Zachary Hughes, Christina Parcell, John Mello (Images of suspects via Greenville County Detention Center; image of victim via Facebook)
A Juilliard-trained concert pianist already accused of the “very brutal” stabbing murder of a 41-year-old animal hospital worker in 2021 is now charged along with the father of the victim’s child for allegedly mailing sexually explicit photos to Greer, South Carolina, neighbors and businesses.
Zachary David Hughes, now 30, and his friend John Joey Mello, a 63-year-old “self-styled music producer” who had a child with Christina Parcell, were charged Thursday with conspiring together to commit first-degree harassment before Parcell’s death.
Explicit, pornographic photos of Parcell were sent to neighbors with young children, the victim’s sister could be seen and heard saying to the defendants at the jail in video posted by NBC affiliate WYFF.
“Utterly callous and based on the lack of eye contact, I would assume no regrets. The images that were sent were sent to our neighbors,” she said. “Our next-door neighbors have a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old. The neighbors across the street have a 10-year-old, a 9-year-old, a 6-year-old, and a toddler received these photos.”
The murder took place on Oct. 13, 2021, but the harassment cases stem from as early as June and July 2021. Authorities previously claimed to have WhatsApp message evidence from April 2021 in which Mello allegedly gave Hughes the victim’s number and said “harass the s— out of her.”
Months later, on the day of the slaying, Mello allegedly asked Hughes, “How did the music research go?”
“Good. I’ll tell you over the phone,” Hughes allegedly answered.
When authorities arrived at the murder scene, Parcell’s sister’s home, they reportedly found rose petals sprinkled around Parcell’s body.
Hughes was allegedly caught by a doorbell camera entering the victim’s home on the day of the murder, and prosecutors claimed his DNA was found under Parcell’s fingernails. Still, his lawyers have pointed a finger at Parcell’s then-fiancé Bradly Post and his “nervous” behavior on the day he found Parcell dead and called 911.
“The deputy who responded walked outside the residence and reestablished contact with Post for the purpose of continuing the investigation. During the deputy’s interview, ‘Post became. nervous and asked if he needed to speak with his lawyer,”” the defense motion said in a motion. “Despite the fact the deputy was just ‘asking basic questions about the incident at the time, Post asked for his lawyer.’”
Bradly Post (Greenville County Detention Center)
“Police asked Post to accompany them while they searched the residence. Strangely, Post wore gloves during the process,” the motion continued.
In September 2022, a judge handed Hughes a loss by ordering him to release his iPhone passcode to investigators, after the defendant had resisted doing so. Prosecutors didn’t get into the phone “by electronic means” until April 2023, they said, because Hughes provided a “bogus” passcode. Though the defendant claimed he forgot the passcode, prosecutors filed a motion calling for Hughes to be held in contempt.
Court records show that Hughes filed a response to contempt motion on April 20, but the docket did not say whether there has been a ruling.
Greenville County Detention Center records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Hughes was hit with first-degree harassment charges on Thursday and issued a $10,000 bond, a formality since he remains held without bond on charges of murder and possession of a weapon during a crime of violence. WYFF reported that Hughes and Mello are also charged with a more serious conspiracy charge, and that Mello’s bond was set at $15,000.
A search of detention center records did not show Mello in custody.
Under South Carolina law, first-degree harassment is a misdemeanor unless punishable by up to three years in prison unless the charged individual “has a prior conviction of harassment or stalking within the preceding ten years.”
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Mello faces a separate pending case, which dates back to Oct. 25, 2021 — 12 days after Parcell’s death.
The defendant was indicted in the custodial interference case in April 2022, 13th Judicial Circuit records show.
The law says that it is illegal for a person to “take or transport, or cause to be taken or transported” a child under the age of 16 for the “purpose of concealing the child, or circumventing or avoiding the custody order or statute.”
“It is permissible to infer that a person keeping a child outside the limits of this State for more than seventy-two hours without notice to a legal custodian intended to violate this subsection,” the law says further.
Mello was accused of taking the daughter he shared with Parcell out of the country. The defendant commented on the case in an interview from November 2021.
He said he was in Italy on the day of the murder.
“I can’t help their perception. I can only pray and move forward for my child. I can’t cater to people, I can’t respond to people, you know. I can’t do anything but focus all my efforts on the wellbeing of my child,” he said.
“We went there [to Italy] to finalize our citizenship and I wanted her to be away from these people,” he said, referring to Parcell and Bradly Post, who was charged with first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor on Oct. 19, 2021. “And I wanted her to have a better life. Free education, free university anywhere in Europe, health care for and everything.”
“That was my retirement plan,” Mello added.
A lawsuit from 2022 alleged that sexually explicit photographs and videos of Jane Doe’s “genitals and breasts” were “taken by, with, and/or in the presence of Defendant Post and Defendant Parcell.”
Greenville County records show the charges against Post are still pending.
FITSNews, citing anonymous sources said to be familiar with the evidence in the child sexual exploitation case, reported in March that there was proof both Post and Parcell, who worked at Foothills Veterinary Hospital in Greenville, S.C., engaged in bestiality.
Hughes, a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York City, said on his no longer active website that when he wasn’t playing piano, he crafted “wooden replica swords” from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books. He also mentioned that he underwent six months of training in “a competitive pool of candidates to attend Marine Corps Officer Candidates School in Quantico, VA.”
“Despite earning top marks at OCS, he was dropped from training due to severe stress fractures sustained in both legs,” the site said.
After Parcell’s death, at least one dog rescue group that knew her said the “dogs loved her and she did such an incredible job with them.”
“I am asking for all of you to please keep Christina’s Family, specifically her young daughter in your prayers,” the post said, calling Parcell “not only one of the most epic Vet Techs to our dogs but […] a friend” with a “personality the size of a High Rise and always trying to make everyone else feel better.”
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