Pianist Who Made Shocking Claim About Why He Killed Vet Tech Is Convicted of Murdering Her

A Juilliard-trained pianist was found guilty of murdering a woman after he claimed he killed her in order to protect her daughter from abuse.

Zachary Hughes admitted to fatally stabbing 41-year-old veterinary tech Christina Parcell in South Carolina in 2021, the Greenville News reported. But he and his attorneys reportedly claimed that he did so for a “just cause.”

During his testimony, Hughes reportedly claimed that his friend, the father of Parcell’s daughter, had become “distressed about the safety of his daughter,” the paper reported.

Eventually, Hughes said that he had become “absolutely convinced” Parcell’s daughter was being abused, according to WSPA. The outlet reported that prosecutors had said Hughes and Parcell had never met each other.

“I told him the only way I would ever consider taking action like this is if I was absolutely convinced that his daughter was not only in danger but that the only way to rescue her from that danger would be to take Christina Parcell’s life,” Hughes testified, according to the Greenville News.

After three hours of deliberation on Thursday, Feb. 20, Hughes was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, according to the Greenville News, WYFF and WSPA.

During Hughes’ reported testimony, prosecutors said he was making a “mockery” of the court, according to WSPA. Hughes was then instructed by the judge not to make allegations that Parcell had abused her daughter, the outlet reported.

Following Parcell’s death in 2021, her husband, Bradley Post, was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, according to Greenville County jail records. It’s not immediately clear if he entered a plea. The Greenville News reported that Post was arrested after police allege he had child sex abuse material on his computer.

Prior to the trial, a judge denied a defense motion to argue that Hughes was trying to save Parcell’s daughter from sexual abuse, WYFF reported. In his ruling, Judge Patrick Fant noted that the girl was at school at the time and not in any imminent danger, according to the outlet.

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As a result of Hughes’ trial testimony, John Mello, the girl’s father, was arrested and charged with accessory before the fact to a felony and solicitation to commit a felony, WYFF, the News and Fox Carolina reported.

The Greenville News reported that following the verdict, prosecutor Walter Wilkins told reporters there were other ways to report alleged child abuse.

“I know one way that you’re not supposed to do it,” he reportedly said, “and that’s to break into a person’s house and stab them 35 times.”