EXCLUSIVE: Family of man brutally beaten, raped breaks silence

DECATUR COUNTY, Tenn. — For the first time we hear from the family of a Mississippi man found beaten within an inch of his life in Decatur County.

Investigators have arrested three of their four suspects, one of them is the dad of the victim’s ex-girlfriend. It has some officers saying this case has played out like a modern day Romeo and Juliet.

The Decatur County Sheriff’s Office said the man was beaten with bricks and sexually assaulted with a stick. But what may be even worse is that deputies believe it was all set up by his ex-girlfriend and that is why the victim’s family wants her charged as well.

“He’s had to go through several plastic surgeries and may even lose his eye,” the victim’s father Joseph Borden said. “It will be emotionally draining for the rest of his life.”

The injuries so graphic after being beaten with bricks the family said he was hardly recognizable. They said he is not out of the hospital but has a long road to recovery.

“The severity of of this case is hard to believe,” Det. Joseph Hudgins with the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office said. “It’s really one of the more serious cases we’ve seen in this area in a long time.”

It all started late last month when the victim traveled all the way from Mississippi to pick up his ex-girlfriend in Parsons.

“She said she didn’t like it here and if he would come pick her up they would run away,” Sheriff Keith Byrd said. “So she had him meet her at the local Sonic.”

But deputies say it was all a trap. The next thing the victim knew he was surrounded by his ex’s family and friends who chased him down this road and into the woods.

“He ran off down into a heavily wooded area down here and was chased by several subjects,” Hudgins said. “They then beat and kicked him multiple times.”

That was not the end, after the first beat down investigators said they brought him down the road and raped him with a stick.

“They put him in the truck and carried him to another location and dumped him out,” Sheriff Byrd. “They pretty much left him for dead.”

Officers said the victim was luckily found a short time later lying in someone’s front yard.

“It’s by the grace of God he didn’t die,” Byrd said. “He was able to regain enough composer and strength to find his way to a nearby house.”

Three men are now charged in this brutal beat down, David Parrott, Mason Niece, and Joseph Doyle. A fourth suspect, Cody Parrot, is still on the run.

“These people have done horrible things and no one deserves to have to even worry about these people on the streets,” Borden said. “Justice needs to be served.”

According to deputies, at least two of the suspects are free on bond. The family said it upsets them because they believe their bond was not high enough.

According to the sheriff’s department, all three suspects are due back in court March 21.

If you have seen Cody Parrott or know where he can be found, call the Decatur County Sheriff’s Department at (731) 852-3714. Callers can remain anonymous.