Zachary Hughes - Bombshell Retrial ?

[00:00:00]Good morning, true crime friends. How y'all doing? Listen, listen, listen, listen. This case, this case, I'm overinvested in this case. Zachary Hughes might get a new trial. Oh my god, I'm positively beside myself. Look, I'm going to tell you every single thing.

[00:00:15]But first, you know what you need to do?

[00:00:16]Please like this video, subscribe to the channel, share it out, and hype this video. Hyping helps new people find us.

[00:00:22]Me and you, we're going to get to 50,000 subscribers together. Okay, so longtime watchers of this channel know that I was positively obsessed with this case. I am not at all rational when it comes to this case. This was the most dramatic case I have ever seen in my life and I still have very strong feelings about it. Look, there's a lot to cover here.

[00:00:43]So, I'm going to just give you the quick and dirty. Maybe later we'll go into details of all the different characters, right? Okay. So, this case starts three years ago in South Carolina. Immediately on the heels of Alec Murdoch's conviction, Fitz News, who was covering um the Alec Murdoch case, started talking about the Rose Petal murder case. And I was like, "Oh, say, okay, South Carolina, I see you just trying to get us to keep our eyes on South Carolina. I do not care about what happens in this stupid rose petal case."

[00:01:15]And then I found out the details of the case. This lady was found in her house stabulated up like 33 times with rose petals all around her. And I was like, say what now? They they defiled roses. What is happening right now? Right. And so I was like, okay, you have my attention. South Carolina and Will folks. Um I have a ongoing fake feud with Will Folks. Okay.

[00:01:38]So I was like, okay, so tell me about the dead lady and the rose petals. And you know, we try to be very victim centric over here. So, I was just like, I'm gonna pay attention and maybe justice for this poor lady who got stabbulated up. Okay. So, Christina Parcels was um a youngish, like 30some vette down there in the Greenville, South Carolina area. Christina had a daughter with this dude, John Melo. Let us be abundantly clear, John Melo is a weirdo and a creep. I look, I just said it. He's a weirdo and a creep. He's also kind of a Karen. He's just like, I don't like that me about every single thing.

[00:02:20]There's a giant age gap between John and Christina, right? So, when Christina meets John, Jon is very controlling.

[00:02:29]He's very manipulative. He controls every single thing she does. And I was like, "Okay, he probably she pro he probably did it. She's probably innocent. This is a terrible situation.

[00:02:41]Who needs a dude like this?" Turns out John and Christina have a child together. I know the child's government name. We are going to refer to her as daughter on the strength of she needs her privacy, right? John is a lot older.

[00:02:56]Uh so John and Christina have this daughter together and then ultimately they break up. During the time that Christina was dating the very controlling John Melo, he controlled every aspect of her life, including um limiting her access to her family and friends. And I was like, "Oh, coercive control, you say. I know exactly where this case is going." You think you know, too. You're wrong. So, Christina breaks up with John Melo, takes her baby, and she goes to live with her sister. Her sister has never even seen this child.

[00:03:30]The child's like three or four years old. So the family is like, "Oh my god, welcome back. We're so glad you're away from that terrible John Melo. Thank goodness. Now we can just like love you up." When John and Christina break up, Christina does not have a stable financial foundation. So Jon gets custody of the child, right? But Christina has liberal visitation.

[00:03:53]Christina goes on and she's just like, "Okay, I'm free. I'm going to start dating again. I'm going to pursue being a vette. This is wonderful." Oh, I love the the puppies and the kitties and every single thing. John Melo, who has full custody of his daughter, the mama is getting liberal visitation. John is like, "My daughter is upset every time she comes home from her mama's house. I think something is going on over there.

[00:04:17]I think my child is being harmed." Now, you know, here on YouTube, they won't let us say certain words like abus and the sa. Like if somebody's diddling somebody else's kibbles and bits and one of the people is not old enough to consent to such a thing, we just going to refer to that as harm. But you know what I'm talking about. CP, you know, the childy the child nastiness, right?

[00:04:39]So, um, John is like, I think my daughter is being harmed by her mother and the mother's new boyfriend. And I was like, okay, John Melo, but you always complain about everything, so who even knows if you're actually right, right? So, Christina, the victim, our victim here, lives with her sister, Lutina.

[00:05:00]Y'all, the names in this case, Christina's boyfriend, is a dude named Bradley Post, also a much, much older man. John Melo, the dad, does not like um Christina, does not like Lutina, and certainly does not like this boyfriend friend Bradley Post. Right.

[00:05:23]John Melo believes that the sister Lutina is allowing this little daughter to be harmed in her home and John is like I will not have it but he has no proof that actual harm is going on right but he will anybody who will listen and he was like my child is being harmed my child is being harmed my child is being harmed because John Melo has a history of being a big Karen I think a lot of people are like okay John you always complaining about every single thing.

[00:05:54]Enter Zachary Hughes, right? Our convict in this story. He was not a convict when the story began, right? Zack Hughes was a street performer. And I know what you're thinking to yourself, South. He probably homeless. He probably out here just like banging on some drums with some banging on some buckets with some sticks and making music. Oh, no, no, no.

[00:06:13]Zachary Hughes comes from a very religious family. He's basically like um what do you call it? like a prodigy and he's playing like all of Beethoven's sonatas from memory. Apparently that's real super duper hard to do and he's like a musical genius, right? And so he's doing odd jobs around town and to make a little extra money on the side, he's playing piano on the street and so people would stop by and record him and listen to him. John Melo and his little daughter see Zachary Hughes playing piano on the streets of Greenville, South Carolina one day and they stop and they're like, "Oh my goodness." And so John Melo says to Zachary Hughes, "Oh, my daughter really enjoys piano music."

[00:06:54]And Zach is like, "Okay, lots of kids like music, whatever." So Zach plays a song and he realizes, "Oh, this is not an ordinary child. She's really really into my music and she's sort of like like also a musical genius or something like that. Zachary Hughes becomes taken with the daughter and it's just like oh wow not in a nasty way but he's just like she really appreciates piano. I like this family. This is so amazing. So Zachary Hughes the street piano player gets to be friends with this crazy ass John Melo. Now, let's know John Melo does not demonstrate his crazy all the all the time, but when he just like gets involved in something, he's kind of a dog with the bone. Reportedly, allegedly, Gigi, she of the pretty lies and the alibis. Gigi McKelie used to hear um Zachary Hughes play piano over there on the streets, right? So, John Melo, the pain in the neck baby daddy, becomes really good friends with the street piano player Zachary Hughes. Word on these true crime streets is that they may or may not have been lovers. It is unclear. I do not know, child. The go wait, where's my little sign?

[00:08:07]Caution. Gossip is happening. The gossip is that the piano player and John Melo uh got to know each other in the carnal sense. I don't know. Okay. So, it is with this backdrop that John Melo starts to tell Zach, his new friend. You know, my daughter is being harmed by her mother and the mother's boyfriend. And to protect her, I'm going to take my child to Italy. John has family in Italy. Knows Italian. I don't know. John takes his little daughter to Italy to keep her away from the mother and the mother's family and to keep her from being harmed. Right. And John is like, "Oh my gosh, we're happy. We're in Italy. My child is safe. She's thriving.

[00:08:54]Everything is wonderful." And then the mother is like, "Well, what you're not going to do is take my child out of the country." Right? So the mother works through all the paperwork or whatever and gets goes to Italy and gets the child brought back to South Carolina.

[00:09:11]John Melo stays in Italy, but he's very upset. Now my child is over here with her mother and she might be being harmed like in the intimate way also because the mother is a veterinary tech. John also believes that the mama is doing nasty stuff to animals. Uh Christina girl what you doing with them puppies and kitties and stuff? I don't but John Melo is like very mellow dramatic. So, he might be making all of this up. After the child is taken from John in Italy and brought back to South Carolina, John stays in Italy, but he's real super duper sad. Right. Zachary Hughes, who has no money, is like, "Oh my gosh, friend. Um, your daughter is back, so I'm happy to play piano for her, but I'm real sad that you're having a hard time in Italy." Zachary is like, "I know what let's do. I will come and visit you in Italy and we can hang out and I will lift your spirits." Also, there's gelato. I mean, I assume they were there partially for the gelato, right? In Italy, John Melo and street piano player Zachary Hughes get to be closer and um they talk a lot. They spend their days wandering the Italian streets and eating pasta. I assume, I mean, I just made that part up, but that's what I would do if I was in Italy. So, I assume that's what they're doing, right? And then Zachary is like, "Wait, um, John, I got to go back to South Carolina because not that long ago, I interviewed for a job playing piano on a cruise ship." And I got the job, so I'm going to go around the world playing the piano, but first I have to fly to Bora Bora. And John is like, "Oh my gosh, that's amazing. [cough] Please hold." Oh, I have gossip my throat dry.

[00:10:56]Look, you know, you could you be out here twitching curtains and solving crimes. Get your mugs underneath this video. You could gossip with me every morning while you sipping out of your gossip rumor and in your window mug.

[00:11:06]Okay, so Zachary goes back to the States to prepare for his trip around the world where he's going to play piano. He's like, "Okay, I'm headed to Bora Bora.

[00:11:18]What do I need to do? I need to refill my shaving kit. Um, I need to update my passport. Oh, um, I should also kill Christina to protect this child." That's just like, you know, one of my things on my to-do list. At this time, we don't know if all the things that John Melo has said about his baby's mama are true.

[00:11:39]Child, it is gossip, rumor, and innuendo at this point. But Zachary Hughes believes everything he's heard from John Melo is true. So Zachary is like, "Okay, I have a flight tomorrow. This is what I'm going to do. Um, I'm gonna get some flowers and act like I'm a flower delivery man and I'mma go over to her house and I'm gonna kill her to protect the child. Right. So, on this random day three years ago, Zachary Hughes gets a bicycle, dresses in all black, gets some flowers, and rides the bike over to Christina Parcell's home. He's like, "Ding dong. Hey, I have flowers for you.

[00:12:19]Not for you, for your sister, Lutina.

[00:12:21]can I come into your home and uh drop them off? And Christina is like, no, you can't come in my house, stranger. I will take the flowers. Thank you so much.

[00:12:30]Then he brandishes a gun and it's like, let me in the house. And Christina's like, ah, okay. You can come in the house. So, he forces his way into the house with a gun and he's like, look, I know you've been harming puppies and kitties and stuff cuz you a vette and I heard you've been harming your child.

[00:12:45]So, obviously, I'mma have to take you off this mortal coil. And Christina's like, wait, what? Oh my god, this is crazy. What are you doing?

[00:12:54]John uh um Zachary Hughes hits Christina in the head with her with the gun. It knocks her out, but it does not kill her. And he's like, "Oh, I thought murder was going to be a lot more easy than this." Let me see. There's neighbors home. Like Lu Tina, the sister, is off at work. Z uh Bradley Post, the boyfriend, is off at work. Um, but there's neighbors home. I What is a very quiet way to murk somebody? Oh, I know a knife. So, he pulls a knife and it's like and stabs up Christina 33 times. And then he's like, "Okay. Um, wow. She scratched me during the course of this crime. And so now my DNA is going to be under her fingernails."

[00:13:41]How could I clean DNA? Um, Zachary used his fingers and all his time, his brain space for piano playing, not so much for crime. And so he's like, "Okay, uh, I think paint thinner will kill DNA." So he uses paint thinner and cleans underneath, um, Christina, the now dead lady's fingernails, but he leaves some DNA behind. Other than the DNA under Christina's fingernails, there's no evidence that Zachary Hughes has been in this house.

[00:14:10]Right. During the commission of the crime, rose petals flew everywhere. And so Zachary Hughes is like, "Okay, let me let me just move her over here away from the door so in case anybody peaks in the windows, they can't see her right away."

[00:14:24]Um, and [clears throat] I would love to clean up these rose petals on the strength of I'm very tidy. Um, he was very just like weird and robotic. I start I started the rumor that he has a little bit of robot on his daddy's side, but I'm not really sure that's entirely true or possible if you want to know truth. Anyway, Zachary Hughes makes a clean getaway on this bicycle, but there's a nosy neighbor across the street. Honey, talk about twitching curtains and solving crimes. This neighbor across the street was like, "What is this? I spy with my little eye, a shady Mama Luke over here across the street." So, Bradley Post is trying to get in touch with his fiance like, "Hey girl, hey, how come you haven't called me back?"

[00:15:06]Ooh, something strange is happening. Let me go over and see if my lovely fiance is okay. And he goes in the house and he's like, she's dead on the floor surrounded by rose petals. Oh my god. I know this has something to do with her baby daddy, John Melo, because he's terrible. Hello, 911. My fiance is dead.

[00:15:26]It is terrible. And the police are like, "Wait, what?" So, the police rush over to the house and um Bradley Post is on the phone when they arrive and they're like, "Sir, sir, you reported a murder.

[00:15:36]Are are you the dude who reported the murder?" He's like, "Mhm, if you'll hold on for a second though, I'm on a call.

[00:15:41]I'm on a call." And the police are like, "How you reporting a murder, but you on a phone call and you don't want to get off?" And he was just like, "Okay, we can go in the house. Let me first put on these rubber gloves." And the police are like, "He's another shady Mama Luke. Is he the shady Mama Luke who has unfortunately unalived this dead lady on the floor? we don't know what's happening. And he's just like, "Police, um, you can look around, but don't look too hard. Can you just look at the the dead lady on the floor and not look at anything else in the apartment?" And they were like, "Sir, that that's not how this works.

[00:16:13]That's not how any of this works. When we investigate, we want to investigate every single thing. Don't you want us to find who merked your lovely fiance?" And he's like, "I mean, yeah, but like could you not look that that hard?" and that the police were like, "Okay, uh, something weird is about there's something weird about this dude." So, while investigating the murder of Christina Parcels, the police find a dead body. They find roses all over the place. They find that she has been stabulated up a whole bunch of times.

[00:16:44]And when they go look in her phone to see if maybe they could find evidence of who did this to her, they find child P on her phone. Mhm. They find uh buggery, which is animal pee. She was actually doing nasty things to the puppies and kitties and stuff, right? And they're like, "WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. Our victim is not, you know, like all cleancut like we thought she was.

[00:17:10]This is a 30-something year old woman.

[00:17:12]She's attractive. She has a nice life.

[00:17:13]She lives with her sister. She has a child. She has a fiance. But also, she's over here producing illegal images that include her child and that also include animals from down at the animal hospital where she works. Y'all, I was like, uh-uh. And they were like, uh, Bradley Post, fiance, who reported this crime?

[00:17:36]We see you are in some of these nasty pictures. And so they arrest the boyfriend who the the fiance who reported the crime. They arrest him for child harm and buggery, animal harm.

[00:17:49]Also, does that mean he was doing nasty things to bugs? I have so many questions. But they arrest him not for the murder of Christina Parcels, but for the pictures on his phone. And the police are like, "Where is John Melo? We know he probably did this." And John Melo's like, "Hi, I'm in Italy." With a perfect perfect alibi. I am out of the country. Look at my passport. I never came back into the country. This has nothing to do with me. So, the police are stumped. They're like, "Wait, we have a dead lady who was involved in all kinds of nasty stuff. We have her fiance also involved in all kinds of nasty stuff." Also, when the police were searching the house and gathering evidence, they also found some schmugs.

[00:18:31]Mhm. They were like, "Okay, so wait, we found nasty pictures and cocaine and a dead lady and roses. We don't know what we have here." So they examined Christina on autopsy and they were like she was stabulated up 33 times and there's this weird DNA also paint thinner under her fingernails and the DNA belongs to Zachary Hughes. Who is Zachary Hughes? Why would a piano player involve himself in this crazy case? He has nothing to do with it. He was on his way to Bora Bora to play piano on a world cruise. He was about to go around the world beginning in Bora Bora. All expenses paid for him. But while he was picking up like some Tylenol and a shaving kit, he stopped by this lady's house to murk her. It does not make sense. Zachary Hughes goes on trial, right? And everybody is like, why would this mildmannered piano player involve himself in this? The judge rules at the beginning of the trial, listen, we have all the evidence of what happened. The defense has their case, the um the state has their case, but there's no there's no way Zachary Hughes could have known that Christina, the lady he merked, was um harming her child. Oh, that was like rumors and stuff, but there it was all hearsay. There's no way he could have known that uh the child was being harmed. Therefore, evidence related to the child harm was not allowed at Zachary Hughes's trial. Right? That's a key point. That's why this might this case might get a retrial. Right? So, we go to trial and the state dramatically presents all of their evidence. I as a person who knows there is child harm because I've heard all about it over there on the Fitz news. I was like I mean I think he should plead she had it coming but obviously you can't do vigilante justice and you can't stabulate up people. People were very divided during the course of this case.

[00:20:35]Some people were saying justice for Zach Hughes because I mean he protected this child. It's imperfect defense, but like he was protect pro protecting the life of this child. Other people were saying like you can't be stabulating people just because you suspect something about them. Both sides I think make a lot of sense. What will the court say? At trial, the state puts on their case. He did it. He did it. He did it. But here's the thing. All of the evidence is very very circumstantial and they have nothing that directly connects Zachary Hughes to Christina Parcels except for the DNA under her fingernails. There was such a small amount of DNA that there may have been a way to explain away Zach's DNA under Christina's fingernails. Maybe he brought his cat to the vet. Who knows? The state's case in my opinion is very very weak and Zach Hughes stands a chance of walking on this case. And then Zachary was like I Zachary Hughes you should know Zachary Hughes at trial was very stiff, very rigid and he had the most gorgeous red hair I've ever seen in my life. And through the whole trial I was like number one I don't think he should be convicted. Number two that hair cannot go to prison. I will not stand for having that hair go to prison. At the same time, Linda Sturmer had just been convict been convicted and her gorgeous hair was going to prison. And so I was really really hung up on the idea of all these gorgeous heads of hair being stuck in prison. But that's a me thing. It has no bearing on the case. Zachary Hughes decides to take the stand. And I was like, "Oh, sir, this is probably ill advised." And the judge is like, "Okay, Zachary, now you know you cannot mention anything about that child P, right?" And he was like, "I understand what you're saying, your honor." Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[00:22:31]Yes. Yes. Um, I understand it all. I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So, help me God. And so, they bring in the jury, and Zachary Hughes gets on the stand, and his lawyer very, very carefully starts asking him questions.

[00:22:46]Where were you on the day? Why do you like the piano so much? Isn't this a lovely courtroom? And Zachary Hughes answers all the questions in front of the jury. And then unprompted says, um, "The state is HIDING EVIDENCE FROM YOU. THE REASON WHY I STABULATED THAT LADY UP IS BECAUSE she was doing nasty things to HER DAUGHTER AND TO PUPPIES AND KITTIES and possibly bugs." Y'all, the courtroom went wild. I fro all the way out. You have to go watch this trial. You'll have to watch Zachary Hughes testify. IT WAS A MESS.

[00:23:20]THE JUDGE IS BANGING HIS GAVL. OH, he was a big man. He was a big big big man.

[00:23:24]And Zachary Hughes was like, I mean, you asked me to tell the truth. I'm just telling the truth. And the JUDGE IS LIKE, I TOLD YOU YOU can't do this. And he was just like, uh, oops.

[00:23:38]But the jury had been ushered out. The jury was like, wait, what happened? What what what?

[00:23:44]I was fully melting down. fully melting down. Right when Zachary Hughes was on the stand slowly walking us through his confession, what he said was, "Um, yes, I stabulated up this lady, but only because John Melo asked me to do so.

[00:24:02]John Melo had evidence that she was doing nasty things to her daughter and puppies and kitties, etc." Right? As soon as Zach, while Zachary Hughes was on the stand testifying, John Melo told me to do this. The police, the sheriffs stood up in court and rushed out and went over and arrested John Melo while Zach Hughes was still on the stand.

[00:24:27]Y'all, I was beside myself. Beside myself. A teensy little bit of background that you should also know.

[00:24:36]During the penency of this trial, John Melo began emailing me, yeah, me personally, asking me to investigate Lutina.

[00:24:48]The way I was freaked out. I was like, "WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. I would like to stay here in New Jersey and talk mess about people I don't know. I don't want to become a part of true crime."

[00:24:59]So, I had to up my security game because I had heard that he will ask like a reporter. I'M NOT A REPORTER. I'M A GOSSIP ON THE INTERNET. He will ask reporters to investigate something and then if they don't do it to his liking, he will begin harassing the reporter about their reporting and he won't let it go. And I was like, I don't want to be involved in this.

[00:25:24]Anyway, when they arrested him, I felt much better. If you want to know the truth, he's still locked up. So, I feel very free to talk about everything.

[00:25:32]Right.

[00:25:33]Zachary Hughes for his outburst on the stand gets found in contempt, right?

[00:25:39]He's sentenced to an extra six months in jail. Okay? But if he's convicted of a red rum, he going away for life. So what does that six months don't mean nothing, right? So the jury gets the case. Now, during the course of the trial, the jury knows that Zachary Hughes has a reason for why he stabbed up Christina, but they're not entirely clear on what the reason is. And so, the judge is like, "Um, when the jury comes back, he's like, "Hey, jury. Hey, listen. Um, this crazy Mama Luke says some stuff, but um you cannot consider that. Just let forget forget you heard that." And so I was like, but wait. But he did say it and she did do it. The court had ruled that at the time that Christina was killed, Zachary Hughes could not prove that Christina was doing all these bad things. The jury deliberates and Zachary Hughes is promptly convicted and lwed.

[00:26:38]That's right. He's sentenced to murder to life without the possibility of parole. They shaved his head before he went to prison. So all that gorgeous hair didn't have to go to jail, but I was still very, very sad about it. So Zachary Hughes files an appeal and it has been working its way through the South Carolina courts. Here's the thing.

[00:26:58]Remember I told you the boyfriend uh Bradley Post was also arrested not for the red rum of his girlfriend Christina, but production of child pee and nasty animal videos. Bradley Post recently took a plea. During the course of his plea, he all the evidence of the child harm and the kitty harm came out and the evidence proves that Christina Parcels was very very guilty of the things that um she was suspected of. There's buggery, there's child pee charges, child pee, including her own child. And the evidence, there's videos that show that Christina was the one initiating setting up the cameras, setting up angles involving her daughter. Christina is the one who had brought her daughter into this world of nasty, nasty videos.

[00:27:52]And so Bradley Post is like, "Yes, I promise I'm telling the truth. I will plead guilty to my part, but it is Christina who brought her daughter in.

[00:28:01]And there's a whole lot of digital and video evidence of Christina actively in the production of child P. So the appellet court is looking at the conviction of Zachary Hughes and they're like, "Wait, [snorts] you said there's no way he would know that this thing was going on." When actually there is a way he would have known that this harm is going on. So the appellet court was like, let's stop all these appeals. We are going to remand this case back down to the lower court for the court to decide should Zachary get a new trial or should he not get a new trial because it's clear there's a all that evidence that was disallowed of the child P maybe it should have been brought in. Uh judge, we're going to need you to look at this and decide again. So, the case has been remanded to the lower court for reconsideration.

[00:28:58]Will Zachary Hughes get a new trial?

[00:29:01]Will we see him in court again soon?

[00:29:03]Does his hair still look good? Does he still have a little bit of robot on his daddy's side? I don't know. The case was just like turned over a couple of days ago, like three days ago. I will be watching this case. I will be living living for this case. Now look, I have a whole playlist called uh the I I don't remember if it's called Fitz Files or the Rose Petal murder case. I will link a description of those videos from the original case from three years ago. I'll put a link to those videos in the description box of this video. And what you should know about those videos is I have been on a hair journey. When this trial began, I had very, very large, very long down to my waist hair. Y'all, it's a whole situation. Then I shaved it off. Then I got braids. The whole time I was beside myself about this here very case. Right. So, um, watch this space. I will be glued glued to every single part of this case. There's a whole whole lot of detail that I left out because each one of the participants in this case, except for the little daughter, crazy as a bed bug. Maybe I'll break down each one of those participants in its own video cuz crazy jamelo crazy Zachary Hughes fascinating Bradley Post all kinds of nasty Christina Parcels honey there's so much that I left out but don't you worry I'mma go back and I'mma do the cleanup and I will do a video about each one of these people breaking down every single thing in the meanwhile watch this space also watch me over on my other channel Confession of a neighborhood gossip. Mhm. That's where I tell true stories ripped from the headlines of my life, lightly fictionalized to protect the trifling honey. In the meantime, y'all stay safe out there and keep those puppies and kitties safe. I will see you next crime.

[00:30:56]Bye.