NBC Dateline: How was Jacksonville resident Corey Parker's unsolvable murder case cracked?

NBC's upcoming Dateline episode focuses on the shocking murder of Jacksonville resident Corey Parker. The episode will air on the network on Friday, July 8, 2022. Titled Rear Window, the official synopsis of the episode on NBC News reads as:

''After a young woman is found dead inside her Jacksonville Beach apartment, it takes police more than a year to find a microscopic clue to solve the case. Andrea Canning reports Friday, July 8 at 10/9c on NBC.''

Read further ahead to find out how Corey Parker's case was cracked as well as numerous other details pertaining to the case.

---

NBC Dateline: Who was Corey Parker?

Corey Parker was a young woman from Jacksonville. She reportedly grew up in Rochester, New York, and graduated from Brighton High School in 1991. She reportedly moved to Jacksonville a few months before her death. At the time of her death, she was working as a waitress in a restaurant in Florida.

On November 27, 1998, around 11.00 am, Corey's neighbor, Ashley, heard banging on her front door, according to a sneak peek of the Rear Window episode. She opened the door and saw that it was the police who asked her if she was Corey Parker. She told authorities that Parker lived in a neighboring house, where they eventually found Parker dead.

Earlier, when Parker did not show up at work, one of her co-workers went to her house to check, but Corey didn't open the door, after which he returned. When he returned to her house again after a while, he noticed blood on Corey's foot through the window, following which he informed the police. Subsequent investigations revealed that Corey was murdered after being stabbed over 100 times. Although the investigation continued, authorities couldn't come up with any substantial leads, and the case did not make any significant progress until almost two years later. The police announced a $20,000 reward for any information pertaining to the murder.

Per Chilling Crimes, a woman named Julia Sedgwick told authorities about a conversation she had with her co-worker, Robert Denney, in early 1999. According to Julia, Robert was frantic and told her that someone in his family had died and that he needed to go to Texas. Later, he also reportedly told her about a waitress that he was in love with and showed Julia the waitress' apartment. A year later, Julia realized that it was actually Corey Parker's apartment.

Police questioned Denney, who was living in Maryland. Authorities' suspicions were raised even further when Denney refused their request for a DNA sample. His boss reportedly told police that he'd become extremely paranoid. Police also found a similar killing pattern in another case involving Robert's brother, Patrick Denney, who was reportedly convicted of murdering a Texas woman.

---

NBC Dateline: When was Robert Denney arrested?

In a significant development, police managed to find the most crucial piece of evidence that led to the arrest of Robert Denney in November 2000. Per ABC News, Denney spat near his workplace, following which the authorities collected the spittle. Subsequently, police discovered that the DNA matched the blood and strands of hair found at the Parker crime scene.

Robert Denney was ultimately found guilty of first-degree murder and received a life sentence. Throughout the trial, he maintained his innocence, and continues to do so to this day.

Don't miss NBC's Dateline on Friday, July 8, 2022.