17-Year Old Faces Up To Life In Prison After Sexual Battery Conviction
April 6, 2021
An Escambia County 17-year old is facing up to life in prison after being convicted of a sexual battery last year.
Eric Demond Parrish was convicted by an Escambia County jury of one count of sexual battery (force likely to cause serious bodily injury), one count of battery, and one count of false imprisonment. Parrish is a juvenile and was tried as an adult.
On January 7, 2020, the Parrish sexually battered the victim without her consent, according to the State Attorney’s Office. In the course of the sexual battery, he placed his hands around her neck. As the victim tried to leave the home, then Parrish grabbed her by her arms and clothes and attempted to drag her back into the home and prevent her from leaving.
Parrish will be sentenced in May.
Jeffrey Allen Williams
April 6, 2021
Jeffrey Allen Williams, of Pace, Florida, beloved husband, son, brother, uncle, friend, and mentor to many, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on April 1, 2021, as a result of a motor vehicle accident.
In both his personal and professional lives, Jeffrey was kind, loving, devoted, generous, selfless, and humble. He embodied loyalty and integrity. He loved the Lord and his family, and he cherished the deep friendships he forged in life. His behind-the-scenes generosity benefited countless individuals.
Born on September 1, 1966, Jeffrey was the son of Linda Kay Williams and Kenneth George Williams. He began his life on a farm in Jamestown, North Dakota, and fell in love with engines at the age of 9, when his father gave him complete responsibility for driving and maintaining an 830 John Deere tractor. Jeffrey quickly acclimated to the Southern way of life, even acquiring a Southern accent after moving with his mother and sister, Shari Kaye Andrews, to Vestavia Hills, Alabama, at the age of 12. Jeffrey graduated from Vestavia Hills High School in 1984. He was a proud member of the Rebels’ marching band and an award-winning jazz ensemble, in which he played the trombone with great skill.
Jeffrey attended The University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he majored in mechanical engineering. He was a brother in the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and was delighted when his nephew, John M. Hunnicutt, III, became a Lambda Chi brother at Huntingdon College of Montgomery, Alabama.
Following high school, Jeffrey worked as a crew chief with his friends Roger and Bobby Reuse in short track stock car racing, which some consider to be the real NASCAR. They competed in various venues, including Darlington Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, and the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola. It was at a race in Daytona where Jeffrey met his first wife, Evelyn “Evie” Lewis of Boone, North Carolina. Up to the time of his passing, Jeffrey maintained a warm friendship with Evie.
Jeffrey began his career in the HVAC business in 1984, working as a draftsman for Alabama Controls of Birmingham. Subsequently, he worked as a Controls Engineer, Controls Salesman, Controls Contracting Project Manager, and finally Senior Account Manager and Sales Engineer for Trane, a Division of the Ingersoll-Rand Company. Jeffrey received many awards and accolades while at Trane, including the 1990 Pace Setter Award; he also became a member of the 2003 Million Dollar Chiller Club and 2005 Million Dollar Club. Jeffrey left Trane in September 2014 and devoted his attention to one of his greatest passions-cars. He bought, sold, repaired, renovated, and hauled vehicles from all over the country with his friend and business partner, Ben Milam, previously of U Park U Sell of Prattville, Alabama.
From 2008 to 2014, Jeffrey served as the Executive Director of Vettes-4-Vets of Birmingham. He planned, organized, and oversaw multiple fundraising events to enrich the lives of our nation’s Veterans and their families. Jeffrey provided the logistics and led the primary annual fundraiser for Vettes-4-Vets at the Talladega Superspeedway. The event included a car show, Veterans’ appreciation ceremony and dinner, and track day at the Talladega Superspeedway for over 250 Corvette aficionados from multiple states, with annual attendance of 700 or more. Jeffrey is a Lifetime Member of the National Corvette Museum, and he served as the Ambassador to the National Corvette Museum for the Capitol City Corvette Club of Montgomery from 2006 to 2014. Jeffrey also served as President of the Mid-Alabama Corvette Club of Birmingham. His favorite places to be were car shows, with friends on the track, or driving the Tail of the Dragon. He was conferred the rank of “Dragon Slayer” in October 2009 by the Confederation of Corvette Clubs of Louisiana.
On January 1, 2015, Jeffrey married Allison Hunnicutt. To cement their relationship and Allison’s love of Corvettes, Jeffrey gave Allison a 2009 Crystal Red Metallic Corvette Coupe for Valentine’s Day 2014. Allison and Jeffrey enjoyed racing their Corvettes at the Montgomery Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, and Robling Road with their cherished friends in the Capitol City Corvette Club. Their great love story will live on in Allison’s heart forever, as Jeffrey was the love of Allison’s life.
In March 2016, Jeffrey took a job with Air-Tech of Pensacola, where he worked as an Outside Sales Engineer until the time of his passing. Jeffrey became an expert in Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV) technology.
Jeffrey loved his churches-The Church at Brook Hills of Birmingham, Morningview Baptist Church of Montgomery, and Olive Baptist Church of Pensacola (and his Route 66 Connection Group at Olive). At The Church at Brook Hills, Jeffrey served as a sound technician under Reverend Rick Ousley and worship pastor Kelly Stephenson, while Evie served as worship leader.
Jeffrey is survived by his loving family, including wife Allison; father Kenneth George Williams (Donna Walsh); brother Kenneth George Williams, II (Becki Jo); sister Shari Kaye Andrews; step brothers Philip C. Roberts (Ashley Barkocy Roberts), Mike Roberts (Carol), and Shaun Roberts (Hope); brothers-in-law Jack Hunnicutt (Dwayne) and John M. Hunnicutt, Jr. (DeAna); sister-in-law Alexis Hunnicutt (fiancé Andrew Turk); numerous nieces and nephews; and dear friends whom he considered his brothers and sisters. Before his passing, Jeffrey filled the beautiful home he built for Allison with family members, who brought both of them endless joy, love, and laughter. The four special guests at the Williams B&B at the time of Jeffrey’s passing into Glory include niece Bowen Hunnicutt Rapala (Mark), Bowen and Mark’s two-year old son Hudson, niece Macy Shae Barkocy, and nephew Jeremiah Holcomb. As a child at heart, Jeffrey delighted in having a baby in his home and was enchanted by Baby Hudson. Jeffrey was an extremely loving, caring, and devoted man.
Jeffrey was preceded in death by his mother, Linda Kay Glass, and step-mother, Reba Williams.
Jeffrey, you are in our thoughts, in our hearts, and in every part of our lives. You will always be with us; and we will always be with you.
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memorials to Word Walk, Inc., 6847 N. 9th Avenue, Suite A-177, Pensacola, Florida 32504, www.wordwalk.us.
Arrangements are with Faith Chapel Funeral Homes, 1000 S. Highway 29, Cantonment, Florida 32533. Services will be held on Saturday, April 10, 2021, with visitation at 12:00 p.m., and a Celebration of Life at 1:00 p.m., followed by a light lunch in the event room.
Janice Marie Seals Hall
April 6, 2021
Janice Marie Seals Hall age 65 of Atmore, went home to be with Jesus on April 4, 2021 Resurrection Sunday.
She was born in Atmore, Al on November 18, 1955 to the late William J Seals and Melvie Z Seals, was a native of Nokomis, Fl; where she grew up with her sisters and brother helping her parents work on their farm. She went to Davisville School and graduated at Ernest Ward School, and after she retired from Vanity Fair and New South Apparel; she graduated from Capps College as a Registered Medical Assistant. Then she worked at Walmart Vision Center and The Meadows Assisted Living. Growing up on the farm she enjoyed working outside in the garden and with her flowers,
She helped her husband of 46 years, do any kind of work outside and remodel their many homes they lived in. She grew up playing the guitar and singing gospel music, worked in the church as song leader, musician, Sunday school teacher and children’s church teacher. Her greatest past time was bream fishing and she could catch more fish than whoever was with her. She loved all her nieces and nephews and everyone else’s children.
She had happy and joyful spirit toward everyone and was loved for her beautiful (SMILE) that she was known for. We all will miss her greatly!
She is survived by her husband of 46 years, Ronald Gordon Hall of Atmore, AL; one brother, Michael Seals, of Davisville, FL; three sisters, Shelia Lee of Century, FL; Donna Jordan of Poarch, AL; Shereee Morgan of Flomaton, AL; and numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and many friends.
Funeral services will be held Thursday, April 8, 2021 at 10:00 AM at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home with Bro. Brian Bruley officiating.
Burial will follow at the Pine Barren Cemetery.
Visitation will be held Wednesday, April 7, 2021 from 6 to 8 PM at the Petty-Eastside Chapel Funeral Home.
Pallbearers will be Zack Carter, Shane Seals, Brian Jordan, Chase Odom, Chris Burklund and Jeremy Shiver.
Escambia County Records 21 New COVID-19 Cases
April 6, 2021
THIS IS AN ARCHIVED STORY. SEE NORTHESCAMBIA.COM FOR THE LATEST DATA.
The Florida Department of Health reported no additional COVID-19 deaths and 21 new cases in Escambia County on Monday.
Here is the latest data:
Escambia County cases:
Total cases: 34,990 (+21)
Non-Florida residents: 3,624
Recovered: 34,178*
Total deaths: 669
Long-term care facility deaths: 280
Current hospitalizations: 32 (+8)
Number of tests reported last day: 269
Percent positive reported last day: 6.6%
Percent positive reported last week: 4.7%
Escambia County cases by location*:
Pensacola: 26,098 (+15)
Cantonment: 3,151 (+2)
Century: 1,173 (+1)
—-including 774 Century prison inmates
Molino: 486 (+1)
McDavid: 210 (+1)
Bellview: 57
Walnut Hill: 53
Perdido Key: 21
Gonzalez: 13
Santa Rosa County cases:
Total cases: 17,824 (+15)
Non-Florida residents: 230
Total deaths: 278
Long-term care facility deaths: 81
Cumulative Hospitalizations: 859*
Number of tests reported last day: 178
Percent positive reported last day: 7.3%
Santa Rosa County cases by location*:
Milton: 8,497 (+7)
Navarre: 3,676 (+2)
Gulf Breeze: 3,311 (+5)
Pace: 1,432
Jay: 544
Bagdad: 32
Florida cases:
Total cases: 2,085,306
Florida residents: 2,046,280
Deaths: 33,710
Hospitalizations: 85,800
*“Hospitalizations” in the statewide and Santa Rosa County totals is a count of all laboratory confirmed cases in which an inpatient hospitalization occurred at any time during the course of illness. Most of these people are longer be hospitalized. The FDOH does not provide a count of patients currently hospitalized. The Escambia County number is current data compiled each day from the local hospitals.
**On cases by location, the city is based upon zip code and is not always received as part of the initial notification. There may be a delay in reporting locations, and locations will not total the daily case increase as a result.
***The Florida Department of Health does not have a clear standard or definition of “recovered” and does not report a number of recovered individuals. Escambia County is reporting an approximate recovery number defined as the total cases prior to last month, minus deaths. In other words, anyone that tested positive more than a month ago is presumed to have recovered by Escambia County.
**Data Sources: Florida Department of Health, Escambia County, City of Pensacola, local hospitals.
Beulah Man Charged After Fracturing 2-Week Old Infant’s Skull, ECSO Says
April 5, 2021
A Beulah man has been charged after a 2-week old was taken to the hospital with a fractured skull and other serious injuries.
Brock Tatum Baumert, 27, was charged with first degree felony aggravated child abuse and was being held in the Escambia County Jail without bond.
The mother of the 2-week old told the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office told the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office that she went to a friend’s birthday dinner and left her daughters — ages 5 and 10-years and 2-weeks — in the care of Baumert, who was living at the residence with them.
“While she was away, she received several text messages from her 10-year-old daughter asking her to come home. She immediately returned home and found the two-week-old in a child’s swing with a bloody lip, a scratch on her nose and bruising around her face,” the ECSO said.
The mother immediately took all three children to West Florida Hospital. The 2-week old suffered a fractured skull, a fractured clavicle and had multiple bruises. The other two children were unharmed.
Baumert was arrested a few hours later. His relationship to the children has not been released.
For The Second Time In Two Weeks, Molino Man Arrested For Drug Trafficking, Weapons Offenses
April 5, 2021
For the second time in less than two weeks, an eight-time convicted felon from Molino has been arrested on a long list of weapons and narcotics charges.
Damion Tobias Bryant, 39, was free on a nearly quarter million dollar bond from a March 19 arrest when Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies stopped a Ford F-150 he was driving near Yonge and “T” streets.
A K-9 searched the truck and located 1.3 grams of MDMA, 31 grams of Heroin, one gram of marijuana, 98.5 grams of Fentanyl, glass smoking pipes, a loaded Ak-47 with a round in the chamber and more than $1,300 in cash, according to the ECSO.
Bryant was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, trafficking in heroin, trafficking in fentanyl, carrying a concealed firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
He was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $242,000 bond.
On March 19, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel in the 3900 block of Barrancas Avenue. Two people, Damion Tobias Bryant of Molino 32-year old Kiersten Marie Heusohn of Pensacola, were inside the room at the time, an arrest report states.
According to investigators, Bryant possessed approximately 267.8 grams of methamphetamine, 37.37 grams of a heroin and fentanyl mixture, 12.1 grams of synthetic marijuana, 22 grams of marijuana, 265 whole and 37 partial Alprazolam pills and two oxycodone pills.
In addition, deputies reported finding $1,475 in cash in the room and a .45 caliber pistol in a pool.
Bryant was charged with trafficking in methamphetamine, trafficking in heroin, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, destruction of evidence, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance. He was released from the Escambia County Jail on a $240,000 bond.
Heusohn was charged with conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, conspiracy to traffic heroin and destruction of evidence. She was released from jail on a $102,500 bond.
Jay Man Killed In Early Morning Morristown Road Wreck
April 5, 2021
A single vehicle crash west of Jay claimed one life early Monday morning.
A 68-year old man from Jay was traveling north on Morristown Road when his pickup truck ran off the road into a ditch, went airborne and collided with a tree, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The driver was ejected. He was pronounced deceased on the scene following the 3:30 a.m. wreck.
The FHP no longer releases the names of traffic crash victims.
File photo.
County Considers A Boat Ramp At Otto Hill For Perdido River Access For First Responders, Small Personal Craft
April 5, 2021
Escambia County is considering a gated boat launch at Otto Hill to allow first responders access to the Perdido River, but the public will be able to use it to launch small craft.
This week, the Escambia County Commission is expected to enter into an interlocal agreement with the Northwest Florida Water Management District. If approved, Escambia County will design and build a 10-foot wide boat launch with a gate at the Otto Hill Recreation area. It will be constructed at the site of a former primitive boat launch.
The gate across the launch will prohibit nonessential vehicle access by the public. Gate keys will be provided only to county staff and emergency personnel, water management staff, Escambia Search and Rescue, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
While the public will not have vehicle access to the launch, there will be walk-around space to allow the public to hand launch and retrieve canoes, kayaks and small boats.
The Otto Hill Recreation Area is located at 2401 Jacks Branch Road, just south of Fillingim Landing. It has a pavilion, portable toilet and reservation only campsite in addition to river access.
There are several short hiking trails — one of which leads to a picturesque sandbar approximately 100 yards from the main camp site. Under normal conditions, the river is shallow enough in this area to provide a fantastic swimming spot for children, according to the water district.
A short swim or paddle across the river leads visitors to another sandbar and more sunbathing opportunities.
The Escambia County Commission with vote on the agreement with the Northwest Florida Water Management District at a meeting on Thursday.
Pictured: The Otto Hill Recreation Area on the Perdido River off Jacks Branch Road. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Truck With Seven Occupants Overturns On Molino Road
April 5, 2021
There were no serious injuries reported when a truck with seven passengers overturned on Molino Road Sunday evening.
The truck overturned onto its side in a ditch about 6:40 p.m. in the area of Barrineau Lane, not far from South Highway 99. The seven people reportedly made their way to a nearby home where first responders found them.
The crash is under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Molino Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded.
File photo.
Week Starts Sunny And Dry With A Warming Trend
April 5, 2021
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 50. South wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 79. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the afternoon.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 57. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Wednesday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. South wind 5 to 15 mph.
Thursday: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. Southwest wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65. South wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 80.
Friday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 61.
Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 80.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 60.
Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.