Teen Sarah Grace Patrick, charged with killing mom and stepdad, denied bond

By Chase Houle, Jonathan Raymond

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    CARROLLTON, Georgia (WXIA) — A 17-year-old Carrollton girl accused of killing her mother and stepfather while they slept was denied bond in a hearing on Tuesday.

Sarah Grace Patrick originally faced two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the deaths of Kristin and James Brock. The couple was found dead in their Carroll County home in February this year, and Patrick was arrested roughly five months later in July.

On Tuesday, two charges of malice murder, along with two weapons charges, were added, according to court documents.

Police said at the time of her arrest that “mountains of evidence” had led them to charge the teenager.

Patrick, then 16, was living with the couple at the time of the killings. She is being charged as an adult.

Several friends and church associates spoke on her behalf at the hearing on Tuesday, some of them wearing “I Stand with Sarah” t-shirts. James Brock’s son was among those to speak against Patrick receiving bond.

“Your honor, it feels like I’m living in a nightmare,” said Brock’s oldest son, Trysten Brock.

Her friends contended she “just doesn’t have this in her” and is “not the evil person the Brock family is making her out to be” as family friend Carrie Jensen said on the stand. Her pastor, Ben Booner, described praying with her and talking about what she’s reading when speaking with her in jail.

Judge Dustin Hightower, weighing the testimonies, said, “I believe those closest (to Patrick)… have vast concerns,” that she would be able to flee while on bond, and would pose a continuing danger to them and the community.

“I was just nervous. Nervous because I know what she’s accused of doing and I’m not going to back down,” said Kim Bowling, James Brock’s sister, when asked what it was like seeing her niece. She added in a weeping statement on the stand, “If the defendant can kill her own parents in such a violent manner, I fear for my own safety and the safety of my family and friends.”

11Alive’s Chase Houle tried to get a comment from Sarah’s father, Doniel Patrick, leading to this exchange:

Chase Houle: Mr. Patrick, Chase Houle with 11Alive News, today your daughter was held (kept in custody) in court. Do you have anything to say? Doniel Patrick: Not today, thank you. Chase Houle: Do you want to say anything about your daughter’s innocence? You’ve said before she’s innocent. Doniel Patrick: I said I didn’t want to talk. Get that out of my face, please.

Judge Hightower did say he wants the case to move quickly, noting the age of the defendant and the high community and media interest in it. He laid out a timeline where Patrick could be arraigned by Sept. 22 and a trial could begin on Jan. 5.

The judge also noted, however, that it’s possible attorneys will ask for continuances between now and then that could push back the timeline.

You can re-watch the proceedings below:

11Alive’s Chase Houle has previously reported on the TikTok videos she posted leading up to and in the days after the alleged murders.

Patrick’s TikTok activity Patrick had been posting emotional videos mourning their deaths for months. One post was captioned, “Please send prayers for healing.” At the end of that same video, she added, “I should prob delete later.”

She never did.

But Patrick didn’t just take to TikTok for sympathy.

Kellie Brown, a family friend of the Brocks, shared on TikTok that Patrick contacted her directly.

“So, Sarah reached out to me on Sunday, and we spoke on the phone and via text, and she asked me to speak on her behalf about the night on 2/20/2025,” Brown said in a video posted to her account.

Brown said Patrick told her she didn’t hear anything unusual the night of the murders — except for one thing.

“But she did hear James’ L-VAD machine, which is his heart machine, that kept his heart pumping; she did hear that alarm going off throughout the night,” Brown said.

In the comments of that video, Patrick wrote that she heard the alarm 10 to 20 minutes before going to bed, but claimed it was faint due to background noise.

Another TikTok creator — who runs the true crime page “Allegedly Reportedly,” with nearly 120,000 followers — also said Patrick reached out to her.

“Why would you ask me to cover a case where you are going to get arrested for taking your parents’ lives?” the creator said in one of her videos, referencing Patrick’s request.

She shared screenshots and read from direct messages she claims came from Patrick.

“She messaged me on Jun. 3 and said, ‘Look up Brock case,'” the creator said. “So I said, ‘Brock Turner? Brock, who?’

“She said, ‘Kristin and James Brock.’ They’re my parents, and out of nowhere, a random Thursday night in February, someone came in my house with me and my five-year-old sister and left my parents for me and my five-year-old sister to wake up to.”

Just weeks later, Patrick would be arrested and charged in the case.

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Kara Nelson
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