CENTREVILLE, Mich. – Daniel Furlong, 65, was sentenced Monday afternoon to 30-60 years in prison for the 2007 slaying of Jodi Parrack, who was 11-years-old at the time.
Furlong pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of Parrack last November, in exchange for other charges to be dropped, including felony murder, unlawful imprisonment, and second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Furlong will be 95 years old before he would be eligible for parole. The judge noted that Furlong is in poor health and it would be "miraculous" for him to live to be 95.
The judge also said that this sentence will account for Parrack, as well as a 10-year-old girl that he was accused of assaulting in White Pigeon, Michigan.
Before sentencing Monday in court, Jodi Parrack's Mother Valerie Jo Gilson addressed the judge.
“For eight years I had to live my life every day not knowing who killed my baby or why," said Gilson. "I had to prove my innocence as well as many of my family members’ over and over again for eight years.”
Jodi Parrack, murder victim
Parrack was 11-years-old when she was strangled. Her body was found Nov. 8, 2007 in the Constantine Township Cemetery, after she was seen last walking home from a friend’s house.
In 2011 until 2014, for three and a half years, the Michigan State Police took over the Parrack case, and assigned a four-person, full-time team to investigate and find Parrack’s killer.
Furlong was not an initial suspect in Parrack’s murder, and at the time of her death Furlong lived in Constantine and knew the Parrack family “distantly,” according to St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough.
Furlong had no criminal record until August 2015 when he was arrested for the attempted assault of a 10-year-old girl at his White Pigeon home. The girl told police Furlong lured her into his garage last August to help him move something. Then she said Furlong pulled out a knife, covered her mouth with his hand, and when she was able to run away she said Furlong grabbed an extension cord.
In court Monday, Gilson called this victim a "hero." She urged the judge for a maximum sentence for Furlong to give justice to both her daughter and this young girl. Gilson asked the judge to consider all of Furlong's original charges before some were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea.
“And then there’s McKenzie, the little girl who got away, the little hero who truly caught the killer, a little girl who has to live every day of her life with the knowledge that this man was going to do to her the same thing that he did to Jodi," said Gilson.
"Yet she gets no justice either, none at all because of this plea bargain?”
Furlong's 2015 arrest caught the attention of the Parrack investigation team. Soon after, in September last year, the crime lab confirmed that Furlong’s DNA matched two samples of DNA on Jodi Parrack’s clothing. His arrest in the Parrack case led to his guilty plea for the murder of Jodi Parrack.
The loss of Jodi Parrack is one that a case investigator and family friend said Monday affects their community forever.
“We’re all going to carry this the rest of our lives, it’s hard not to take stuff like this personal, especially when you do it every day for over three years," said Det. Sgt. Shane Criger. "For us, we’ll never forget it, it’ll never leave us.”
“You don’t see many children walking to school anymore [in Constantine], and we live on path to the elementary school, and don’t see too many of them out walking," said Mary Shingledecker, her and her husband Larry were in court to support Jodi Parrack's Grandfather and her Mother.
In the meantime, authorities continue to investigate whether Furlong is the suspect in any other cases over the years, including the 1997 missing girl case of Brittney Beers, 6. Furlong has denied any involvement in this cold case.
