DAYTONA BEACH — The mother of an Ormond Beach teenager who drank methadone had trouble containing her fury Friday as she testified at Richard Newkirk’s sentencing hearing. Patti Wilcher’s son, Austin Wilcher, was 17 and his friend Bryce Parson was 14 on May 24, 2011, when Newkirk showed them how to drink the contents of used methadone bottles mixed with warm water. Parson died. Wilcher lived but, at one point, no longer wanted to, his mother said.
“You are a predator,” Wilcher testified, looking at Newkirk. “You might as well have given them a gun and had them play Russian roulette with it, because they would have done it for you. Because they loved you.”
Newkirk was sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading no contest to second-degree murder. He admitted that he had the boys drink the substance after he drove them to a Dumpster near Whitney Laboratories, 1095 N. U.S. 1 in Ormond Beach, and had them get the bottles out so he could make it. The three brought the bottles to a friend’s home at 99 Mayfield Circle, where they mixed the contents with water and drank the solution from Styrofoam cups and a gallon jug in the garage, Austin Wilcher testified. He said Newkirk told the boys drinking the stuff would “feel like taking a bunch of (Lortabs).”
Newkirk has a long criminal history that includes 22 misdemeanor convictions and two felony convictions, prosecutor Ed Davis said. A grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder charges but he pleaded no contest to the lesser charge as well as delivery of a controlled substance to a minor as part of a plea deal. He had faced a maximum penalty of life in prison. Austin Wilcher said Friday that Newkirk, who was on probation, had the boys get the bottles “because Richard could not do it because he was arrested there already.” He said Newkirk told the children nothing would happen to them if they were caught because they were minors.
He said Parson was afraid that he would die that night, but Newkirk reassured him he wouldn’t.
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TO ALL WHO CARE ABOUT OUR BEAUTIFUL HOLLY HILL PARKS ,
YOUR SUPPORT , ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW DURING THIS ELECTION YEAR, IS VITAL IN TURNING THE TIDE TO ENSURE THAT HOLLY HILL PARKS BECOME CHILD SAFE, FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENTS !
VOLUSIA COUNTY, DAYTONA BEACH AND ORMOND BEACH, AS WELL AS MOST JURISDICTIONS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, ENJOY STANDARD UPDATED, COMMON SENSE PARK POLICY . THE CITY OF HOLLY HILL HAS RESISTED ADOPTING SIMILAR STANDARDS!
ONE CAN CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE http://www.municode.com . IN COMPARISON HOLLY HILL HAS ALMOST NO STANDARDS IN REGARD TO PARK POLICIES !
THE FACTS ARE THERE FOR ALL TO SEE.
DAYTONA BEACH HAS OFFERED TO SHARE ALL THEIR RESEARCH AND INFORMATION WITH HOLLY HILL, ALLOWING US TO EASILY UPDATE AND BRING OUR STANDARDS IN LINE WITH TODAY’S WORLD, FOR FREE ! ! THAT WAS LONG AGO AND NO EFFORTS HAVE BEEN MADE TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON DAYTONA’S GENEROUS OFFER.
PLEASE, LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD BY OUR MAYOR, COMMISSIONERS, CITY MANAGER AND POLICE DEPARTMENT ! SEND AN E-MAIL OR LETTER.
THEY STATE, THAT IT IS JUST A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THIS !
JUST LET THEM KNOW YOU WANT UPDATED, GOOD PARK POLICIES THAT WILL SUPPORT HOLLY HILL PARKS AND RECREATION TO THRIVE.
THE IRON IS HOT AND THE TIME IS RIGHT TO STRIKE. A SIMPLE PHONE CALL, E-MAIL OR LETTER WOULD BE SOOOO HELPFUL RIGHT NOW ! NOW IS THE TIME TO JOIN TOGETHER FOR FOLLOW THROUGH !
IF WE( ALL ) LET OUR MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS KNOW HOW WE FEEL, I KNOW THAT WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF TRULY TURNING THE TIDE TO FINALLY ENJOY CHILD SAFE, FAMILY FRIENDLY, PROPERLY MAINTAINED PARKS IN HOLLY HILL.
ITS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING ! LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD! WE NEED TO ADOPT COMMON SENSE STANDARDS AND THEN WE CAN ALL ENJOY THE RESULTS!
Thanks 4thechildren! This has been going on for many years. How can Holly Hill justify spending so much money on other projects, including raises and rehiring people- but yet they can’t even keep the parks clean and safe? They could at least TRY to attempt to keep the parks free from sex predators, perverts, drug and alcohol activity,drug rehab businesses and political call centers. Even when a man was drinking in the playground and the police were called, they got him on outstanding warrants, but did not tresspass him or his friend for drinking in the park! So this criminal is welcomed back into Sunrise Park. Oh but he was an NA member….. They are above the law.
All our hearts go out to Bryce’s family and friends !! To see the surveillance video on the News Journal link is heartbreaking. NA member Richard Newkirk, befriended and then used the children to do his dirty work. He hides just off camera and instructs the children to dumpster dive for the drugs so he would not get caught doing it again. They wanted his approval so they did what he told them to do. His reward was to give them an overdose of the methadone he told them to steal for him.
I hope policies change over Bryce Parson’s death. Such a tragic loss. The courts need to stop co mingling minors with felons. It was also terrible business practice for the business to discard their methadone ike they did.