Family of murdered missing Wilson woman want answers
WILSON, NC (WTVD) -- The family of Isabel Calvo Palacios are pleading for answers after police have charged a man in connection with her death even though the 20-year-old's body has not been found.
The Wilson Police Department charged Gregory Kent Parks Wednesday with one count of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree kidnapping. Palacios was last seen at Parks' home on Ward Blvd. on July 31. According to court documents, Parks has been arrested more than 100 times since 1983. The crimes he has been convicted of range from manslaughter to attempted first and second-degree rape.
No cameras were allowed inside the courtroom on Friday, as the 56-year-old made a brief first appearance.
Before the judge ruled to keep Parks in jail without bond, Parks asked for a court appointed attorney - saying he couldn't afford anything else.
Immediately after his appearance, police detectives escorted the Palacios family, including Isabel's mother, into a conference room down the hall where they met for 20 minutes before walking them out to their cars.
ABC11 spoke with Dominga Palacios and her sister on Thursday as police were still searching Parks' home.
They said they are holding out hope someone will come forward with information.
"I want to know if some ... what happened to my daughter? Where she's at? Who has her? That's what I need to know," Dominga Palacios said.
Police Chief Thomas P. Hopkins in a statement earlier this week that the investigation is "far from over," and asked anyone with information that might lead detectives to Palacios' body to call Wilson Crimestoppers at (252) 243-2255.
Dominga Palacios has said that she had never heard of Parks before her daughter went missing, and she never believed his story because her daughter had a 3-year-old daughter of her own at home that she would never leave.
Parks spoke with ABC11 by phone after Palacios's disappearance and said he had nothing to do with it. He said she spent the night at his home and couldn't find her car keys the next morning, so he allowed her to leave her vehicle at his house.
"We were not close friends, just associates. I had known her for 4-5 months on just a casual basis. I wish she would walk up right now and this would all go away," he said. "I allowed her to leave her car there and I explained that to the police."
Parks is currently being held in the Wilson County jail. His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 1st.
