The morning of February 20th started with a little sister’s tears. Sarah Grace Patrick was only seventeen. She was asleep when her five-year-old half-sister shook her awake, sobbing, telling her something was wrong with Mom and Jamie. She called the police.
She was taken to the sheriff’s office, where she tried to call her dad. The call dropped when he answered. Then the paramedics called him back and told him to come pick her up because Kristen and James Brock were dead. Her father, Daniel, first thought the couple had relapsed.
He was shocked to hear they had been murdered. The investigation moved quickly. Police found no signs of forced entry. Someone had to have been let into the house, or had already been inside.
Sarah Grace told investigators an unknown person had come in and committed the shootings. She was interviewed with her father at first, then brought into a separate room and questioned alone, without Daniel’s knowledge. By all appearances, she was a grieving teenager. She graduated from high school.
She took a beach vacation. She celebrated her seventeenth birthday. She posted photos of herself crying and wrote how much she missed her mother and stepfather. “I can’t help but hate myself because I didn’t wake up to find them before my 5-year-old sister had to find her parents like that,” she wrote.
She posted a photo of her family with a caption that read: “I feel like I’m in a horror movie that never ends. ”
She reached out to true crime creators on TikTok, asking them to cover her family’s case. Many responded with sympathy. Some agreed to help.
She also gave a eulogy at the funeral. Standing at the podium in a light blue dress, she read from notes. She called her mother a beautiful, kind soul. She shared a letter her mother had written to James in 2018, filled with religious messages about love and strength.
She said her mother was always dancing to her own beat. “I may always and will always be her sunshine, but she will always be my star from up above,” she said through tears. James’s sister, Kim, also spoke. She described Jamie as her baby brother, the only sibling she had left.
She talked about his silly phone calls and his goofy smile. She said every phone call ended with “I love you, sis. ” She said she promised their mother she would always watch over him. The funerals were held in early March.
The couple was later privately cremated. For months, Sarah Grace posted tributes online. Her father shared a message from her on Facebook. She wrote that there were things on the news that were not true.
She said she trusted God to make it right. The community was split. Some suspected Sarah Grace immediately. Others thought she was a victim of abuse.
James’s niece, Kristen, said Sarah Grace fake cried during the eulogy. She saved a recording of it, saying she knew one day everyone would see it for what it really was. In early July, Daniel made a loving post to his daughter. He told her she was sent here with purpose, wrapped in grace, and born to shine.
A few days later, Sarah Grace got a call from investigators. They told her they had a warrant for her arrest. Daniel drove her to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, where she turned herself in. She was charged with two counts of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, and two counts of aggravated assault in the deaths of Kristen and James Brock.
Her maternal grandfather, Dennis, got a call from her after she was booked. “She was begging for me to help,” he said. “Please, please help me. Help me get out of this mess.
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He told her to cooperate and be honest. He said she swore she was innocent, and he believed her. One true crime creator, Janice, had been one of the people Sarah Grace reached out to months earlier. After the arrest, Janice posted a video reacting to the news.
“Why would you ask me to cover a case where you are going to get arrested for taking your parents’ lives? ” she asked. She read Sarah Grace’s original message: “Search up Brock case. ” When Janice asked which Brock, Sarah Grace said Kristen and James.
Her parents. She told Janice that someone had come into the house in the middle of the night and left them for her and her little sister to find. Janice had covered the case sympathetically at first. But after the arrest, her viewers began to notice Sarah Grace’s own comments on those videos.
On one video, a viewer guessed the killer was someone the family knew. Sarah Grace replied: “Most definitely was since they knew the house. ”
The sympathy for her rapidly declined. Another person Sarah Grace reached out to was Ailia, whose son had been murdered.
Ailia never saw the message until after the arrest. She posted a video reading Sarah Grace’s message, saying she couldn’t believe Sarah would reach out to someone who lost a child as if she needed a mother, knowing what she was accused of doing. “To say I am triggered is an understatement,” Ailia wrote. The prosecution argued Sarah should be charged as an adult, though she was sixteen at the time of the murders and seventeen when arrested.
The judge agreed. At her first court appearance in August, she smiled and embraced her attorneys as she entered the room. Her smile disappeared as the hearing went on. Family, friends, and acquaintances testified about her character.
Many came in wearing shirts that read “I Stand With Sarah. ” Her father was among them. Her pastor testified that he had visited her in jail and they prayed together. Others testified against her release.
James’s sister, Kim, told the court she feared for her own safety if Sarah was released. James’s oldest son cried on the stand. He called his father his Superman. He said he wished he could hear his father’s voice again.
He said he was living a nightmare. Sarah Grace was denied bond. Prosecutors said they feared she might try to intimidate witnesses, including her little sister, who could one day be called to testify. Her trial was originally set for January 2026, then delayed.
The defense’s forensic neuropsychologist had evaluated her multiple times but had not produced a final report. Prosecutors said they needed time to review it. The judge made it clear he would grant no further delays. At a second bond hearing in January 2026, Sarah Grace was denied again.
The judge noted that her family had signed contracts with a production company for a documentary about the case. “If you’re out, what’s going to motivate you or that side to do things? ” he said. “The more that’s there, the more they have, the more potentially they get—that’s a risk, too.
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Sarah Grace Patrick has pleaded not guilty to all charges. She maintains her innocence. She is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Her trial is set to begin in August 2026.
The murder weapon, identified as a handgun, has never been recovered. Investigators have not publicly established how Sarah Grace obtained one. James Brock was not legally permitted to own a firearm as a twice-convicted felon. His family says they had no idea he had one.
Investigators have said they have a mountain of evidence against her. None of it has yet been presented in open court.
