Authorities Searching for Missing Mother, Kimberly Parrish, from South Carolina/Update 12/26:Her car has been found!/Kenneth Franklin Cutter arrested & charged with Kimberly's murder, body not found yet

Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- Richland County deputies are asking for help to find a mother of two who has gone missing.

Authorities say that 30 year old Kimberly Parrish was last seen on Friday, December 21st at Helping Hands Care Giver facility on Two Notch Road. Sheriff Lott says Kimberly went to pick up her paycheck between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. and has not been seen or heard from since.

Authorities say that Kimberly was last seen driving an olive green 1999 Chevy Malibu with South Carolina tag HVT-700.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

COLUMBIA (WACH) -- A mother of two has not been seen since the weekend before Christmas.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is requesting the community's assistance in locating Kimberly Parrish, 40, of Columbia.

Parrish was last seen on Friday, December 21, at Helping Hands Caregivers on Two Notch Road, according to Lott. Parrish has not been seen since she went to pick up her pay check from her employer between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Friday, according to Lott.

Parrish has two young children whom she hasn't had contact with in the last two days, which is out of character for her, according to Lott.

Parrish was last seen driving an olive green 1999 Chevy Malibu, similar to the one pictured, with South Carolina tag HVT-700, according to Lott.

The Sheriff's Dept. has no leads that indicate foul play, but investigators are concerned for her safety, according to Lott.

Parrish is described as a white female, 5'3" tall, 175 lbs., with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information about Parrish is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC or Richland County Sheriff's Dept. at 803-576-3000.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

RICHLAND COUNTY, SC (WIS) -
The Richland County Sheriff's Department is requesting the community's assistance in locating a missing woman.

Deputies are searching for 40-year-old Kimberly Parrish who was last seen on Friday, December 21, 2012 at Helping Hands Care Giver facility.
continue at: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
This article says she's 40 the other two said 30, once again the media messed up.

SC mom of 2 children disappears before Christmas

Credit: Facebook
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Kimberly Parrish with two children from the Facebook page "Help Find Kim Bucy Parrish."

Parrish is believed to be in a car that looks similar to this -- a green 1999 Chevy Malibu.

By: WLTX and WBTW | WBTW
Published: December 24, 2012
GASTON, S.C. -- Richland County deputies are asking for help to find a mother of two who has gone missing.

Authorities say that 40 year old Kimberly Parrish was last seen on Friday, December 21st at Helping Hands Care Giver facility on Two Notch Road.

Sheriff Lott says Kimberly went to pick up her paycheck between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and has not been seen or heard from since.

Parrish is originally from Lake View and graduated from Lake View High School in 1991. She currently lives in Gaston, S.C.

Deputies said it is “out of character” for Parrish to be out of touch with her children, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Authorities say that Kimberly was last seen driving an olive green 1999 Chevy Malibu with South Carolina tag HVT-700.

A Facebook page called Help Find Kim Bucy Parrish has been set up.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

“The Sheriff’s Department has no leads that indicate any foul play, but investigators are concerned for her safety,” the department said in a news release issued Sunday evening, the Charlotte Observer reported.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

By Drew Stewart
Posted: 12.26.2012 at 3:01 PM

NORTH, SC (WACH)- A car belonging to a missing Columbia mother has been found in the Orangeburg County town of North.

According to the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office , the investigation of a missing Columbia woman, Kimberly Parrish, is now being focused in Orangeburg County. Investigators from Richland County Sheriff’s Department followed leads of Kimberly Parrish’s disappearance on Friday to Orangeburg.

Parrish was last seen on Friday, December 21, at Helping Hands Caregivers on Two Notch Road, according to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott. Parrish has not been seen since she went to pick up her pay check from her employer between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Friday, Lott said.

Mrs. Parrish’s vehicle has been located in North. Orangeburg Deputies are working to determine how Mrs. Parrish’s vehicle came to be in North. According to Orangeburg County spokesperson Kiesa Peterson,"At this point in the office's investigation, we know that Mrs. Parrish had an acquaintance in the area and Investigators have developed a person of interest."

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This is NOT good. Found her car but did not find her. How many times have we seen this scenario?

The Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office says the car of a missing Lexington County woman was located in North and a person of interest has now been developed.
read more at: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Kenneth Franklin Cutter of Wolfton has been arrested and charged with the murder of Kimberly Parrish.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

ORANGEBURG, S.C. -- A man from the town of North has been charged with murder in the death and disappearance of SC mother of two who went missing just days before Christmas, deputies said.

Orangeburg Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said that Kenneth Frankling Cutter, 37, of North was charged with the murder of Kimberly Parrish, who disappeared one week ago.

“Our investigation indicates Cutter was a male friend of Kimberly Parrish’s for at least four months,” Ravenell said on Facebook.

“We have recovered DNA and clothing evidence that belongs to Parrish from an abandoned house near the suspect’s residence. We continue to conduct an extensive search for Parrish’s remains utilizing cadaver dogs, river, and air support,” the sheriff also said.

Parrish’s car was found on Wednesday in the town of North. Parrish was originally from Lake View and graduated from Lake View High School in 1991. She currently lives in Gaston, S.C. and has two young children, ages 9 and 11.

Parrish, age 40, was last seen at Helping Hands Care Giver facility on Two Notch Road. Sheriff Lott says Kimberly went to pick up her paycheck between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and has not been seen or heard from since.

"We want to bring closure to the Parrish family so we ask hunters, farmers, and anyone with land to be vigilant and contact law enforcement if they locate anything," the sheriff said on Facebook. "We thank SLED, DNR, Richland County Sheriff’s Department, and the North Police Department for their assistance and resources during this investigation.”

Cutter is scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Monday at 2:30 p.m. in Orangeburg.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

HOW did I miss this??? Thank you, Raine!!

6 hours ago • By RICHARD WALKER, T&D Staff Writer

The search for the body of a mother of two goes on, and so does the case against the man accused of killing her.

First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe said murder charges have been successfully tried in South Carolina even when the victim’s body has been missing.

“There have been convictions before where there hasn’t been a body,” he said. “Our laws do not reward a criminal in a case where there is a disposal of the body.”

Pascoe said he could not comment specifically on the case of Kimberly Parrish, the 40-year-old mother of two small children who was reported missing just four days before Christmas. The body of the West Columbia woman has not been recovered.

Kenneth Cutter, 37, of Wolfton, has been charged with murder in connection with her disappearance. He appeared before an Orangeburg County magistrate on New Year’s Eve to be formally presented his rights, which include a bond hearing before a circuit court judge.

He can also apply for a preliminary hearing. As of yet, no preliminary hearing has been scheduled.

It’s not clear if Cutter has retained an attorney.

Cutter is currently being housed at the Orangeburg County Detention Center, awaiting his next legal procedure.

Authorities, meantime, are building their case against him. They say it is more difficult to try a case without a victim, but it can be done.

Pascoe prosecuted one of the first victimless cases in the Palmetto State in 2003 when authorities charged 39-year-old Jeffery Weston with murdering his mother.

A retired school teacher, 78-year-old Frances Franchey went missing in late 1998. That case is similar to the Parrish case in that there was no body, no confession and no witnesses.

The added burden to the state’s case is they have to prove Parrish was in fact killed.

At a press conference a week after the West Columbia mother was reported missing, Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said forensic evidence, blood and DNA found at an abandoned Wolfton house “scientifically” showed that Parrish was dead.

Authorities have not publicly reported a motive or evidence indicating why Cutter has been charged.

Investigators have not said if Cutter has given an alibi or an alternate version of what might have happened.

Weston explained his mother’s disappearance with a story that she ran off with a boyfriend.

Authorities didn’t buy it.

“A cold, evil, malignant heart, a person void of social responsibility,” Pascoe said in opening statements during Weston’s trial. “These are the traits of a man who would kill his own mother.”

A jury agreed, finding the Richland County man guilty. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Five years later, while his appeal for a new trial was being considered, Weston confessed. He led authorities to a site near his mother’s apartment complex where he hid her dismembered body.

The search for Parrish has been ongoing since her Orangeburg County connections were discovered. Her vehicle was discovered at a North Road church about two miles from Cutter’s residence.

Crews have since searched waterways, wells and used cadaver dogs and search lines to comb the heavily wooded terrain surrounding Wolfton.

The vehicle has been processed for evidence but authorities have not said what, if anything, was found inside.

They said that at the time the DNA evidence was discovered at the Wolfton residence, Parrish’s clothing was also located.

That’s more than has ever been found of a 19-year-old Marshall University student who fell victim to two escaped inmates who went on a two-week crime spree that passed through South Carolina.

In 2002, Samantha Burns of West Virginia and Alice Donovan of South Carolina went missing after being kidnapped and carjacked.

Surveillance cameras at a Conway department store captured Donovan’s kidnapping. The two men accused of abducting her were later captured but Donovan’s body wasn’t located.

Prosecutors still went to trial in September 2004.

Chadrick Fulks, 25, and Branden Basham, 21, were both sentenced to death by federal juries for Donovan’s murder. They also pleaded guilty to Burns’ death and were sentenced to life in prison.

Like Franchey, Donovan’s remains were found after one of her murderers confessed. She was found near the North Carolina border about 15 miles from where she was abducted.

Burns went missing Nov. 11, 2002. Police found Burns’ torched vehicle while it was still smoldering.

Her body has to this day not been recovered.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) — A man charged with killing a West Columbia woman who has not been seen for months told a fellow inmate he fed her body to alligators, according to an investigator testifying at his preliminary hearing.
The testimony Tuesday stunned the family of 40-year-old Kimberly Parrish, as well as the attorney and family of the man charged with killing her, 37-year-old Kenneth Cutter.
After the investigator got off the stand, Cutter's lawyer dropped her request that the murder charge be dropped, The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reported (http://bit.ly/ZmA4Mw ).
Parrish has not been seen since picking up her paycheck in Richland County in Dec. 21. Orangeburg County sheriff's Investigator Craig Davis said Parrish's cellphone gave its final signal that day in western Orangeburg County. Her bank accounts have not been touched since then.
But the most shocking testimony from Davis came when he paraphrased a statement from an inmate in jail with Cutter.
Cutter "stated what he was in jail for and that he said that he fed her body to alligators," Davis testified.
Parrish's mother broke down in tears.
Cutter was arrested a week after Parrish disappeared. The two were friends and may have been romantically involved, investigators said.
Deputies found bloody clothes with stab wounds in the pants at an abandoned home near Cutter's home in Orangeburg County. The DNA from the blood matched Parrish.
There was so much blood found that whoever was bleeding likely couldn't have survived, Davis said.
When deputies first questioned Cutter, his face and arms were scratched. Cutter said he was hurt when a barrel where he was burning debris exploded, Davis said.
Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]