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Buried Episode 15: The Black World

In February 1991, a Quinlan police officer arrested Carey Mae Parker on a warrant for traffic offenses. Here's what happened next. 

Carey is arrested at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, 1991, and spends a night in the county jail. Records show she gets out before 11 a.m. 

Despite the short stint, Carey encounters numerous jail and judicial officials who will later be accused of egregious misconduct, particularly toward female prisoners, files obtained by Carey's family and KETR show. 

Carey Mae Parker holds a sign reading "Hunt County Sheriff Dept." in a Feb. 21, 1991 intake photograph.
Credit Hunt Co. Sheriff's Office
Carey Mae Parker holds a sign reading "Hunt County Sheriff Dept." in a Feb. 21, 1991 intake photograph.

In 2015, Carey's sister Patricia tracks down a 75-page reprimand spelling out allegations of misconduct by the judge who arraigned Carey. She also finds his name in a document linking her own former employer -- a secretive military contractor — to drug trafficking.

The former judge, Dan Roberston, denies the reprimand's allegations and says they're part of a campaign by members of a biker gang he once targeted.

Carey's brother Glenn recounts witnessing his girlfriend buy drugs years earlier from a police officer named Ronnie Foust. He later learns the same officer arrested Carey in 1991. And he remembers their father talking about Foust.

In Hawk Cove, police chief Rhonda McKeehan tracks down the late officer's son. She also attempts to locate the property that hosted a party where Cody says he and Carey argued over a woman known only as Cactus.

George Hale is a radio reporter for KETR and the host of its investigative podcast Buried.
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