(NewsNation) — Sarah Grace Patrick had contacted true-crime TikTokers, seeking their assistance in bringing attention to the unsolved murders of her mother and stepfather in Georgia — until this week when she herself was charged in connection with the killings.
One of the content creators is speaking to “Banfield” about her conversations with the 17-year-old Patrick, trying to comprehend how someone accused of murder would navigate such a risky path.
“To me, this is just a teenager experiencing a terrible situation, and I want to support her. I want to cover this,” the woman behind the “AllegedlyReportedly” TikTok account, who requested to be called “Janice,” explains regarding her initial response.
Janice said she received a direct message from Patrick a little more than a month ago. In the message, the teen told her that posting about the Feb. 20 slayings of 45-year-old James Brock and 41-year-old Kristin Brock in Carroll County could be a “big hit” for her.
The fatally shot victims were found at home by their younger daughter, and Patrick alerted 911 about the deaths, authorities have said.
“I could give you intell,” Patrick said in her message to Janice. “Just I can’t give you anything that could break the case (thats what the cops told me).”
Janice said the tone of the message was bizarre, but she attributed it to Patrick being a teen with a “social-media mindset.”
“Even if some things were odd, I did not think to myself, ‘She took the lives of her mother and stepfather,’” the TikToker said. “But I guess, looking back, hindsight, maybe I should have found it even stranger than I did.”
So, what could have been Patrick’s motives in reaching out? Janice says perhaps it was the teen’s way of reliving her alleged crimes, or maybe it was a way of somehow relieving her conscience.
Authorities in Carroll County this week announced Patrick has been charged with two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Investigators in part zeroed in on the teen’s social media history to break the case, a sheriff’s spokesperson told “Banfield” on Thursday.
Although Janice says she may have been duped, her husband smelled something funny from the start, given that there were no signs of forced entry at the murder scene.
“As soon as I read him her initial messages and her email, he said, ‘She did it,’” Janice said. “I find often that he’s right, and he was here.”
The girl’s grandfather, Dennis Nolan, told NewsNation this week that Patrick says she is innocent, and he is standing behind her.
