Asheboro Man Charged In Overdose Death Of Pregnant Woman

ASHEBORO NC – A Grand Jury has indicted an Asheboro man in the 2019 overdose death of Amber Cox and her unborn child.

Back on April 7^th 2019 the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division responded to an overdose at 1123 Ingram Dr. Asheboro NC. When they arrived they found Amber Leigh Cox unresponsive in what they said appeared to be a suspected heroin overdose. Police say the located evidence of recent drug use at the scene. Randolph County EMS arrived and attempted lifesaving procedures before pronouncing Cox and her unborn child deceased on the scene. Amber Cox was nine months pregnant at the time of her death. Cox’s body was sent to the N.C. Medical Examiner’s office in Raleigh for an autopsy.

The Sheriff’s office opened an investigation which led them to evidence that Gregory Manuel Fisher was directly connected to the death of Cox. Fisher was being held in the Randolph County Jail on unrelated charges when he was served with the additional charges for Felony Second Degree Murder by Distributing Drugs and Felony Murder of an Unborn Child. In November of 2019 the Randolph County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges against Fisher.

Sometime in October 2020, the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office says they received additional information regarding the case from the District Attorney’s Office. That led them to re-open the investigation into the death of Amber Cox. After what the Sheriff’s Office is calling a “lengthy investigation and re-examination of evidence”, the case was presented to the Grand Jury on August 9, 2021. The Grand Jury returned an Indictment on Barry Alan Parker for Second Degree Murder, Murder of an Unborn Child and Felony Sell/Deliver Heroin to A Pregnant Female.

Parker was arrested on August 16, 2021, and transported to the Randolph County jail where the magistrate set his bond at $1,000,000. Parker appeared in Superior Court today but there have not been any updates on the outcome at the time of publication.