FNN Article written with court record, PSP information and release from D.A.’s Office
BRADFORD COUNTY, PA – On Thursday, April 23, 2026, 48-year-old Terry Lynn Parker of Harrisburg, PA, was convicted of Murder in the First Degree by a Bradford County jury. The verdict was reached after less than 35 minutes of deliberations. Parker was also convicted of Abuse of Corpse (Misdemeanor 2) and Tampering with Evidence (Misdemeanor 2). District Attorney Richard Wilson tried the case on behalf of the Commonwealth.
During the trial, which lasted four days, a multitude of witnesses were called including Parker’s wife and co-conspirator, Ronda Parker, as well as his extramarital lover and co-conspirator, Summer Heil.
The testimony revealed that the Parkers lured the victim, Michael Pruitt, from North Carolina to Bradford County. Back on Friday, March 8, 2024, Terry Parker drove from his home in Harrisburg to Ronda Parker’s residence on Sawyer Road in Columbia Crossroads, PA, armed with a loaded pistol and brass knuckles. Around dusk on March 8, 2024, Terry Parker parked his vehicle in a wooded area, hidden from view of the residence, and approached through the woods to avoid being seen or heard by the victim. Parker entered the residence and immediately shot Pruitt in the chest. The testimony revealed that Pruitt attempted to escape down the hallway to the master bedroom, but Terry Parker followed him and ultimately killed Pruitt by firing two more shots into his skull, execution style. Testimony showed that Ronda Parker was present in the master bedroom with a two-year-old child in her arms when Terry Parker fired the fatal shots.
Parker removed the victim’s body from the bedroom in a tarp. Ronda Parker testified that she had sex with Terry Parker in the bedroom following the murder, in view of a pool of the victim’s blood.
Parker then put Pruitt’s body in the trunk of his car, drove back to Harrisburg, where he went to work. Later, on Sunday, March 10th, Terry Parker recruited his girlfriend, Summer Heil, and drove back to Bradford County with the body of Michael Pruitt in the trunk for the entire time. Parker and Heil purchased an axe from a Harrisburg Walmart on the return trip. The Parkers and Heil each participated in destroying evidence of the crime. Terry Parker and Summer Heil dismembered Pruitt’s body with the axe and burned the body parts in a fire outside the residence while Ronda Parker cleaned blood inside the residence.
Ronda Parker pled guilty to Murder in the Third Degree earlier this year on January 16, 2026, for her role in the murder, and she currently awaits sentencing. Summer Heil pleaded guilty to Felony 3 Hindering Apprehension back in December of 2024 and remains incarcerated serving a fourteen-year sentence awaiting a potential release on parole.
Following the verdict, Judge Evan S. Williams, III, immediately sentenced Parker to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The case was the result of a lengthy and thorough investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police. The charges were filed by Trooper Michael Morariu and Trooper Miranda Musick specifically. Anthropologists from Mercyhurst University assisted in the investigation with the collection of Pruitt’s bones.
Testimony revealed that the victim, Michael Pruitt, was not a perfect person. Pruitt had a criminal record and struggled with substance abuse. However, in March 2024 Pruitt was in Bradford County attempting to better himself, secure employment, and reconnect with his children when Terry Parker brutally cut his life short. In fact, he was painting the living room of the residence at the direction of Ronda Parker, in order to make the home suitable for the children to live there, when Terry Parker snuck into the home and murdered him. Terry Parker argued that Pruitt was a child molester, in an attempt to justify his actions. Terry Parker testified he was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, and that caused him to do what he did. However, no evidence was offered that Michael Pruitt actually touched a child, and interviews with the children following the murder confirmed that fact.
“In reality, Terry Parker murdered Michael Pruitt because Pruitt was replacing him as a father figure, and was rekindling a relationship with Parker’s wife,” noted District Attorney Richard Wilson. “Terry Parker couldn’t tolerate that loss of control over his wife and those children, even though he was actively involved with his own girlfriend at that time.” As proof of this, Wilson points to the fact that Parker had sex with his wife in the immediate aftermath of the murder. “Terry Parker wanted to control all of the women in his life, and that is why Terry Parker murdered Michael Pruitt,” Wilson said.
There was heightened courthouse security during the trial was provided by the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office and the Bradford County Special Emergency Response Team, along with the Towanda Borough Police Department and Bradford County Supervised Bail officers, due to Parker’s prior involvement with a prison escape attempt in another state and due to his suspected affiliation with the Aryan Brotherhood, a white-supremacist prison gang.
District Attorney Wilson offered his condolences to Michael Pruitt’s surviving family and friends, and expressed his thanks for their assistance and cooperation with the prosecution.
