Wife Indicted In Beating Death Of Disabled Husband

BALL GROUND, GA — A Cherokee County woman has been indicted on nearly two dozen charges in connection to the death of her husband. Betty Sue Parton, who resides in Ball Ground, was indicted by the grand jury on charges of murder, aggravated assault, battery and cruelty to children.

Specifically, the grand jury returned indictments on one count each of malice murder and felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of aggravated battery, eight counts of battery and one count each of exploitation and intimidation of disabled adult/elderly person/resident and cruelty to children in the third degree.

Parton's husband, David Parton, 76, was found dead April 1 inside the family home in the 3100 block of Old Ball Ground Road. Betty Sue Parton told deputies that her husband fell and struck his head, Cherokee Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jay Baker previously told Patch.

Parton did have injuries that were consistent with a fall, and the initial cause of death was listed as unknown. However, Parton's body was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab for an autopsy. The medical examiner in July reached out to sheriff's office detectives, and informed investigators that Parton's death allegedly occurred under suspicious circumstances, the sheriff's office said.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here)

On Parton's autopsy report, the medical examiner listed the man's manner of death as homicide and the cause of death as blunt force trauma, the sheriff's office added. A search warrant was executed in September at the Parton home, and detectives arrested Betty Sue Parton on Oct. 9.

According to the indictment, Parton used her hands and other objects to inflict repeated blows to her husband's head, torso and extremities, "resulting in multiple blunt force injuries and hemorrhaging, causing the death" of David Parton. The indictment also charges Parton with breaking her husband's ribs and a finger, slapping him, causing serious injury to both ears, striking him in the face and inflicting multiple injuries that left bruises on his back.

She's also accused of allowing a child under the age of 18 to witness her alleged abuse towards her husband, hence the cruelty to children charge. The indictment also notes David Parton suffered from Parkinson's disease, and had limited mobility at the time of his death.

Parton, who was 74 at the time of her arrest, remains held at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center without bond, Baker said.

Photo: Betty Sue Parton. Credit: Cherokee Sheriff's Office