It didn’t take long today for the public’s voice to be heard at Goose Creek Correctional Center during the scheduled parole hearings. The people said “No,” loud and clear with hundreds of letters to the Alaska Parole Board over the past two weeks.
The Board denied the request of Cordell Boyd, who has been locked up since 1985, after he and Winona Fletcher murdered three members of the Lienhart family in cold blood. The family had opened up their door to the two teenage killers who said their car had broken down, and were asking to borrow the phone.
After the parole hearing, which took place at Goose Creek, the Lienhart family survivors stepped out of the room while the board deliberated, but were notified within five minutes that Boyd will be in prison for another 10 years before he can reapply for release.
Boyd will be 52 when next eligible for his next parole hearing. His sentence is for 99 years.
The letters from Alaskans made a difference, the family of the victims said. Some 440 letters came into the parole board after a story appeared in Must Read Alaska, written by a granddaughter and niece of the three victims.
“In 1985, my grandparents, Ann and Tom Faccio, age 70 and 69, and my great aunt, Emilia Elliott, age 76, had their lives cut short, executed by Cordell Boyd and an underage accomplice, Winona Fletcher,” Tamera Lienhart wrote.
Dozens of people responded with notes to Must Read Alaska saying they remembered the murders, how shocking it was to Anchorage, and that they had felt compelled to write to the parole board.
Fletcher, housed at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, was the youngest person to be convicted of murder in Alaska. She has given birth to two children who were conceived during her time in prison.
