TOWANDA — A preliminary hearing was held in front of Magisterial District Judge Wilcox at the Bradford County Courthouse on Friday, April 26 for 46-year-old Terry Parker, 48-year-old Ronda Parker and 36-year-old Summer Heil, who were arrested in March of 2024 for the murder of 40-year-old Michael Pruitt.
District Attorney Richard Wilson represented the commonwealth, while Bradford County chief public defender Patrick Beirne and assistant chief public defender Victoria Martin represented Ronda Parker, Matthew Diemer represented Summer Heil, and Cornelius Rotteveel represented Terry Parker.
Terry and Ronda Parker are facing charges of conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Upon arrest, Heil originally faced charges for tampering with evidence and one count of abuse of a corpse, but DA Wilson added a second count of abuse of a corpse and the charge of felony hindering apprehension at the preliminary hearing.
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The three were charged after a series of disturbing text messages between Ronda and Terry were reported to the Pennsylvania State Police on March 11, 2024, which inevitably spurred an investigation and lead police to the charred remains of Pruitt.
The text messages discussed their alleged involvement in the homicide of Pruitt and their involvement, along with Heil, in the dismemberment and burning of Pruitt’s body that occurred at 1404 Sawyer Rd. in Springfield Township.
At the preliminary hearing, Wilson introduced an abundance of evidence and testimony in order to portray the alleged guilt of the three accused and to explain both the apparent conspiracy between Terry and Ronda to commit the homicide as well as Heil’s involvement in the attempt to dispose of the body and cover up the crime.
Evidence such as the disturbing text messages, clips from interviews between PSP and the accused, witness testimonies from 12 individuals, crime scene photos, and footage from a dashboard camera that was allegedly found in Terry Parker’s vehicle were all presented before MDJ Wilcox by the commonwealth .
All of the co-defense lawyers offered cross-examination questions to the witnesses as well as attempted to have the charges against their clients either reduced or withdrawn, but they ultimately fell short.
By the end of the hearing, after nearly six hours of proceedings, MDJ Wilcox noted that in his 24 years of sitting on the bench, this was the “best preliminary hearing” he had ever judged before favoring on the side of the commonwealth, offering no reduction or withdrawal of charges against any of the defendants. Because of this, all three accused will go to trial at a later date.
