Cleveland man allegedly kidnapped double amputee at gunpoint, left him on train tracks
04/18/2023 1:32 pm PDT
CLEVELAND (TCD) -- A 23-year-old man faces more than 20 criminal charges for allegedly kidnapping a double amputee, leaving him on train tracks to die, stealing his car, and then beating and shooting another man to death a month later.
According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, on Feb. 21, Aaron Parsons and two other males approached a 59-year-old man sitting in his car near 71st Street and Horner Avenue and got inside. Parsons and the other two suspects allegedly held the victim at gunpoint, ordered him to drive, and hit the victim in the head with their gun.
The victim drove to railroad tracks near Pearl Road and West 25th Street, but the men allegedly kept hitting the victim with the gun. Parsons and the other two men reportedly "forcefully removed him out of his vehicle and onto the railroad tracks and stated, 'If the cold weather doesn’t kill you, a train will.'"
The statement says the men threw the victim’s wheelchair down a ravine and drove off in his car. The victim’s prosthetic legs were still in the vehicle.
The victim was able to contact Cleveland Police, who came to the scene and rescued him. Police found the man’s car burned near East 59th Street and Park Avenue.
In that case, the Prosecutor’s Office charged Parsons with one count each of attempted murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, arson, grand theft, having weapons under disability, and two counts of robbery.
A month later, on March 24, Parsons and a woman named Danielle Mayne-Hicks allegedly approached a 23-year-old man under a bridge near the same railroad tracks where Parsons allegedly previously left the first victim. Mayne-Hicks and Parsons are accused of beating the victim before Parsons allegedly shot him in the head several times.
The two reportedly fled before Cleveland Metroparks Police and EMS arrived. Officials pronounced the victim, who was not publicly identified, deceased at the scene.
Parsons was arrested about a week and a half later on April 5.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office charged Parsons with three counts of aggravated murder, four counts of murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of robbery, two counts of kidnapping, one count of tampering with evidence, one count of arson, and one count of having weapons under disability. Mayne-Hicks was indicted on two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of robbery, and two counts of kidnapping.
Prosecutor Michael O’Malley called Parsons a "barbaric predator," adding, "Judgment day is coming."
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