ST. FRANCISVILLE — A former St. Francisville police officer pleaded not guilty to negligent homicide in connection with the 2022 death of a 39-year-old mother of three, as the district attorney is now seeking upgraded charges.

District Attorney Sam D'Aquilla said they plan to bring Richard Parsons before another grand jury in September for an upgraded charge of second-degree murder.

Renee Hinze was found dead in a bathtub at a St. Francisville hotel in 2022. Parsons had been with her that night and was the person who called 911. At that time, her death was declared an accidental drowning by the coroner. 

It wasn't until the summer of 2025 that Hinze's family raised questions about a drug found in her system, listed in the autopsy as TMFPP.

"When I did a little research and found out that drug could be used as a date rape drug, that kind of opened our eyes up to what the heck's going on," Renee's mother, Debbie Hinze, told WBRZ.

That's when the accidental death turned into a homicide investigation, leading the sheriff's office to arrest Parsons for negligent homicide more than four years after Hinze's death.

Spillman said the toxicology findings were news to his office.

"The toxicology in the case revealed something that we were not aware of," Spillman said.

However, Debbie Hinze told WBRZ that the toxicology report listed TMFPP from the beginning.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit asked the sheriff why the drug was not looked into sooner. 

"That's a good question. I will tell you we have questioned everyone involved in the case. I had a former detective who was involved in the case who is no longer with us, and I've reached out to that person to ask them why that was overlooked, and I have not gotten a good answer to be honest with you," he said. "I expect more out of my department. I think that we should have caught that. Regardless of if it was our responsibility or not, I think we should have caught it and acted on it. I feel like we could have done a much better job on it."

D'Aquilla will bring the upgraded charge to a grand jury in September.