Deadly Georgia Love Triangle Leads To Murder Among Neighbors

Two homes in a Georgia neighborhood were ransacked, and multiple lives were destroyed as a result — but for very different reasons.

Around 9 a.m. on March 25, 2009, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a handyman who arrived to work at a house in Grovetown and found the back door broken in.

Responding deputies entered the blood-covered residence and located the homeowner, Kay Parsons, lying in the garage next to a baseball bat and hammer. She had a faint heartbeat and was rushed to an area hospital. “I’ve never seen someone beaten this bad,” Columbia County Sheriff’s Office Staff Sgt. Jimmy Edmunds recalled of the violent attack.

Investigators learned a house next door belonging to Tony and Becky Sears had also been ransacked around the same time. Nobody had been home, and detectives found a drop of blood on a door handle, leading them to believe the same culprit was responsible for both break-ins.

According to officials, the neighboring families were close and often hung out with each other. When Becky learned about the attack on Kay, she rushed to the hospital to check on her neighbor. Tragically, doctors declared Kay brain dead and she died from her injuries after she was removed from life support.

In a bizarre twist, one and a half days after Kay was attacked, investigators received another 911 call, this time from Becky. The neighbor, already seemingly reeling from having her home broken into and her neighbor attacked, now claimed a man had walked out of the woods and shot her in the leg near her workplace in Augusta.

“There’s some kind of connection between these two houses and I don’t know what it is but I’m missing something,” Sgt. Edmunds recalled of his investigation.

He quickly zeroed in on Michael Bowers, Becky’s son from a previous relationship. According to Edmunds, he asked Michael to see the bottoms of his sneakers when they spoke outside the crime scene and spotted a piece of glass embedded in the sole. Michael, who allegedly battled issues with drugs and had a criminal history involving burglaries, was considered a person of interest.

The case then took yet another turn when Becky’s brother, Jerry Jacobs, told police he believed his sister was involved in Kay’s murder. Jerry claimed Becky admitted to having an affair with Kay’s husband, David. Jerry then said his sister asked him if he knew anyone that could “kill Kay and make it look like an accident.”

“I’m kind of shocked, but then the pieces start falling together, because there’s my connection between these two women and these two houses,” Sgt. Edmunds said.

Kay’s husband, David, was out of town at the time of her deadly attack. Despite his illicit relationship with their neighbor, Becky, he was eventually cleared of any involvement in the case.

Detectives then found out about another of Becky’s sons from a previous relationship, Michael’s brother, Christopher Bowers. According to police, Becky often confided in Christopher about her marital problems and he knew about the affair.

Becky’s brother, Jerry, provided police with further details about the mother-son relationship. As police dug deeper into Christopher’s background, they realized they previously had been focusing on the wrong son and were able to eliminate Michael as a suspect in the case despite the glass in his shoe and his past issues with the law.

Sgt. Edmunds noted Christopher and Becky’s closeness was “really strange.” He explained, “Everybody called him a mama’s boy, but it was to a different level.”

Police learned Becky gave Christopher drugs, expensive gifts, money and even bought him a car and house. “Whatever Christopher wanted, Christopher got,” Edmunds said, “but with all these gifts, there’s definitely strings that came along with it. Whatever she asked of him, he would do for her.”

On March 27, 2009, police interrogated the mother and son. Christopher refused to speak with detectives, but Becky immediately opened up and turned on her child. According to Becky, Christopher told her that “he was just gonna do what he had to do.” She added, “He was going, in his mind, to do whatever it took to make me happy.”

Becky claimed she didn’t think her son would actually harm her neighbor and romantic rival because Christopher was just “so sweet.”

Police, however, believed Becky planned out the staged burglary and Kay’s murder with Christopher and set up the shooting to throw cops off their trail.

“That’s one of the most narcissistic women I’ve ever seen,” Sgt. Edmunds said of the mother. “Becky Sears is the mastermind behind this whole plot. She just suckered her son in. She plied him with material things; she plied him with drugs. She knew how much he loved her and knew he would do anything for her.”

Becky and Christopher were arrested and charged with Kay’s murder. Both eventually pleaded guilty, and in 2012, the mother and son were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

For more on this case, stream Mother May I Murder: “Suburban Psycho” now on Max.