# Man Who Bragged About Hitting A Child With His Car Is Killed Saving Children From Being Hit By A Car



## jdvzmommy (Jun 5, 2018)

#DouglasParkhurst is being deemed a hero for saving little leaguers on the baseball field from being struck by an oncoming car recently in Maine, but his dark past was just uncovered. 
______________________________________________________________ In 1968, he struck a young 4 year old girl, #caroleeashby, with his car on her way to the store with her sister for birthday candles and never stopped or looked back. Although he was investigated, he was never charged. He even lied to police about the dent in his car being from crashing into a guardrail. Parkhurst reportedly even bragged about getting away with the murder at a party once. 
______________________________________________________________ The case reopened in 2000, but there still was no justice until 2012 when a Facebook tip led police to him. He didn’t confess to the crime until 2013 after getting a written statement saying the statute of limitations had run out and he could not be convicted. 
______________________________________________________________ Fast forward, a few days ago, he was on the field with his grandson, and a woman, 52 year old “#CarolSharrow” similar to his murdered victim’s name “Carolee”, came plowing through with her car. He managed to move the kids out of the way but was struck and killed. _____________________________________________________


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## coolhandlulu (Jun 5, 2018)

So, he made amends?


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## ItsMeLilLucky (Jun 5, 2018)

It came back to bite him huh.


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## Theresamonet (Jun 5, 2018)

I can’t tell if this was karma or an act of redemption.


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## frizzy (Jun 5, 2018)

Karma won't let you forget, she even offered a sick sense of humor to the mix.

Did the four year old he killed and the driver that killed him have the same-ish name? Did I read that?


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## LaFaraona (Jun 5, 2018)

Is this real?
If so, wow that is some ish.


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## jdvzmommy (Jun 5, 2018)

frizzy said:


> Karma won't let you forget, she even offered a sick sense of humor to the mix.
> 
> Did the four year old he killed and the driver that killed him have the same-ish name? Did I read that?



Yeah. Carolee and Carol. That's crazy.


LaFaraona said:


> Is this real?
> If so, wow that is some ish.


Its real. I had to look it up before I posted it because it sounds like a made up internet folk tale.

Here's the story from The Washington Post:




Morning Mix
*A car crashed into a Little League game. The ‘brave’ man who died saving kids had a dark secret.*




By Kyle SwensonJune 4 at 4:37 AMEmail the author

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Douglas Parkhurst confessed in 2013 to committing a hit-and-run that killed Carolee Ashby, 4, in 1968. He was killed June 1 in a car crash. (cnycentral.com)

Players scrambled and parents screamed as the maroon sedan ripped through the baseball field, infield dust flying into the Friday evening from under the car’s spinning tires.

Spectators in the stands of Goodall Park in Sanford, Maine, watched as the car wheeled down the first base line, hooked right at home plate and gunned for a metal fence leading into the parking lot. The front bumper was careening toward 68-year-old Douglas Parkhurst and a group of children. Parkhurst, a New York native and Vietnam veteran, moved the kids from the car’s path and attempted to close a gate to keep the sedan in the ballpark when he was struck, authorities told ABC 8.

“I saw the car pull out of the gate right over there, and this guy had some kids with him,” a witness told News Center Maine. “The older guy pushed the kids right out of the way. He took the hit for the kids.”

Parkhurst died from his injuries on the way to the hospital. The sedan’s driver, 51-year-old Carol Sharrow, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

“We want to share our heartfelt gratitude that physically all of the players from Babe Ruth and Little League are safe,” the Sanford Maine Little League posted on Facebook after the incident. “And our deep sorrow to the family of the brave man that gave his life tonight protecting others.”

However, what was viewed as a hero’s death became complicated when the news landed 400 miles to the west in Fulton, N.Y. There, five years ago, Parkhurst walked into a local police station to confess to the 1968 hit-and-run death of Carolee Ashby. The 4-year-old, cut down crossing a street on Halloween, haunted the close-knit Oswego County region for decades, prompting cold-case investigators to repeatedly try to identify the driver responsible.

But Parkhurst, who admitted in 2013 that he was behind the wheel of his 1962 Buick Special with his brother Lenny after a night of drinking, came forward only after the statute of limitations had expired, the Post-Standard in Syracuse reported. Parkhurst served no time for killing a young girl with his car.

And now, in a Hollywood twist, Parkhurst has been killed saving children from a car.

“It feels it has made a full circle,” Carolee’s sister, Darlene Ashby McCann, told the Portland Press Herald. “Now I am relieved. I truly am. The same thing that happened to my sister happened to him. It made a complete circle. Now it is time to move on.”

On a chilly Halloween night in 1968, Carolee was crossing a street in Fulton with her older sister, the Post-Standard reported in 2014. It was the elder Ashby girl’s 15th birthday, and the sisters had gone out to buy candles for a cake. Carolee was eating an ice cream cone as she walked hand in hand with Darlene through the intersection. Darlene later explained she suddenly felt a tug on her arm, according to the Post-Standard.

“For a second, I didn’t know if somebody had tried to grab Carolee from me,” Darlene later recounted, “I knew immediately that Carolee was not there.”

A passing car had drifted into the middle of the road, knocking Carolee 133 feet up the road. A motorist who witnessed the accident later told Fulton police that he believed a teddy bear had been hit and thrown. The little girl was knocked out of her black cowboy boots; they were 20 feet from where her body lay near the curb.

The driver sped off. Witnesses varied on the make and color of the vehicle. But not long after the accident, Fulton police received a tip that an 18-year-old named Douglas Parkhurst had bashed his Buick Special against a pole and returned home in tears on Halloween. Parkhurst was interviewed for two hours but denied playing a part in the fatal accident.

Police, however, were skeptical of his story. Investigators looked at the damage to his car and even had him take officers out to where he claimed he’d hit his car against a roadside guardrail, the Post-Standard reported. But police failed to follow up on Parkhurst. The suspect went off to serve in Vietnam, then returned to the region. The case sat open for decades but wasn’t forgotten.

“It was mind-blowing that the community had remained so distraught over the decades,” former Fulton police officer Russ Johnson told the Press Herald.

In 2012, after Johnson had retired from law enforcement, he wrote a post on Facebook about the unsolved 1968 homicide. The note prompted a local woman then living in Florida to come forward with new information, according to the Post-Standard. The woman eventually told investigators that she had been asked by the Parkhursts to say she had been with them on Halloween 1968. She refused, suspecting the request was tied to the hit-and-run.

In March 2013, Fulton investigators knocked on Parkhurst’s door. Then a father and grandfather, Parkhurst denied remembering anything about the dead girl. When showed a picture of his Buick Special, Parkhurst said he did not know whether he was driving it at the time. “I’m not going to say it is, and I’m not going to say it isn’t because I can’t honestly … remember,” he told police, according to a 2013 police report.

Police continued to press Parkhurst and his family. Eventually, he met with the local district attorney, who explained that Parkhurst could not be criminally charged. Fifteen days after police first knocked on his door, Parkhurst appeared at the Fulton police station. Through tears, he confessed.

In a written statement, Parkhurst explained that he had been drinking with his brothers before he started driving his car. His brother Lenny was passed out in the back seat.

“I heard a thud,” he wrote. “It sounded like I hit a dog. … I did not see what I hit. I did not stop. I don’t remember hitting the brakes. … I don’t remember seeing any kids but I believe in my heart I hit the little Ashby girl with my car. I did not see her or any other kids.”

Parkhurst wrote in his confession that he had lied to police about the damage to his car in 1968. “I don’t know why the police never challenged me on this. I wish they did. I would have told them the truth.”

In early 2014, the Post-Standard ran a series on the case, highlighting the Fulton police’s bungling of the original investigation. Parkhurst never publicly commented on the situation. He eventually left New York for Maine after his story was circulated in Oswego County.

Ashby’s sister responded to the news of Parkhurst’s death with mixed emotion. “I know my mom would have been grateful that children were saved,” she told the Press-Herald. “Sometime I may be able to forgive him, but not right now.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ids-had-a-dark-secret/?utm_term=.e2046a70515e


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## intellectualuva (Jun 5, 2018)

Whoa......this story is crazy!


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## naturalgyrl5199 (Jun 5, 2018)

I read this story. He mentioned it to some friends but it wasn't a brag. I'm not caping for dude but the I don't like trumped up stories for likes and clicks. He WAS advised by a lawyer and stated he remained shocked he wasn't investigated further. He CLAIMS didn't see WHAT or WHO he hit, he just knew it must have been him. The Universe resets...gets its due.


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## jdvzmommy (Jun 5, 2018)

naturalgyrl5199 said:


> I read this story. He mentioned it to some friends but it wasn't a brag. I'm not caping for dude but the I don't like trumped up stories for likes and clicks. He WAS advised by a lawyer and stated he remained shocked he wasn't investigated further. He CLAIMS didn't see WHAT or WHO he hit, he just knew it must have been him. The Universe resets...gets its due.


Do you have a link? I read several different articles that said he was bragging about getting away with murder to friends at a party. If that's not true, I'll update thread title.


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## toinette (Jun 5, 2018)

I don't see anyone who would risk their live saving one child as being capable of bragging about getting away with the death of another


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## Laela (Jun 5, 2018)

Poetic Justice.


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## Tyra (Jun 5, 2018)

He was dead wrong and a coward.  I didn't see where he bragged though.


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## jdvzmommy (Jun 5, 2018)

toinette said:


> I don't see anyone who would risk their live saving one child as being capable of bragging about getting away with the death of another


He was 18 when it happened. People change a whole lot between 18 and 68. 



Tyra said:


> He was dead wrong and a coward.  I didn't see where he bragged though.


Its in the OP, but you have to swipe to see it. 
This is from Yahoo:

*In 1972, just a few years later, the police received a tip that Parkhurst had been bragging at a party about hitting Carolee with his car and getting away with it. It’s also unclear why no one followed up on that tip. Even when the case was reopened in 2000, nothing happened. Finally, in 2012, a Facebook comment led to a tip that broke open the case, and resulted in Parkhurst’s confession.
*
https://sports.yahoo.com/man-died-saving-little-leaguers-hid-dark-past-40-years-165010988.html


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## Tyra (Jun 5, 2018)

jdvzmommy said:


> He was 18 when it happened. People change a whole lot between 18 and 68.
> 
> 
> Its in the OP, but you have to swipe to see it.
> ...




Ooooh.
Welp...


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## momi (Jun 5, 2018)

Wow what are the odds???

He was more than likely riddled with guilt and glad to make the sacrifice.


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## PretteePlease (Jun 5, 2018)

jdvzmommy said:


> He was 18 when it happened. People change a whole lot between 18 and 68.



He seemed to be very aware of that statute of limitations


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## frizzy (Jun 5, 2018)

How do you brag about something like that?  At a party AND no one turned him in? Wow


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## LdyKamz (Jun 5, 2018)

toinette said:


> I don't see anyone who would risk their live saving one child as being capable of bragging about getting away with the death of another


Why not? One thing doesn't cancel out the other. 

I am so convinced this was Carolee reincarnated coming to take him away. I'm only half joking.


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## RossBoss (Jun 6, 2018)

frizzy said:


> How do you brag about something like that?  At a party AND no one turned him in? Wow



He was probably drunk. Drunk people tend to brag about crimes they got away with.


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## naturalgyrl5199 (Jun 8, 2018)

jdvzmommy said:


> Do you have a link? I read several different articles that said he was bragging about getting away with murder to friends at a party. If that's not true, I'll update thread title.


Just seeing this. It came up on my MSNBC news feed the day before you posted this. I couldn't track the original article I read---which was LONG. All I found were some small blurbs. I guess MSNBC picked it up from another news outlet and posted it...but I'm aggy that I can't find it. Chile don't change the thread! No worries.


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## naturalgyrl5199 (Jun 8, 2018)

jdvzmommy said:


> He was 18 when it happened. People change a whole lot between 18 and 68.
> 
> 
> Its in the OP, but you have to swipe to see it.
> ...


The article I read said he mentioned it at a party but not so much as bragging. He STILL a coward tho. He only confessed because several things were happening...1. someone at the party told the police (if he was bragging or even brought it up, I'm pretty sure its guilt-ridden. People who have a guilty conscience that's nagging them tend to let things slip to feel people out. 2. The police at the time the tips were coming started knocking on his door. 3. He got a lawyer (in the article I read) who advised him.

Then ALLLLL of a sudden he confessed. Note that he confessed after the statute of limitations was up. 
I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to redeem himself by saving those babies (and no matter what his reasons are: THANK GOD he saved those babies)....and for a split second thought he'd live through a short hospitalization and then when his past was dug up, he'd be less of a villain and more of a hero.
But when the Universe gets its due (if you believe in Karma).....


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## shanelallyn30 (Jun 8, 2018)

Karma


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## awhyley (Jun 8, 2018)

Definitely Twilight Zone material.  Now all debts are paid in full.


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