Residents of Wilmington and Clinton County,
Last week, my wife and I, along with numerous family and friends, spent a horrible week in your city dealing with the murder trial of the person who took the life of our son, Zachary Parrott. It has been a horrendous 13 months since he was so tragically taken from our lives in such a senseless and evil manner. Although I cannot put into words the hell that my family has been through, my wife and I would not forgive ourselves if we didn’t take a moment to thank several people who eased our pain just a little and especially those who were relentless to discover the facts of this case to put this evil person away for a very long time.
The citizens of Clinton County are truly blessed to have such fine and honorable people in both the sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices who are truly great and professional at the jobs they do. In the sheriff’s department we are forever grateful for the compassion and hospitality shown to us by Col. Brian Prickett. We are also forever in debt to Detective Doug Estes and Detective Robert Gates. Without their hard work and dedication to the case, we would have never had the outcome that we did.
Most importantly, we would like to express our gratitude to the staff of the county prosecutor’s office. Victim’s Advocate Shannon Smart was a true rock through the process and Assistant Prosecutor Katie Wilkin was a rock star. However, I can not put into words the professionalism and passion that Prosecutor Andrew McCoy demonstrated to achieve the correct outcome in this case. His passion and expertise was inspiring and amazing. We are forever in his debt.
Finally, thank you to all of the sheriff deputies and staff members of the prosecutor’s office that we don’t know the names of for your service this past week as well. As well as thanks to the bailiffs and Judge Rudduck for ensuring there was a fair trial. Although we can not bring our son back, knowing that justice was served in this trial will help on our road to healing.
Ken & Patty Parrott
Bucyrus, Ohio
