Emotional release in Boone County sentencing

A jam-packed emotional courtroom burst out in an ovation Wednesday morning when a Boone County circuit judge sentenced Timothy Parsons to two life terms in prison with no chance for parole.

Parsons, 36, used the same knife to kill his wife, Leigh Anne Kinder-Parsons, 35, of Bloomingrose and her mother, Gloria Sue Kinder, 62, of Lexington, Ky., last May in the family’s Bloomingrose home.

Boone County prosecutor Keith Randolph said it’s the first time he ever heard such a loud ovation after  sentencing. He said he understood the outburst.

“You’ve got a family where there’s obviously a lot of tension, a lot of fear, a lot of the unknown. That was the ultimate for them and I’m sure it was their way of showing some sign of relief and I hope they get that someday,” Randolph said.

During an earlier guilty plea to two counts of first-degree murder, Parsons said he killed his wife during an argument. He later showed his mother-in-law the dead body and killed her. He later showed his wife’s 15-year-old daughter her mother’s body and sexually assaulted her. Randolph described it as cold, and a deputy called it barbaric.

“To show them that certainly seems to be done in a way to get them to subject themselves to him,” Randolph said.

The sentencing hearing included many statements from the victims’ family members.

“It was very emotional for them and some couldn’t even get up and speak,” Randolph said.

Parsons also briefly commented: “I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry”