SALISBURY, NC (WBTV) -
A search warrant filed in the case of a missing teenager, who was reported missing nearly two years after she was last seen, is revealing new details about the case.
Two different search warrants were filed in the case, one by the Rowan County Sheriff's Office and another by the State Bureau of Investigations.
Investigators executed a search warrant around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning at a home along the 200-block of Miller Chapel Road in connection to the disappearance of 15-year-old Erica Parsons.
Parsons was reported missing on July 30 to investigators in Rowan County by her step-brother, James Parsons. James told investigators that he hadn't seen Erica in nearly two years, since November 2011.
During that search, investigators logged information about 68 items that they removed from the house.
That list includes a "plastic bag with JonBenet Ramsey magazines" and a "JonBenet book with notes inside about remodeling house."
The warrant says there was drywall cut and removed from a closet area with red stains. The section was tested for blood, the warrant states. Investigators also took baseboards from the closet with red stains.
According to the warrant filed by state investigators, James told investigators that his parents told him Erica had gone to live with her grandmother in Asheville.
James Parsons reportedly told deputies that Erica had been adopted by the Parsons at birth.
"James told investigators that Sandy and Casey Parsons routinely abused Erica both mentally and physically," the warrant states. "James also reported that Sandy and Casey Parsons continued to receive checks for Erica from the State of North Carolina after she was last seen in 2011."
The warrants state the investigators began looking into the disappearance after James came to deputies.
During an interview with the Parsons, investigators were told that they took Erica to Asheville to live with her biological grandmother, Irene Goodman - aka Nan Goodman - in 2011. They told investigators that their biological daughter, Brook, went with them to Asheville.
When she was interviewed, according to the warrants, Brook told investigators that she had not gone to Asheville with her parents to take Erica to live there.
The Parsons could not give investigators contact information for Goodman, according to the warrants, but Casey Parsons told them she'd contacted her via Facebook. She was not able to show them Goodman's Facebook page.
According to the warrant, the Parsons also could not tell investigators a location of the home where they claimed to have taken Erica to live.
When questioned, the Parsons reportedly admitted to investigators that they had been receiving financial aid for Erica and continued to receive the money after she was no longer living at the home.
Rowan County investigators noted that the Parsons held interviews with the media where they appeared to refer to Erica in the past tense.
"Casey Parsons stated 'She was a teenager' and 'She was with her grandmother'," investigators noted in the warrant. "I found these statements to be inconsistent since the Parsons claim to have left Erica alive, well and happy with her biological grandmother."
VIDEO WEB EXTRA: Video of the Parsons' interview with Coleen Harry
But investigators point out that in an interview that aired on WBTV on August 5, Erica's biological mother, Carolyn Parsons, refers to Erica in the present tense, saying "She is my biological daughter. I want her to know that I do still love her."
VIDEO WEB EXTRA: Video of Carolyn Parsons' interview with David Spunt
"During the course of the questioning of Casey and Sandy Parsons about the whereabouts of Erica, Casey and Sandy became upset with the questioning and retained the services of an attorney," a warrant filed by the Rowan County Sheriff's Office stated.
For several days, investigators questioned more than five family members and extended family members about Erica, the warrant states. They told investigators that Erica was small for her age and rarely interacted with family or extended family.
"Some witnesses said that Erica consistently had bruises and bumps on her arms and legs that Casey blamed on another child in the family," the warrant states. "Several witnesses described Casey Parsons [Erica's adoptive mothers] as abusive and said negative things about Erica."
Investigators say witnesses say "Erica seemed to be 'grounded' and never allowed to interact with the family."
A child that lived in the Parsons home told investigators that "Casey Parsons took a toy gun and broke it while hitting Erica with the toy," according to the warrant.
According to the warrant, at one point a witness told investigators that when Erica was 6-years-old she lived with them for nearly eight-months after Casey Parsons called them and said "she could not stand to look at Erica and said that she reminds her of Carolyn [Erica's biological mother] and she hates Carolyn."
Casey also reportedly told a family member that she did not claim Erica as a daughter.
Investigators were told that "when Casey brought Erica to their house she had bruises on her bottom and Casey Parsons said she had lost control and beat Erica," according to the warrant.
After eight months, Casey reportedly asked to have Erica come back because she was afraid that the Department of Social Services would find out that she did not have her and she was still getting money for her.
While executing the search warrant on Wednesday, investigators say they found a pair of Arizona jeans with red stains. They also took swabs and samples from sections of the home and removed sections of carpeting and drywall.
They also seized lots of paperwork, electronics and mobile devices from the home.
Investigators worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigations to track down bank accounts in that Parsons' name at SunTrust Bank, Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) and Bank of America.
"It is believed that the continued desire to utilize the funds, proceeds, or financial assistance intended for the care of benefit of Erica Lynn Parsons resulted in the delay or outright denial to report Erica Lynn Parsons missing in a timely or reasonable time frame."
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