crooked judges, and the corrupt politicians who propped them up. The horrific rose petal murder you're hearing about now. It's the first of many true crime stories we'll be covering this season. In our articles on fits news.com plays a vital role in supporting these episodes. So in addition to subscribing and reviewing this podcast, positively, I hope I'd make a request. If you believe in the value of independent news organizations like this one, please support Fitz News by going to Fitz, news.com and subscribing today, all the articles, documents and sound clips you hear on this episode are available for your review on FIS news.com. Again, that's fits in ews.com Thanks for tuning in and supporting us. Now. Back to Jen and the story of Zack use the accused killer in the rose pedal murder. 30 year old Zachary David Hughes was born in Morro Bay, California to Dave and Mindy Hughes. Dave and Mindy, who have been married for over 46 years have another son named Eli, who was 23 years old. According to court documents David Mindy both were born and raised in California. During his bond hearing on the murder charge in April 2022 Hughes's attorney Mark Moyer told the court about the family's cross country move to Virginia two decades ago, his parents moved the family to Virginia, southeastern Virginia, where the family lived on a farm for a number of years when Zach was 11. This is where Zach learned by hard work and discipline, he was homeschool through the joint effort and sacrifice of both of his parents. After moving young Zach and Eli to Virginia, the Hughes parents made a major decision which appears to have had a profound impact on their eldest son. In 2005, David and Mindy adopted five children, all siblings, all from Russia, in the hopes of providing these children with a better life. According to Hughes's attorneys, the addition of these children to the family had a profound impact on Zach, and not for the better. A significant feature of his upbringing was that his parents adopted five siblings from Russia when Zach was young, and a lot of the burden of raising and taking care of these troubled youth fell on Zach. Unbeknown to any of the US at the time, several of these children suffered from significant emotional, psychological and or physical damage due to the maltreatment they allegedly received and Russia. Given this damage, the children had difficulty adapting to life in America in general, and specifically to family life in the Hughes's household. The trouble transition placed tremendous stress on each member of the US family, but especially on Zach. Unlike so many young children in this situation, though, Zach had an outlet of release, a sanctuary, a safe place where he was able to discover and develop a gift, which would come to define his entire life, or at least define it prior to that murder is morning of October 13 2021. When Zachary was five or six years old, his parents purchased a used piano at a yard sale. His attorney spoke of that moment during the 2022 bond hearing. As a state and as I think is clear from the record, Zack began his act as an amazing pianist. He began playing when he was about five years old when his father brought home, a piano from a yard sale came clear he was he was gifted and he began taking lessons with with some very prominent musical teachers. It soon became obvious Zach had an aptitude for music, but when his adopted siblings joined the family music became an all consuming passion was that completely losing himself in the piano, his parents till the court he devoted his entire life to it, using it as an escape from the stress of a suddenly upside down home life. With the support of David Mindy Hughes began entering piano competitions, and when he was still in high school, he won first place in a prestigious regional competition. This prize earned him a solos performance with the California Philharmonic Orchestra, where he's delivered a command performance of Beethoven's Emperor concerto. You Hughes's talent was undeniable. In 2010, he applied to the Juilliard School for piano performance. Juilliard is a highly competitive performing arts Conservatory in New York City. entrance into his prestigious program is coveted and incredibly selective. Despite his humble upbringing, his his talent was immediately noticed by the school. Not only was he admitted, he was offered numerous scholarships in the hopes of encouraging him to attend and attend he did. Well at Juilliard, Hughes Thrive both academically and socially. letters sent from his former classmates for his bond hearing, were called the loyal friend with a great sense of humor in deep love of music. One former classmate named Rachel wrote, If I were described Zack in a few words, it would be loyal friend, strong sense of what is morally right and wrong, a big heart for defending those who is close to from harm. In a very patient listener. Rachel described how Hughes would often use his talent to brighten the lives of those need by playing hospitals and nursing homes. Another classmate named Jules wrote, what struck me the most when we first met was not only his deep kindness and great ability to laugh, and make laugh, but also his profound and rare interests for the core of musical grammar, as well as for new music. During his time at Juilliard used was born on one of only 12 students around the world, and the only one from the United States chosen to play in the Kyoto international musical festival. Indeed, by all accounts, Hughes was thriving. It wasn't just music that drove us though, in 2018, while attending graduate school at the University of Tennessee, in pursuit of a master's degree in piano performance, he volunteered to serve in the Marine Corps. His attorney detailed bad experience in his bond hearing, in 2018, Zach decided to undertake going into the military, he approached the recruiter to join the Marines. The recruiter, saw that he was there was something different and also looked into his background. And he encouraged that to go into an apply for Officer Candidate School. Zach did seven he was the only person from the Tennessee jurisdiction that admitted someone into the officer candidate school, he went to Quantico, Virginia. He was in the midst of training when he ended up with stress fractures in both of his legs. And he had to come back to Greenville to to heal, and he was encouraged to come back. In fact, he was told he was in the top 3% of his class while he was there. It was then that he had some other musical opportunities arise that led him to not pursue and continue with the military career. As Jim noted, it was a piano purchased at a yard sale in southeastern Virginia to enable the young Zachary David Hughes, to discover himself to escape from the stresses and strains of his tumultuous childhood and find a purpose for his life. Well, it was another piano that led us to Greenville, South Carolina, instead of going back to the Marine Corps. The Greenville Unitarian Universalist fellowship is a church located on State Park Road, approximately three and a half miles north of Greenville is booming downtown. Right around the time he used was deciding what to do with his life. This church came in possession of what has been described as the Rolls Royce of pianos, a Bosendorfer Imperial concert grand and stretching nine feet six inches and weighing approximately 1217 pounds. The Imperial grand is an absolute beast. It contains 97 keys, nine more than most concert pianos, and most Models list for anywhere between 250,300 $50,000 This particular piano was built in 1988 in Vienna, where Beethoven Hugh's idol, premiered his most famous symphonies at the city's famed tiata incontinence store. house for years in the Chicago concert hall. The piano was gifted to this congregation by the late room Stokes, a Clemson graduate, who was raised and schooled in Greenville during the latter years of the Great Depression. Stokes passed away in 2022, at the age of 91. But before he died, the church hosted a concert to dedicate this incredible gift it had received from him. The piano Stokes gave the church has been described by reviewers as quote, a temperamental estar sounding harsh and jarring in the hands of pianists who do not understand how to play it. And marvelously refined in the hands of those who do. marvelously refined hands. Those were exactly what the Unitarian fellowship was looking for, in 2019, ahead of the pianos dedication concert, and they found them on Zack us. Here again, is used friend, Greenville attorney Marshall when my wife Jeanette, and I met Zach, when we were searching for a fine pianist, to give an inaugural concert on one of the finest pianos made in the world that was given to our congregation by a generous and nearly anonymous donor, who also is an amateur pianist. That's how we met Zack. We got to know him. I used to be a fairly decent young pianist myself, never in that category. But I know enough about music to know who is good and what is good. And I believe I know enough about human beings to know who is good, and what is good and a human being. To make a long story short, we came to know that well, particularly when you practice at our house later on after that Inaugural Concert. And many of the people who are here were attending that concert that told us about his dream of performing all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonata is that is something that is rare, even for well known professional musicians, recording artists, very few have done all 32. That is a very difficult undertaking. And he said he wanted to do them all in the 200th year of Beethoven's birth. COVID cut that short as Mr. Moyer has already mentioned, but that did not stop. You finish those and make them publicly available through the Civil Music Museum. Dr. Strange cannot be here from the museum, unfortunately. But Ms is straining to also runs that museum is here. It's actually not only that, Zack bought a used but good electronic piano and played on the streets of Greenville, for the public. He later used that piano in our front yard for a series of long concerts open to everybody. And many of the people who are here attended some of those concerts. He did that because he thought it was important. He wanted to give that back to the community. Zack lived with us for over two years. We talked with him every day. He practiced on our piano every day, for hours. That's what professional pianists do. He taught students at our house, we met those students. We met their families. He also taught to make a little money. He was recruited to teach online over the internet at the Bronx conservatory, which is a famous institution that specializes in providing musical teaching to underprivileged children from the Bronx. He did this we observed this. This is the character of the man we're talking about here today. Clearly, none of this adds up. We have a phenomenally gifted musician, one generally regarded to be a good person who volunteered to serve his country who was seemingly on the cusp of greatness. He was welcomed with open arms into the Greenville community a place people are flocking in droves to live given work, it makes no sense. How did it happen? How in the world did this kind dutiful prodigious ly gifted young man whom Prince described his loyal with a big heart? How did he end up as the primary suspect in such a savage, seemingly senseless slain, and not just that the slain of a woman with whom he had zero known connections? What could have possibly led Zack us to stab Christina Parsa nearly three dozen times in the head and neck and then ritualistically pose her body around rose petals. Investigators believe the mystery of Zach Hughes's involvement in this crime could be answered through an exploration of his relationship with John Mello, the father of Christina Parcells, young daughter, Christina and Melo had been embroiled in a contentious court battle for years over the custody of the young daughter they shared, which we'll be diving into in detail in later episodes. Melo, a self described music producer lived on the West Coast prior to moving to Greenville with his family two decades ago. It's not clear how he met Christina Purcell. But the custody battle for their young daughter began in earnest in 2016, and is continuing even after Purcell's death. According to investigators, Zachary Hughes worked for Melo cleaning his house and performing other add tasks, beginning in 2020, and continuing through the date of the murder. It is unknown how they met but they both share a love of music. On October 5 2020, Melo took his young daughter with him to Italy in the midst of his ongoing custody battle with Christina violating a court order. This led to criminal charges being filed against him for custodial interference in Greenville County on October 21 2021. A year later and just a week after Christina's death, Melo returned to Greenville from Italy and was served a warrant for these charges and arrested. Upon being arrest in arrested in the Greenville County Detention Center. mellows listed Zachary Hughes on the relationship portion of his intake form, allowing the two of them to communicate while he was incarcerated. Melo also made an iPhone video with us, giving him permission to retrieve his luggage and medication from the Charlotte airport following his arrest. How did authorities link Melo in Hughes, you'll remember we discussed the ring camera footage obtained from neighbors in the Keene breaks subdivision where Christina Purcell was murdered, and how it showed a man in a gray hoodie with a backpack entering the residence at around 10 o'clock AM. You'll also remember the same individuals soon leaving the residence on a bike wearing an N 95 mask with a hoodie over his head. When authorities learned of the relationship between mellow and Hughes, they began looking at footage from flock cameras, flock cameras or license plate reading cameras that store data in a searchable database with time and date information in a photo of the car. Flock cameras are located throughout Greenville County. What investigators discovered was chilling on the day before the murder and the date of the murder. Flock footage showed Zachary Hughes's truck with a bicycle loaded in its bed. This bicycle matched the description of the bicycle scene leaving Christina parcels neighborhood at the time of her murder. Law enforcement officials use this footage obtained a search warrant on the home in which Zachary Hughes was living. During the search a bicycle was discovered matching the one seen in the back of Zachary Hughes's trap and caught on camera in the neighborhood after parcels murder. A Windows and Zachary Hughes's home stated he owned the recovered bicycle and had recently used it. During the search authorities also located Hughes's iPhone and obtained a separate search warrant for the phone required a six digit passcode and law enforcement technicians were unable to lock the device. Although they were successful in extracting parcel contents from it. According to prosecutors known who's communicated with each other through WhatsApp, an app which encrypts messages and is often used to send text videos and place phone calls securely and surreptitiously. WhatsApp is also commonly used when one person in the conversation is residing outside the United States and at the time of Christina Parcells, Homicide. John Mel Hello was in Italy. Some of the WhatsApp messages between us and Melo have been able to be download, but many others have not. The messages investigators have been able to obtain were presented to a South Carolina judge in June of 2022. In emotion, compelling us to provide authorities with the passcode to his phone. The messages were concerning. And one conversation on April 17 2021. Melo told us that he had obtained Christina parcels private number and instructed him to quote, harass the shit out of her. In addition, authorities found numerous conversations between mellow and Hughes on October 13 2021, the day of Christina Parcells murder. Specifically, in one conversation, Melo asked us quote, how did the music research go? Hughes responded, good. I'll tell you over the phone. That was the day of Christina Parcells murder. A partial extraction from his iPhone shows it was placed in airplane mode five times twice on the day before the murders twice on the day of the murders, and once a week later, without the passcode though, investigators cannot access any of the encrypted messages or the geolocation data for the phone. Completely unlocking the device could take nearly four years, leaving officials waiting well past us trial day to obtain valuable data. On September 2020 22, soft cost Circuit Court Judge Leticia Verdun ruled in favor of prosecutors and ordered us to turn over the passcode to his iPhone. Hughes refused, putting them in violation of the court's order. And owing to this refusal on April 6 2023, prosecutors filed a motion seeking criminal contempt charges and sanctions against us, in addition to the murder and weapons charges he was already facing. Specifically, prosecutors requested an active incarcerated sentence, arguing that he's not only failed to provide the right passcode but sent prosecutors on a wild goose chase regarding a fake passcode. The April 2023 motion indicated that investigators were finally able to unlock the device, but that there were still hundreds of WhatsApp messages between us and Melo, that they couldn't access. This this episode airs on July 26 2023. Hughes iPhone is enhanced of a digital forensic expert who's attempting to retrieve those encrypted messages. That search may come up empty, though, because police and prosecutors think many of the relevant messages that they're seeking were deleted from the app. If there's so much evidence supporting the solicitor's case against us, why is this bone data so important? Again, everything ties back to John mellow. Did the bitter custody battle between him and Christina Purcell gets so ugly that mellow had us kill the mother of his young child. In if so, what could have possibly compelled the talented young musician to commit such a brutal crime on the behalf of someone else, someone for whom he only worked upon occasion could the arrest of Christina's fiance Bradley posts in connection with a child pornography and exploitation investigation involving melos daughter had provided motive could multiple unfounded complaints have sent a worried father over the edge as we mentioned in our previous episode, post was arrested just one week after Christina's murder, and is currently facing six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor five of them in the first degree, one count of third degree criminal sexual content with a minor and one count of buggery, which is a whole new layer to the story that I promise we will get into soon. Post is currently incarcerated in the same detention facility as the killer of us fiance. Our previous episode also noted how post and the estate of Christina parcel are listed as defendants in two civil lawsuits. One bra on behalf of parcels owned daughter and the other bra on behalf of another minor female allegedly victimized by the couple. These lawsuits implicated Christina in the alleged abuse and exploitation of both young girls and both lawsuits were filed based on materials obtained at the murder scene. Could the acrimonious custody battle between John mellow and Christina Purcell and the related child porn and exploitation allegations be the real root This crime could the motive behind the violent stabbing line years of family court litigation, and melos unsuccessful attempts to expose the abuse his daughter was enduring. That certainly would explain a lot, but it wouldn't explain Zach Hughes's involvement in the slain what? And the next rose petal episode of Fitz files. We will dig deeper into the into John Melo in the caustic custody case that may have served as the motive for Parcells murder. Fits News continues to work tirelessly to try and unravel this incredibly complex story ahead of Zack Hughes upcoming murder trial, tentatively scheduled for early 2024 in Greenville, South Carolina. We hope you'll continue to count on our news team to keep digging into all aspects of this saga. Weaving in everything we know about its key players, their actions, motivations, the investigations, the consequences. Our goal is to continue telling the story both as it has happened already. And as it unfolds ahead of us. We're glad you've joined us on this journey. And hope you'll be back next week for more. Don't forget though, please subscribe and leave a review for Fitz files. Your new home for true crime wherever you download podcasts. Also, please subscribe to Fitz news.com. The media outlet that's bringing you this coverage and where you can access all the articles, files and clips from this episode. That's fit s in e w s.com.