WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — An autopsy report is shedding more light on what led to a woman being charged with manslaughter a year after the death of her son.
On Tuesday, Winston-Salem Police Department said they charged Pamela Linville Parks, 69, of Winston-Salem with involuntary manslaughter and neglect of a disabled adult in a domestic setting causing serious injury after the death of her 29-year-old son, Michael Steven Parks, Jr., on Sept. 17, 2023.
Officials received an autopsy report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and that led to charges against Pamela Parks, police say. The mother was Michael Parks’ caretaker because he could not drive to get himself food,
The autopsy report noted that Michael Parks had Down syndrome and was found dead in bed by his mother, who told officials he had been “lethargic.” The night before his death, Michael Parks had fallen in the bathroom but was able to get back into bed, where he apparently died.
According to the report, Michael Parks was emaciated and had an “extremely low body mass index.” He also showed signs of dehydration. There were no drugs or alcohol in Michael Parks’s system. Pamela Parks was also noted to be thin.
Officers noted that there wasn’t much food in the house. According to the report, family members would drop off food for them, but, if the food was dropped off at the end of the driveway, Pamela Parks would not bring the food inside because she “did not want to leave the house.”
Malnutrition was deemed his cause of death, and the OCME declared the death a homicide through neglect.
