As a concert pianist who has performed all over the world, Zachary Hughes is no stranger to being in front of an audience – but that spotlight has shifted.
Once known as a talented Juilliard-trained prodigy who commanded the stage with his memorized renditions of Beethoven’s sonatas, he’s now at the center of a far darker performance: murder.
The 33-year-old South Carolina man is accused of fatally stabbing Christina Parcell at least 31 times inside her Greer home on October 13, 2021, in what investigators describe as a “very violent” killing.
A haunting signature, allegedly left behind by the killer, was the delicate rose petals scattered around Parcell’s lifeless body – a gesture eerily similar to the end of a performance in which flowers are tossed up onto the stage.
Within a week of the murder, two men were arrested – John Joey Mello, the father of a 10-year-old girl he shares with Parcell, and Parcell’s fiancé, Bradley Post, the man who made the gruesome discovery.
But neither were arrested for Parcell’s murder.
Post was arrested in connection with a child pornography investigation related to evidence obtained from the murder scene. He now faces a slew of charges, including sexual exploitation of a minor and criminal sexual content.
Mello, who had been in the middle of a contentious custody battle with Parcell when she was murdered, was later charged with custodial interference after taking his daughter out of the country in violation of a court order.
Both had solid alibis at the time of the murder.
So when Hughes, then 29 years old, was arrested for her murder a month later, the connection between the two was a mystery.
But an investigation revealed his DNA had been found at the crime scene. It was enough. Hughes was charged with murder, harassment, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
That mystery was soon solved when it was discovered that Hughes and Mello, the father of Parcell’s daughter, were good friends – and Hughes had allegedly taken his friend’s side when the former couple was in the middle of a contentious custody battle – something he took too far, prosecutors would later claim.
Three years after the murder, Hughes’ trial finally got underway with opening statements on Monday, with prosecutors telling the court that Hughes “began inserting himself in the custody battle” and “because the dispute elevated into a situation where custody might not go in John Mello's way, at that point, Zach Hughes made the ultimate decision.”
Here’s everything we know so far:
The murder
“The main character is Christina Parcell,” 13th Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins said during opening statements Tuesday. “She was murdered on October 13th, 2021.”
The veterinary technician who worked at Foothills Veterinary Hospital was 41 years old when she was found dead at her home on Canebrake Drive. She had been stabbed 31 times.
Bradley Post testified that he was concerned after she did not answer her phone following a job interview earlier that morning. So when he went to check on her around 11 a.m., he found the back door unlocked and Parcell dead in the living room.
“It was all dark, and I looked at the floor, and right at the entrance of the living room and on the floor and off the hallway, there were petals from a rose, and as I looked, I looked into the room, and I saw her on her back,” Post said.
Greenville County Master Deputy Chris Robinson was the first to arrive at the home after Post called 911. Body cam footage was shown in court of him walking into the house and finding the body.
Robinson said the home smelled of some sort of chemical odor.
The scene was described by Sheriff Hobart Lewis in an earlier interview as a “very violent” attack, according to Greenville Online. “It was a very brutal crime scene, for sure.”
A deadly connection
DNA found underneath Parcell’s fingernails, a neighbor's ring doorbell camera and witness testimony helped lead investigators to the arrest of Zachary Hughes.
In a previous bond hearing, Wilkins told the court that a Ring camera from a home across the street showed “the defendant dressed in a black hoodie and a backpack entering the front door” of Parcell’s home just before she was killed.
Investigators used FLOCK cameras to read license plates to connect Hughes with being at Parcell's house,” according to WHNS. Images from the cameras show Hughes' truck with a bike in the back. The truck was captured on surveillance video arriving home just after 9 a.m.
Parcell's neighbor, Donna Gorman, testified this week that on the day Parcell was killed, she saw a man out her window at 8:15 a.m., who was dressed in all black and on a bike. The man put a white mask on before riding away. When asked if she could identify that man in the courtroom, she pointed to Hughes.
“It’s him, he’s right there,” Gorman said.
Greenville County Sheriff's Master Deputy Raleigh Stokes testified that the Ring camera footage, which was time-stamped at 9:12 a.m., showed Parcell returning home from taking her daughter to school and a job interview.
He said that at 9:15, the same figure described by Gorman in all black with a backpack entered Parcell’s home and then footage from 9:27 a.m. showed the same man on a bike with a white mask and in all black clothes.
The mystery deepens
In his testimony, Post said he never knew or heard of Hughes until his attorney called to tell him he was arrested for allegedly killing Parcell.
In court this week, Post revealed he had received six envelopes over several months leading up to the time Parcell was killed. Inside were nude photos of Parcell, along with a list of addresses Post said he was familiar with, and a link to a website.
Post said he believed the envelopes were sent by John Mello, the father of Parcell’s child, as a way to threaten their relationship. He contacted the authorities and an investigation was opened.
The mystery deepened when Post was taken into custody on child porn charges shortly after Parcell’s killing. Detectives said they found a slew of child sexual abuse material on Post's devices during their search of the crime scene.
The material allegedly included videos of him performing sexual acts on children. Post was charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor and seven counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Hughes' attorneys previously argued for the pornographic material to be allowed to be presented in his trial, claiming it is central to the murder charges he is facing. But prosecutors said in a counter-filing that they believe if the material is presented at trial, Hughes' attorneys would argue that Post was responsible for Parcell's death. A judge ruled that the information could not be presented in court.
Months after Parcell’s death, Greenville County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Mello and Hughes on criminal conspiracy and harassment charges for allegedly sending nude photos of Parcell to Post, along with his neighbors, the cigar bar the couple frequented, and the veterinary practice where she worked
Wilkins said in his opening statements that Hughes had a “relationship” that started with John Mello in October 2020, around the time Mello took Parcell's daughter to Italy.
Parcell fought to get her daughter back and Wilkins said that’s when the pair hatched a cruel plan to harass her.
During Post’s testimony, he told the court that Mello would threaten them and that he had told Hughes via WhatsApp to “harass the s--- out of her.”
“They (Hughes and Mello) began doing things like sending photos of her (Parcell) to the neighbors in an effort to shame her," Wilkins said, adding that it was an attempt to show she was a bad mother.
But Wilkins said that his team would prove Hughes had an “evil heart” and that he had inserted himself in the custody battle between Parcell and Mello.
Hughes’ defense team deferred giving opening statements until they begin witness testimony, which is expected to begin next week.
Hughes has pleaded not guilty to the murder.
