Betty Kirk

A peaceful afternoon erupts in chaos, when young siblings come home to the unthinkable. We open up the door, and that's when I noticed the pool of blood. We've got a young mother who's been executed and a baby gone. While a desperate search for a newborn baby ensues, red flags begin to surface. They brought his co-worker over to meet the baby. My mom wasn't very happy. He said, "I really didn't want to tell you, because I thought you would think that this was involved." And police find the truth is stranger than fiction. She was a clown, that perform at birthday parties. It looked as if she might have been shopping for a baby. She came in with the baby, and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. It was time to either confess that she wasn't telling the truth or get a baby. She chose the latter. Lehigh Acres, just outside of Fort Myers, Florida, is a well-kept haven with a small town vibe. Lehigh Acres is the eastern portion of the county. At the time in the late '80s, early '90s, it wasn't heavily populated. Growing up in Lehigh, we were pretty secluded. We spent a lot of time outside. It was a good life. That childhood innocence comes to a tragic end on March 29, 1990, when six-year-old twins, Jacob and Joshua Parker return home from school. I remember my brother getting off the school bus, something at school that day happened. We wanted to hurry up and get home and tell him about it. We got home, opened up the door, and just, my mom, we're home. I happened to see her slumped over the side of the chair. I thought she was asleep at first, and that's when I noticed the pool of blood in the floor. Then I noticed the gunshot wound to her head. We're both just kind of standing there, couple of six-year-olds. We don't fully understand what's going on, and things just start to click. Scared and confused, the brothers look around for their newborn sister, Julie. We had a 10-day-old sister. You know, she should have been trying, she should have been there. We walked through the house when couldn't find her. At a loss, the twins wait outside for their 14-year-old sister, Heather, to return home. We didn't know what to do. We went back outside. We waited for Heather to get off the bus. I got off my school bus, and my brothers were standing there waiting for me. She was like, "Why are you guys out here?" And so we go, and we think mom's dead. And she freaks out. When I opened my front door, I could see my mom in the recliner. I was only 14 years old, so when I came in the house and saw my mom, and I saw the blood, I really didn't know what had happened. I didn't know if she was shot or stabbed or attacked. I could just tell that my mom was gone, and that my sister was missing. I ran to every room in the house and looked for her everywhere, and I couldn't find her. I picked up the phone, took all 9-1-1, and then I took my brothers and started walking to our babysitter's house because it was within walking distance to us. The babysitter quickly tries to contact the children's father, Gary Parker, at work. When the first responders arrive, they immediately determine there is nothing they can do. And detectives are called to the Parker home. Word came in from patrol that they had a dead body and lehiacres. Detectives were dispatched. Last partington was one of them. I was one of them. We found Sharon in a recliner. We were told the baby was missing. But disturbing the whole scene, we certainly checked the house to make sure that the child wasn't there. Whereas the child something was terribly wrong. You could fathom stealing a baby, it was a nightmare. As an APB goes out for the missing newborn, investigators take a closer look at Sharon's body for clues. She was leaned over to the left and there was also a blood dripping off of her head area down one to the cockpit. You could see that there was a wound in the back of the head that appears to be a gunshot wound. We had a kidnapping and we had a murder. In this case, it's all hands on deck. When it started, everybody's a suspect. There was a hurried rush to get people searching for Sharon Parker's child immediately. We went to the family. We went to neighbors. We went everywhere trying to figure out who was responsible for this. Born and raised in Florida, Sharon Parker always thrived on strong family ties. My mom had two sisters and a brother in the 60s and 70s. My mom was always very in fashion. She loved music so she went to concerts and things with her friends. In 1976, at the age of 19, Sharon's life took an unexpected turn. When she discovered she was pregnant with a baby girl, she later named Heather. My mom and dad get married right out of high school. She lived in Alabama where I was born and we had a little house. They were very young but she was a great mom. They were only married for the three years and then they get a divorce and she and I moved to Florida. My mother was a billing coordinator at Charter Glade Hospital but really her job was to be a mom. That's what she loved doing. The young mother didn't stay single for long. In 1983, Sharon's mother introduced her to an eligible bachelor, a contractor named Gary Parker. He was a hard-working man, dad worked for Lee Builders and he was a supervisor. He was a carpenter, house builder. They started dating and were married soon after when I was in first grade. They would go out every Friday night if they were in an argument or something she would give flowers. I loved Gary. My mom loved him. He loved her. A year after the wedding, the budding Parker family tree blossomed with twin sons Joshua and Jacob. Me and Jacob always had the mentality of me and him against the world. Heather was Barlow's second mom. We always call her Sissy. We always loved our Sissy. In the late 80s, the family of five settled into the peaceful enclave of Lehigh, Florida and embraced the small town vibes. We did a lot of things together as a family outside. We did camping out in the backyard in tents. We had a pool for the summertime. I remember those days, we just all be out there, smiles and laughs, fire, hot dogs, marshmallows. My mother and I loved music and we used to sing on Saturday mornings when we were cleaning the house and to our hairbrushes. In 1990, the young parents announced exciting news. Sharon was expecting another daughter. And mom told us that she was pregnant again with Julie. I was a teenager. Gary was very excited to have another baby in Josh and Jake couldn't wait. On March 19, baby Julie was born, a healthy seven pounds with a full head of dark hair. I was super excited. Mother and I were looking forward to having another girl and we did. Only 10 days later, the family home is the scene of chaos and confusion. After finding their mother dead and their baby sister missing, Heather, Joshua, and Jacob wait at a neighbor's home. At 4.40 p.m., their father Gary arrives. As soon as he got word of what happened, he raced home. I watched him run into the house. He was in shock. I mean, as you can imagine, uncontrollably crying. According to the husband, nothing was taken, relating to the care of baby. Gary quickly notices one item is missing. A banner that reads, "It's a girl." He said it was a traditional celebratory banner of a new child, along her banner maybe six feet long. Investigators excuse Gary to reunite with his children. He took us all in his arms and held us. I don't think he really could say much at that moment. For police, there is no time to waste. We had children emotional. We had a husband who was completely broken up. We've got a young mother who's been executed in the house and a baby got. The baby would not survive long on his own if it was just left without any type of parental care. Given the urgency of this crime, police knew they had to find it immediately. We couldn't find the baby. Was the baby taken out? Was it dumped? Is it going to be ransomed? We didn't know. The captain says, "What do you need?" And I said, "Everything." Coming up, a community is on edge. We had everybody that was available out searching. Until a bizarre tip pays off, I was looking at the baby. I could tell that she had shaved her head. It's been an hour after finding mother of four Sharon Parker dead from a gunshot wound. The search for her newborn is in high gear. We had a murder and what appeared to be the kidnapping. When you do have a missing baby, you have all the issues of the child getting food, is child safe, is it sheltered. A lot of missing kids' cases, they turn up under beds in closets. So we certainly checked the cars, things of that nature. There was a hurried rush to get people searching for the child. We had helicopters. We've probably had at least half the department out. As part of the on-foot search, detectives reach out to neighbors. One report seeing a suspicious vehicle around 9.45 that morning. She told investigators that a faded red hatchback vehicle pulled up into the Parker driveway. According to the witness, a woman got out of the vehicle and went inside the home. She had dark hair, approximately 5'8" to 5'9". Now, law enforcement must prioritize tracking down the mystery visitor. We did a composite on the face, and although it was from a distance, it gave us a basic starting point, and that went to the news media who put it out that day. As the search continues, crime scene texts process the Parker home, starting with Sharon's body. I noticed blood on the top of her head, so I assumed it was a small caliber gunshot. All indications to me as a crime scene technician was, she died pretty quick. You're checking the house to see if there was any forced entry. You're checking to see if there's obvious theft that may have occurred. Someone appeared out of place who would indicate to us that the person was either known or invited in. She had one leg tucked under the other, which meant she was comfortable in the environment. She absolutely knew the perpetrator. Investigators head to the station where the Parker family is waiting. A 14-year-old Heather is accompanied by her aunt into the interrogation room. I wanted to interview the 14-year-old daughter, Heather. You hear things that go on with family, and you know what's going on in that house. She was very composed, she's very smart and articulate, and I asked her background information about the family. Instinctively, detectives press young Heather for anything she can offer, and she gives them compelling information. A few days before my mom was murdered, someone gary worked with, named Stephanie, had come to the house to meet the baby. While she was there, my mother came to talk to me because she wasn't very happy that he had brought his co-worker over to meet the baby. According to Heather, Stephanie was gary's supervisor. Heather said that he spent a lot of time together, and that her mother, Heather's mother, was at times upset over that, and so there was an ongoing issue. Heather would hear her mother and her stepfather argue sometimes about the amount of time that the father was spending with his boss. They even traveled to Daytona. I believe I was in shock as an adult, I understand, but as a child I didn't understand why I was being asked all those questions. Now eager to hear directly from gary, investigators interview him next. Because he had work all day, who can verify that, where was he, what was he doing? Gary gave his ally where he was, and Gary stated that during the time of this offense, he was at work and then at a bar. During the interview I asked Gary if there was any financial issues, any indicators that would be stressors, and we found nothing that was significant. And when police press Gary about his work, he makes no mention of Stephanie. He wasn't forthcoming, and then toward the end of the interview, I somewhat challenged him regarding his relationship with his boss. He said I really didn't want to tell you about my boss and those things that we went on because I thought you would think that this was involved. Gary was spending a lot of time with his boss, but there was never any information that they had a relationship. And he said I also forgot to tell you I do have a small caliber fire arm under the seat and my truck outside. And that was important because we obviously knew that it was a small caliber type pistol that was used in this crime. And he gave me the fire arm, turned it over to us. After more than three hours of questioning, police let Gary go. We couldn't eliminate him because of the fact that he did have a fire arm and that he wasn't a hundred percent truthful in the beginning. The next day, investigators gain more insight when the medical examiner confirms Sharon's cause of death. It wasn't point blank, but it was a close range shot to the back of the head. The project that was retrieved from Miss Parker's head area was a 25 caliber. Which means the pistol Sharon's husband Gary turned over to police, a 22, is not the murder weapon. He's alibi also checks out. He was at work and then at a bar and all that was checked and he in fact was. Gary's boss Stephanie is also interviewed and reveals she too was at work eliminating both of them as suspects. With no apparent leads, the hunt for baby Julie turns desperate. I remember sitting on the couch with dad, you know, and we're just, "Well, when's mommy coming home?" We thought the hospital was going to fix her up. My family tried to keep me from watching the news. I knew that they were having roadblocks and there was a search. I had almost been able to think that maybe none of this was real. I just kind of hit home that our mom wasn't coming back. We elisted and asked for help from the public. We have a murder and we have a child that's missing and if anybody reports anything unusual contact sheriff's office immediately. The media blitz initiated by the Sheriff's Department soon has their phones ringing off the hook. We got over a hundred leads. Every one of them had to be tracked out. We had to get agents or detectives to go out and confirm and deny whether or not every one of them was valid. To investigators, there is one remaining lead that stands out. Out of all the tips and leads that came in, one tip came in that there was a person that worked at Perkins restaurant. His wife had claimed to have just had a baby. She didn't look like she had been pregnant. Within 24 hours of the murder of Sharon Parker, one tip has caught the eye of law enforcement. Investigators speak to the tipster and employee at the chain restaurant Perkins, Peggy Mason. It was all over the news that a woman was killed and her baby was taken. So I was very aware of that. Betty Ann came into the restaurant that Thursday with the baby and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. Betty Ann is Betty Ann Kirk. Wife to Peggy's fellow Perkins employee, Craig. I didn't own him for a couple of years. He was happy to find out that she was pregnant and we all hoped for the best. I remember after he told us that Betty Ann would come in and we kept saying she was not getting very big and said, "Well, she's having the kidney issue." So I went out and I saw the baby and Betty kept prayed like the baby. She wasn't letting anybody too close to it and I kept pressing, I kept getting up on her. Betty, let me see. I was telling her, Betty Ann, she's just beautiful. Reluctantly, Betty allowed Peggy to get closer. While I was looking at the baby, I could tell that Betty had shaved her head. I could see she had a long, dark touch of hair that she missed when she shaved her head. I said, "Betty, I've got to get back to work, but I knew I was on the right track." Peggy gives police a description of Betty Ann. She had to be maybe five, seven, five, eight, and I said, "She's got a red Subaru." The details of the vehicle match the description given by the neighbor who saw a woman at Sharon's home on the day of the murder. The name Betty Kirk also rings a bell with one investigator. I was actually working a case on her for check fraud. That's the only criminal background I know I had never suspected her of anything like this. Betty Ann Kirk was born here in Florida on November 7, 1958, and grew up in the area. Betty's first marriage was a whirlwind of trauma and abuse. Betty had two children from a previous relationship that didn't work. They fought every single night and it was constant and it was harsh. In 1981, child protective services placed her children in foster care. DHS actually took her son away after one of these battery incidents and put him in foster care. Betty divorced her first husband and in 1982, she met Craig Kirk. Betty met Craig when she was living here in Fort Myers and this was the love of her life. She was just so smitten. The couple officially tied the knot in 1983, but newlywed bliss quickly faded. On the start, the family faced financial challenges caring for two children under five. Craig was struggling because he was working as a cook at a local Perkins restaurant but not bringing him very much money and at the time she was uneducated and not able to get a lot of opportunities for employment. Despite her unemployment, Betty was a passionate volunteer. Betty Kirk loved children. She was a Girl Scout troop leader. Eventually, Betty found a way to turn her love of working with children into a paycheck. She was a clown with a local clown troop and she would perform at birthday parties and shopping malls, painting kids faces, etc. Despite her happy persona, Betty and Craig struggled to make ends meet, leading Betty at times to take desperate measures. She had written some fraudulent checks and cash to my grocery store. Within a year, Betty made a surprising announcement. In the summer of 1989, Betty announced that she was pregnant. A couple began buying clothes and a crib. Once she told us that she was pregnant, I started to count. And where every woman will go 40 weeks for a pregnancy, Betty and was at 43. It just kept going. But on March 29, 1990, Betty and Craig announced the birth of their daughter, Laura Velta Kirk. Some of the Perkins restaurant employees thought it was strange because she had a child the same day as a murder. The baby's birthday occurring the same day as Sharon's murder is a coincidence investigators cannot dismiss. So we got a detective to out and investigate that lead. When he told me the name, I immediately registered him because I knew the name from my check for what case I was working. He heads first to the restaurant where Betty's husband Craig is a cook. Neither Betty nor Craig are there. I'm trying to talk to the employees and the stories are all about the same. By March of 1990, Craig's co-workers were beyond suspicious. She didn't gain too much weight and her belly didn't pop out the way a pregnant belly would. Craig had come to work the day before and said you thought Betty Ann was going to have the baby soon, very soon. The next day, Betty shows up to visit the restaurant with a brand new baby girl. We have a missing baby and all of a sudden the one shows up, big red flags go up. With baby Julie missing for 24 hours, there is no time to waste. Investigators race to the home of Betty Ann Kirk. When police arrive at the Kirk trailer, it's in bad condition. There was clothes piled up, there was what I called debris on the counters. Some of the beds were literally had no frame, they were on the floor, it was a filthy environment. Adding to their concern, Betty's husband Craig seems to be drunk and is only able to answer basic questions. Craig is sitting in this bar area just drinking and it just seems like he's already drunk. Craig and the firm that his wife had recently, the day prior, delivered the baby. Betty Kirk came out of a bedroom which was to the back and we started asking her questions about the baby. She had said that she went to the health department, had the baby there and they centered directly on them. Betty Kirk gave an explanation that she had the baby at the health department on Michigan Avenue. We knew that the health department on Michigan Avenue doesn't deliver babies. They press Betty for proof that the baby is hers. She told police she couldn't find the birth certificate. My concern was the baby's safety, where the baby was. We kept asking her questions and eventually got around to could we see the baby. Well, she brought the baby out to show it to us, wrapped in a blanket when I saw it. Another investigator, his kids were still rather young so he remembers the difference between an actual newborn and somebody being 10 or 12 or 14 days old, more alert, more awake, eyes open. It obviously was a born day before yesterday. Thirty hours into the investigation of the murder of Sharon Parker and the search for now 11 day old missing baby Julie. Police in Lehigh, Florida suspect that the newborn in Betty Ann Kirk's home may not be her own. I was concerned for the child, but at that point we couldn't really do a lot about it until we did some follow-up and either verify their story or discredit their story. And we've used ourselves and laughed. One officer conducts surveillance near Betty Kirk's home, while the other reports back to his supervisor. He went, but half mile away he had to use a pay phone, there was no cell phones back then. And he called my lieutenant and gave him a full briefing on what was happening. When we went to make phone calls, tried to verify some of this information that we could not. Betty is claiming that she gave birth on March 29th of 1990 at the Health Department, which they have no facility for a woman to give birth. So investigators checked every hospital, every clinic in the area, and there was no record of Betty Kirk getting birth. Meanwhile, the officer keeping watch over the Kirk home notes alarming activity. I started seeing a shadow come out of the house, go to the car, made about three or four trips, feared to be carrying something. It was Betty Kirk, Jack on the radio and said Betty is leading. She came out and got in the car, and drove directly in front of me. I followed her, and about a mile and a half or so away. We made her a vehicle stop on her vehicle. The baby isn't in the vehicle, but the officer does find reason to believe their suspect may be running away. She had a couple of baskets of clothes, a couple of bags of clothes. She had said she was going to a store, a store she mentioned, and knew it was closed because of the hour, was 10 or 11 o'clock at night. Investigators aren't letting Betty out of sight. They asked Betty if she was willing to go tech course for an interview, and she agreed. I got very concerned about the infant being left at the house with an intoxicated person, so I went back to the house to judge on the safety of the child. The baby is with Betty's husband, Craig. When I got there, the gentleman was still there and was still drinking. I don't believe he could take care of an infant. At that point, the protocol changes. Now we're having an endangered child. We called in the troops at that point. DCFS got involved. We secured everything while they completed their investigation. We had health and repelt aid services go and take custody of the child, and they brought the child to leave one more hospital for observation and examination. Before detectives interview Betty Kirk, they questioned her husband. Craig is adamant he had every reason to believe his wife was pregnant. She went three times to the doctor, but her husband, he thought was prenatal care. She even told her husband that he couldn't sleep in the bed with her because she needed the extra space for her pregnant belly. As for the day of the murder and the alleged birth of his child, Craig has an alibi. I had learned that Craig Kirk was working all day the day of the murder, so his alibi was easily accountable. Investigators ask Craig if Betty has a gun and he tells them yes, a 25 caliber handgun, but he says he hasn't seen it in a while. The gun used to kill Sharon was a 25 caliber, which isn't the most common, but this is the exact type of gun that Betty owned. After confirming his alibi, Craig is released with no charges. Next, investigators question Betty, now pressing her on what she knows about Sharon Parker. In a surprise move, Betty admits she knew Sharon. Betty claims that she and Sharon are actually friends. Betty told investigators that she met Sharon at a shopping mall when she was dressed as a clown. Betty would dress up as a clown and that's where Betty Kirk met Sharon Parker. According to Betty, she got to know Sharon while painting the twins' faces. The two women had bonded because Betty had told Sharon she was also pregnant. They exchanged phone numbers and they began to befriend each other. According to Betty, when she read the birth announcement for Sharon's baby in the newspaper on March 29th, she decided to congratulate her friend in person. Betty Kirk said that she went to the house and that she was invited in and Sharon Parker was sitting in a chair. They spoke for a while, and one point Betty said she was thirsty. The short-sistance away was a convenient type store and Sharon gave her a dollar and said to get me a candy bar as well. Betty Kirk left for a short period, got a Pepsi or Coke and came back with a candy bar. Betty says when she returned from the store and reached into her purse for Sharon's change, a horrible accident in soon. Betty says that she regularly carries a handgun in her purse for protection. The crystal fell out of her purse. She grabbed it and the gun went off. She shot Sharon Parker in the back of the head, but she explained it away as an accident. When it accidentally went off and hit Sharon, she panicked and just grabbed the baby and fled. Just to her extended pregnancy, detectives learned that there was an unfortunate explanation. Betty is claiming that she had the miscarriage, but she continued to pretend like she was pregnant. A lot of the positive attention and things that she was receiving that was making her feel optimistic about her future and happy about her life was taken away and so she didn't want that to end. The forensics don't match Betty's version of events. The angle at which the gun was used to fire couldn't possibly have been from an accident. It wasn't that you accidentally stand above somebody behind them and shoot at them. So this point police have enough to arrest her, even though she's still maintaining that it was an accident. Less than two days after the investigation began, Betty and Kirk is booked and stops talking. Betty invoked her right to remain silent and get an attorney. Coming up, a joyous reunion. All I ever heard was what a great mother she was. And to prove their case, police pieced together a diabolical plan. Look as if she might have been shopping for a baby. 31-year-old Betty Kirk is in custody for allegedly murdering young mother Sharon Parker and kidnapping her baby, Julie. Betty claims the shooting was an accident. She was just hanging out at Sharon's house because they were friends. And in the midst of this, the gun just went off. After her arrest, investigators searched her car. There was a 25-calibre hang on found in Betty Kirk's car and the jackdow was retreated from Miss Parker's head, a 25-calibre. The gun isn't the only damning evidence. There was a as a girl banner that was found. There was some clothing and little shrinkage and stuff that were gifted to my mother from our baby showers. There was a stack of several newspapers with birth announcements. It appeared to have, I believe, five or six different births circled on it. Sharon was one of the people that was circled. Looked as if she might have been shopping for a baby. Investigators followed up with the other women whose names were circled in the newspaper. And one of these women told investigators that Betty Kirk actually did show up at her house, claiming to be a healthcare worker. Investigators believe that Betty was just going to keep going down the list until somebody with a baby letter in the house. The baby found in Betty's custody is positively identified as Julie Parker. I went with my stepdad and Josh and Jay to the Sheriff's Department where we picked her up and we were very happy to have our sister back. - The only thing I'm sure of is that it happened. It was just kind of known in my family. People just talked about it openly. For a lot of my childhood, I felt very guilty. Like if I weren't born, that wouldn't have happened. And she'd still be here and all my siblings would still have their mother. All I ever heard was what a great person she was, what a great, specifically mother she was, that her passion in life was her children. On March 30, Betty pleads innocent to charges of first degree murder and kidnapping. As prosecutors prepare for trial, they delve into Betty's motive by speaking to those close to the couple. - Craig and Betty weren't getting along. And he told her he was thinking about leaving her. There was always fighting and never had money. And so he was already considering leaving. Betty was determined to see him stay. - She was trying to get pregnant to entrap Craig to stay in their relationship. - They tried to get pregnant for a long time and she eventually did get pregnant in the summer of 1989. But she miscarried in December of that year. - At that point, she had told people that she was pregnant, friends, family. And it was time to either confess that she wasn't telling the truth or get a baby. - 14 months after the murder, the case nearest trial, staring down a possible death sentence, Betty weighs her options. Betty and Kirk ultimately played no contest to first degree murder. She was later sentenced to life in prison. In order to avoid additional trauma, my family decided to accept the plea bargain. I just heard she was this amazing, ideal person. And you know that everybody's blessed to know and I unfortunately missed the chance. And how sorry everybody felt for me that I didn't get to experience that. This lady didn't just steal my mom. She stole my joy. And I had to find it in my heart. I do like Jesus did. And to be able to give some sort of forgiveness. That way I could be free. A lot of people get to call their mom and tell them about things. I never got to do that. She don't get to meet my kids. But not a day goes by, I don't think about her. (soft music) Betty and Kirk remains incarcerated. She is eligible for parole in 2062. She will be 103 years old. Craig Kirk was never charged in connection to the kidnapping or murder.