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New England Unsolved: What happened to David Parsons?

BOSTON — Saturday, December 19, 2020, first responders answering a 911 call find an unconscious man in the lobby of a hotel in Boston’s South Bay.

The man has no ID.

He is rushed to Boston Medical Center as a John Doe.

Hours later, the man was pronounced dead.

Several days later, the man was identified as David Parsons, a married father of six who, at the time of his death, was living in Norwood with his second wife.

To this day, there are serious questions about what really happened to David Parsons.

“It’s just hard to absorb, to know that this could happen to my family, my dad,” David’s daughter, Nicole Ruggles told me.

According to a government document, David Parsons was fatally stabbed.

Nicole remembers her father as a warm, friendly man.

David was a trash collector from Quincy.

She cannot explain why her father was at the hospital, or who would want to hurt him.

“I just remember him smiling, laughing, he had all different kinds of laughs,” Nicole remembers. “He just had that personality that could light up a room.”

Nicole’s suspicions about her father’s death were peaked from the very beginning.

She claims no one told her anything about what happened to her father, until the day after he died, she she took a call from another family member.

More days passed before Nicole discovered where her father was when he suffered his violent death.

“I was devastated. I think was in shock, how this could happen to my dad? Nicole said. “I am thinking, why am I the only one fighting for my dad?”

At first, Nicole says, she was so desperate for information, she contacted hotel workers.

And they provided disturbing details of an attack that started on the second floor.

She was told David was found in the lobby.

“I was actually calling everyone, different shifts. The thing they had in common was, my Dad was very courageous. And that there was a ton of blood all over the hotel hallway and stairway,” Nicole said. I don’t know who would do this to him. He has a big heart.”

Boston Police are working David Parson’s case, but Nicole tells me she is frustrated that there is still so much she does not know about her father’s final moments.

“For someone who brought me in the world, I can’t even know who took him out, and why… and why this happened. I want to keep fighting for my Dad. I know he would fight for me,” Nicole Parsons said.

Anyone with information about the Death of David Parsons can call Boston Police Crimestoppers at 1.800.494.TIPS.


This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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