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The upcoming episode of 20/20 on ABC is all set to dive into the murder of single mother and veterinary technician Christina Parcell, who was brutally stabbed to death in her own home in October 2021. The case received a lot of coverage, and as the plot of the murder unfolded, it went beyond anything anyone could have imagined.
With thorough inspection and testimonies from those involved in the murder and the investigation, 20/20 is all set to cover this case in its upcoming episode, titled The Rose Petal Murder, which airs on May 2, 2025, at 9.00 PM EST on ABC. The synopsis for the episode reads:
"A young mom is found stabbed to death with rose petals scattered around her body, and evidence caught on camera leads police to an unlikely killer."
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Who was Christina Parcell, and what happened to her?
Christina Parcell was born in 1980 and raised in a seemingly loving household with her sister, Tina Parcell. She was academically smart and eventually made a career as a veterinary technician.
In 2008, she met John Mello, and they started dating. Reports suggest that their relationship soon turned tumultuous, but the two had a daughter in 2012. Things escalated further within the next three years between Christina and John, and the two separated. In 2015, John Mello filed for the custody of their daughter and was granted it.
Later, he tried to stop Christina from visiting their daughter and, in an attempt to take their daughter to Italy, got into legal trouble. Meanwhile, Christina Parcell had begun dating Bradley Post, and the two soon decided to get married.
Shortly before they would start preparing to start a life together, on the morning of October 13, 2021, the authorities received a call from Bradley Post, who informed them about his fiancée's murder. Authorities arrived at Parcell's Greenville, South Carolina, home to find her lying in a pool of blood with rose petals scattered around her. There was also a pungent chemical odor in the room.
Christina Parcell had 35 stab wounds, and it seemed that whoever did it had some kind of grudge against her. What would unfold after this was nothing short of astonishing.
Who killed Christina Parcell?
After looking at Bradley Post and John Mello, the two men in Christina's life, the authorities realized that they were not directly involved. But John Mello had enough motive to kill Christina, as that would solve his legal troubles with the custody.
As the authorities dug deeper into Mello, they found a connection. He was very good friends with Zachary Hughes, a Juilliard-trained pianist, who had no prior criminal records or misdemeanors. Yet, it turned out that he was the one who had killed Christina Parcell.
By then, authorities had accumulated other pieces of evidence, like a security camera footage that captured a car and a bike, a DNA sample that matched that of Hughes, and a possible connection to Mello, who would want Christina dead.
The plot that unfolded was quite shocking, but ultimately, both John Mello and Zachary Hughes were arrested. The latter of them has already been sentenced.
The upcoming episode of 20/20 will cover this case in further detail.
