Family questions grandmother's supposed motive for overdosing grandson

BRADENTON, Fla. (FOX 13) - The family of a 30-year-old man allegedly killed by his grandmother this week is left asking why his life was cut short.

Lillian Parks, 87, told police she purposefully gave her grandson, who has a developmental delay, an overdose because she is dying and worried nobody would care for him after she passed.

However, Joel Parks' other family members say he had plenty of love and support.

Joel's sister, Yvonne Parks said Joel told her "Bye-bye, I love you. See you later," the last time they spoke.

"I said, 'Bye, I love you bubby. See you later.' That's the last time I ever saw him," Yvonne remembered. 

Joel and Yvonne were at their grandmother's Bradenton apartment. After Yvonne left, police believe Lillian killed Joel by giving him too much of a medication.

Joel's sister found his body the next day. 

"I hit the foot of the chair. I looked back and I said, 'Good, I didn't wake him up,'" she said. 

Lillian told Yvonne Joel had been up late watching TV, but as the hours passed, Yvonne grew suspicious. 

"I said, 'Grams, he's not breathing.' Clear as day, I kid you not, she said it like this: 'Because he's not,'" Yvonne recalled, adding Lillian had "a little snicker" in her voice.

Joel was under his grandmother's care since he was 4-years-old. He was diagnosed with a developmental delay and, as an adult, state funding helped him moved into a group home. 

On some weekends, his grandmother would pick him up.

"As much time and energy and thought she put into him growing up, it never crossed my mind that she would do this," said Joel's mother, Toshia Fretz. 

Fretz said after divorcing Joel's father years ago, Lillian tried keeping her out of Joel's life. 

"Because of where I was in life with my children, I thought it was the best thing for them. It was better for them to be there than where I was in my path," she explained of her absence. 

Now Joel's sisters, mom, and stepfather wonder why this happened.

"It doesn't make sense at all. His life was cut way too short. Nothing like this should have ever happened to him," said Parks. 

Lillian Parks will face a charge of second-degree murder once she is released from medical care.