A 17-year-old Georgia girl accused of shooting her mother and stepfather dead delivered a tearful eulogy at their funeral, leading people to suspect her of the murders.
Sarah Grace Patrick, 17, was arrested and charged with murder on Tuesday – months after Kristin Brock, 41, and her husband James, 45, were found with fatal gunshot wounds at their home in Carrollton, 45 miles west of Atlanta, on February 20, per NBC News.
The couple was found dead inside their home at 1531 Tyus Road near Carrollton, about 55 miles west of Atlanta. They were “deceased from apparent gunshot wounds,” the sheriff said.
The Carroll County Sheriff's Office confirmed the high school student, escorted by her father, turned herself in to police this week after a warrant was issued for her arrest. Patrick, who was 16 at the time of the slayings, is facing two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated assault, and has been charged as an adult.
Authorities said "mountains of physical and digital evidence" led to Patrick being charged – including her emotional speech at her parents' funeral.
"From the very moment the 911 call was received, a relentless investigation began, one that would span months, consume thousands of hours, and require the full weight of local and federal law enforcement partnerships," according to the county.
"While the case has not remained in the public spotlight in recent months, this investigation has never gone silent."
Speaking to the Daily Mail, James Brock's niece, Krysten Dowda, said she was "not surprised" when Patrick was arrested, because "she fake cried at the funeral."
Dowda said suspicions began to arise when Patrick started sharing details about the tragic incident on social media.
"She reached out to everyone in her life and on the internet and her story changed," Dowda told Daily Mail. "The main thing… how do you not hear multiple gunshots in a small house?"
Dowda added: "The pieces just weren't making sense." She said: "The feeling of being at a funeral to say goodbye to someone you loved and thinking to yourself, 'am I actually witnessing the person that murdered them, standing up here in front of everyone and fake crying about them?' 'Does anyone else see this person doing a crying voice but never shed a single tear?'"
In the footage, Patrick, dressed in a pale blue mini dress, is seen taking to the lectern during the March 8 afternoon service at the Catalyst church in Carrollton, where the Brocks were active members.
"For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sarah, and I am Kristen Brock's daughter and James Brock's stepdaughter," Patrick said.
"This isn't easy… I am really happy I get to do this but just bear with me because I stutter a lot. I just wanted to say goodbye to my mom and James since we never got the chance to."
Addressing her mother and stepfather directly, she added: "I was so used to you guys always being here that I…never would have thought that y'all would not be here and I didn't have a single clue about how much I needed y'all until now."
Patrick paid tributes to her mother and stepfather, thanking Brock "for all the life lessons you taught me" and praising her mom as a "beautiful kind soul with so much gratitude."
Referring to her stepfather's congestive heart failure, she said: "Your heart will be finally healed in heaven and none of y'all will be in any pain anymore. Although that gives me so much comfort, your life was not supposed to end there."
Turning to her mother, she said: "Everything we went through does not define the kind of person or the kind of mother you were. You were a beautiful kind soul with so much gratitude and… you taught me so many life lessons."
Patrick read from a May 2018 letter her mother wrote to Brock: "Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength."
She continued: "You can't always choose the music that life plays… but you can choose how to dance to it. She was always dancing to her own beat, LOL," adding, "and keep in mind she wrote that herself," before laughing.
Patrick read further: "Eventually all the pieces fall into place, but until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moment and know that everything happens for a reason. I can choose to let it define me, confine me, outshine or I can choose to move on and leave it behind me. Always, Kristen Brock."
She urged mourners to remember her mother and stepfather "for who they were and not what happened to them," saying: "I may always and will always be her sunshine and she will always be my star from up above. I know at nighttime I can go and look at momma and Jamey in the sky, and gladly they will save me a seat in heaven like they saved a seat for me in this very church."
Patrick added: "Although there's nothing we can do to bring them back, we still have control over how we treat people with us today," and told listeners, "just listen because you never know when it's somebody's time to go."
She concluded: "Jamey and all would thank you too. I love you guys and so did they, I'm sorry."
Dowda recalled: "She was sorry I lost Jamey," adding: "[I was] so mad, I didn't really even acknowledge her after just watching her fake cry in front of everyone. I left the funeral immediately after."
Dowda said she is speaking out "because people want to bully us [saying] she's 'just a little girl' and I want to make clear a monster can be a little girl in a dress."
Sharing a post by Carroll County Sheriff's Office about Patrick's arrest, Dowda wrote: "I sat front row at their funerals as this little b***h stood up in front of everyone and faked cried about how much she missed Jamey and Kristen. So now everyone can get a front row seat to her mugshot for MURDERING her own mother and stepfather. I saw right through you. Enjoy prison!"
Leading the police press conference, Carroll County communications director Ashley Hulsey said: "Mountains of evidence have gotten us here today. The pursuit of justice does not end today... It is very possible that because this remains an open and ongoing investigation that more arrests and charges could be made."
Hulsey said a motive has yet to be determined, adding: "We don't know what goes through the mind of a child who wants to harm their parents. She's 17. She's kind of been out on her own. She's lived with different family members and moved all over the place."
Patrick's little half-sister was the first to find her parents dead in their bed, before she alerted Patrick, who was in the home that night, and called 911. There were no signs of forced entry in the home and nothing had been taken.