Wife, who on earth would want them dead . It doesnt make sense. They were loved by everyone. Everyone maybe but their own daughter who admitted to a bitter simmering dispute. Its been a lifelong family feud. She wanted her property back. Evidence pointed to her boyfriend as an accomplice. He had blood on his shoe. He was there. Or was he . No hair or fingerprint or dna . A family now gripped by suspicion. I had a lot of people in my ear saying she did it. Would the terrible truth rip them apart. This could not be happening. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Here is dennis murphy. The old barn is a shambles and productive, gone to seed. The farmhouse, empty. Time was the farmland in the county was some of South Carolinas finest. Bambi bennetts granddad owned a big spread and created a legacy for the generations to come. That barn used to be tobacco barn and my granddaddy built that. Is tobacco property . Uhhuh. He did farming and tobacco. Bambis roots here are as deep as the old oak tree draped in spanish moss that still stands tall in the front yard. They say land is worth dying for because its the only thing that la lasts. Truer words might never have been spoken. In this case, a beautiful piece of land turned out to be nothing but trouble. This family was ripped apart w parpa act of cruel unspeakable violence. Bambi, her given name, was a fun, feisty good old girl, country through and through. I was at my grandparents a lot growing up. We gardened, we had a big yard, huge yard. Youre a country girl . Uhhuh. But shed endured her share of heartache at a tender age. Her parents divorced when she was just 6. Mom remarried and a few years later came that terrible day shell never forget. My daddy and my granddaddy passed away on the same day. I was 12 years old. All of a sudden you lost the two important men in your life . Uhhuh. It was a bewildering and tragic day. There was so much sudden loss to absorb, young bambi not yet a teenager, paid no mind to her grandfather and it turned outside shed been left the entire homestead, all 240 acres of it, to be held in trust until she turned 18. Not long after bambi inherited the farm, her stepfather, charlie, moved the family onto the property, her property. Most everybody called him big charlie. Bambi called him daddy. Daddy loved hunting and fishing. He always had fish fries and oyster roeast, always people at the barn. You called your stepfather daddy . Uhhuh. Easily do that . I always called him daddy. Big charlie was a decon at chaurch and started a Small Business selling grass class, t converting the barn into a shop and her mom worked as a secretary at the schools. They were a happy respected couple, salt of the earth. She was the bambis cousins jessica and amy loved diane. If your car literally stopped in front of their house or brkek down, she would make sure you had a meal and while she was doing that, big charlie was f fixing the car. Good mom . Fabulous mom. Outstanding. Her biggest thing was she wanted to make sure her kids were protected and their hearts were protected. And her daughter, bambi, would need a lot of protecting. The girl was growing up in a rush, married to her High School Sweetheart and divorced after a few months. By the time she was just 24 years old she had another failed marriage and was struggling as a single mom, trying to raise two boy, cody and nathanathan. That had to be tough to keep your household going . Yes. Things went from bad to worse. Bambi started popping painkillers. The old story, huh . Yes. Gobbled them down when you could get them. Feel. Bambi was a single mom, ho hooked on pills and sitting on a piece of land worth a small fortune. Diane decided it was time to intervene before another whirlwind husband got half the property. Momma said if you put it in my name it will be protected. So she signed this deed to her property over to her mom and then bambi signed over her heart, sending cody and nathan to be raised by their grandparents. She calls it her lowest point. I didnt want to do it but i knew it was the right thing. She wanted to take care of them. She loved those children. It was a crushing loss, no question. But bambi agreed at the time the boys were better off. They loved diane and charlie. They were very loving, a lot of outdoor stuff. They spoiled us to death. Nathan, how about you . Theyre the most loving individuals ive ever met in my life. My grandma is the woman and everybody says so. With the boys living at their grandparents, bambi tried to get her own life back on track. Thats when she met rick, a new hire at charlies Glass Company. There was an instant attraction. Ive always liked the bad boy image, i guess. He had the go tee and shaved head. I dont know, we had a good time together. Was it a serious relationship . Yes, it was. Rick was serious, too, he confronted bambi about her demons. I told her if she wanted to be in a relationship, she had to do something about the pills. By the spring of 2005, bambi felt she had turned the corner. She and rick found a home of their own in myrtle beach. After a long struggle, she was ready to be a mom to her boys again. I was getting on my feet and i wanted cody and nathan there with us. Grandparents let the boys move in with bambi and rick. No sooner had they moved, diane was making the case to get them back. Mama was concerned. Did she want to hold onto the bo boys . She said she would like for them to continue to stay with her. Boyfriend, rick, thought bambi couldnt catch a break with her family. Everybody pretty much treated bambi like crap. It stemmed from issues that diane, charlie and bambi had. Those issues were simmering into an angry family drama. Then, just a few weeks after the boys were turned over, it happened. It was april 12th, a tuesday morning, bambi called her mom, no answer. Big charlie was late for work. One of his barn employees went up to the house to look for him. Moments later, he called 911. 911. Shes laying on the floor and theres blood everywhere. Blood everywhere . Yes, maam. Inside, an appalling sight. Big charlie and diane were dead. The Old Farmhouse they loved so well was now a crime scene. Charlie and diane parker lying dead in their own home, when we come back, the investigation begins. At a grizzly crime scene, some small stray drops of blood might just provide a huge clue. It appeared someone involved in the crime was a bleeder. So thats great evidence. It is if you can match it up. Ugh, this pimples gonna last forever. Oh come on. Clearasil ultra works fast to begin visibly clearing up skin in as little as 12 hours. And acne wont last forever. 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Down at her house in myrtle scene, bambi was getting ready to go antiquing with her mom. She called her cell. One of charlies Glass Company employees answered. Said, can i speak to my mama, please. He said, bambi, your momma and daddy is dead. Just like that. Yes. I said, what . He said, somebody broke in here and killed them and shot them. I just dropped the phone. And started crying. When bambi arrived at the house, yellow caution tape blocked her way. Police were everywhere. My mom was like freaking out. Rick tried to comfort bambi. Young cody turned to him, too. And then i remember rick, he was near me, i was crying on his shoulder. And everybody was kind of it was a madhouse. Those moments it seemed the whole county had gone mad. The murders of diane and charlie came hard on the suspect, a man all over the news named steven stanco was at large. They were looking for steven s stanco when charlie and diane were discovered. Vivian was their neighbor and runs a flower shop nearby. Tell me about the fear, was this something you could feel in the air . You could feel it in the air. I was at the flower shop. Probably not too thrilled to get in your car. I didnt want to go home. It was pretty bad that day. I was looking for an opportunity to get oriented to the crime scene. The man responsible for making sense of the crime scene was prosecutor fran humphries, then deputy chief solicitor for the county. Had the house been tossed, rifled . It had. This appeared to be a Home Invasion burglary. First take . Home invasion. It was a gruesome crime charlies blood. There was blood spatter in the bedroom where diane laid. Several feet from diane there were notably a few small dropl t droplets. It appeared someone involved in this crime, not the criticism, was a bleeder. Why couldnt that be from one of your two victims . It was apparent big charlie never left the area of the bathroom and it was apparent diane died where she lay. So it looks like your shooter, your intruder is bleeding. Is bleeding. Thats great evidence. It is if you can match it up. While crime scene techs processed the house, investigators started taking stateme statements. Big charlie and diane had a large family and knew a lot of people. We talked with everybody. The list of people that we talked to is exhaustive. A parade of friends, employees and family was brought down to headquarters for interviews including bambi and her boyfriend, rick. They did gunshot residue t t tests on all of uhhuh. They had me remove my shirt with my pant legs up. They took my shoe, took pictures of my shoes, tops, bottoms. Both bambi and rick told police they had spent the night at home, never left. With the interviews complete, police drove rick and bambi back to the farmhouse. Everyone was gone. Bambi says she realized she had left her purse with her phone and car keys in the detectives cruiser. She decided shed take her mothers vehicle to get home. We didnt have any way to get in touch with nobody, didnt have anything. I told rick, see if you can find mamas purse or cell phone. So he went in the house. Police had released the crime scene but it still looked like one. Detectives told the family they would have to clean it up. So when rick says he went in to fetch dianes car key, he found himself tiptoei ining through a bloody mess. What were you seeing. All the horrible things i had ever seen. Rick approached the bathroom where charlie had been killed. He says he noticed bambi through the window pacing in the backyard. She was calling out mama, mama, cry, screaming. I stepped into the bathroom around the most beess as best i and i closed the blind. You closed them because you didnt want bambi to see the blood and gore . Yes. I think i said to bambi i stepped in some blood in this bathroom and wiping my shoe off on the sand. She was telling me to wash my shoe so i didnt get blood in her moms truck. That must have been erie being in that house that night . Extremely. It was an erie moment. One that would haunt bambi and rick for years to come. Coming up, bambi makes a stunning admission. Morning noon or night theres always a moment to discover visit annapolis and create your moment the coldblooded killing of big charlie and diane parker had a great many people in and around conway, South Carolina, bolting their doors and locking their windows. Had you had any trouble in that neighborhood out in the countryside with breakins . Not that i know of. Its always been a wonderful place. It just doesnt make any sense. Was this more of the murderous rampage of the notorious steven stanco all over the news . No, said prosecutor, fran humphries, who knew he had been cite in georgia at the entitlement of the murders 200 miles away. This awful thing at the farmhouse, you werent associ e associating that with stanco. I was not. Even though in the public mind they made that connection . Yes. Even though at that time law physically in augusta. Rather, he was focused on the evidence coming from the parker crime scene. He quickly came to believe this was more than a bungled Home Invasion. It was apparent nothing had been taken or nothing you would suspect to be taken in a burglary. Humphries thought back to some curious statements bambi had made in her interview with police which she said she had given willingly. You sure youre okay to sit down and do this interview . I want to help you. Soon after the interview, he said bambi began describing a feud within her family. At issue was he land bambi ow ed and her family were living on. There was a family feud. Over the land . According to humphries, bambi and diane argued over who should control that property. Diane wanted to make sure that that propert the kids. I think she had become convinced that bambi was not going to be in a position to manage that property. I love this girl, my daughter, but shes beyond hope, is that the feeling . She cant be trusted with it. Bambi didnt agree. She wanted the property back. I didnt want to anger her about that. Humphries learned the land wasnt the only hot button between bambi and stepdad. They also argued over the rai raising of bambis boys, nathan and cody. Were there any issues where your parents didnt want the kids to go back do you guys or anything like that . Yeah. I understand that. That was hard for her to give them back. Diane wasnt comfortable with bambi having custody of those children. In fact, just f before the murders a motherdaughter shouting match over care for the boys got so out of hand diane called 911. The responding officer arrived with his dashcam rolling just moments after bambi had stormed away. No, youre not bothering me at all. Diane explained the argument to the officer. She usually does what she wants to do. She doesnt decide anything for them. Diane went on to say she felt threaten by her daughter. She scares me. She got in my face and took the phone out of my hand. Then came this chilling pronoun pronouncement. If anything happens to me, youll know shes the responsible person. How telling is that . She was in fear, in grave fear. Humphries by now suspected bambi was involved in her parents murdered but she was skeptical she could commit a double homicide on her own so the prosecutor turned attention to her boyfriend. Shes faithful to bambi. According to humphries, willing to do anything for her. You have the daughter and boyfriend who seem to be in some kind of conspiracy, the theory goes . Agreement to accomplish a goal. The alibi rick and bambi gave detective this is a were at home in the hours leading up to the murders was difficult to prove. Each gave the other as a witness. We were at home. Rick was there, i was there, my boys were in the other room. The prosecutor began to wonder, could those mysterious blood droplet at the crime scene be linked to rick and bambi. You didnt know who it was. We didnt know. It could have been richard. While humphries waited for the results, he obtained a software and took another look at rim and bambis belongings include his shoes. There was blood on his shoe. What did the lab analysis say about that the prosecutor didnt buy the story of looking for bambis car keys and they found what nay thought was blood on one of bambis boots. Now you have two persons of int, fair to say . No question. 10 days after the murders, humphries asked rick and bambi to take polygraph tests. Both agreed and both showed deception. Rick in particular showed deception. Police sat rick and bambi down in separate rooms for another round of questioning. This time the gloves were off. Are you going to charge me with something . I didnt do anything. They hoped for a confession or at the very least shed give up rick. She didnt do either. You dont want to be charged. No, im not going to be charged because i didnt do anything. Lock her up. If youre not going to say anything, lock her up. Take her to jail and charge her with two counts of murder. He yesterday trying to break bambi. On the way to her booking bambi said the hammer came down hard one more time. They surrounded me like a pack of wolves. They said, go get those crime scene photo es of her mama and daddy. And i said, no, no, no. I was trying to cover my face. He was prying my hands off of my face. And he said you did this, you chedetectives said the same thing to rick. They arrested me and that was pretty much it. If bambi did it then i had to be a part of it. So there it was, a daughter and her boyfriend partners in love and suspected of murder. The alleged motive was basic, get the deed to the land and resolve the custody issue of the boys in one bloody rampage. The night with case closed. But was it case solved . 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