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Canton family hopes man who killed mother in front of 8-year-old girl will be denied parole

Posted at 6:34 AM, Nov 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-13 06:39:20-05

Becky Kerr was 29 years old in 1980 when she and her 8-year-old daughter were abducted in Stark County’s Perry Township by Becky's abusive ex-boyfriend Lincoln Mabry.

Mabry shot and killed Becky in front of her child, Melissa.

"We worry more about Melissa because she witnessed when Becky was killed and he told her to go stand with her mom. She's just terrified that if he gets back out he might come after her," said Becky's brother, Joe Kerr. 

Kerr and their family started a petition on blockparole.com to help convince the parole board in Columbus to keep Mabry in prison.

"Being in an institution instead of being out in the real world are two different things. It's kind of like a caged lion in a zoo, If they're in the cage you don't have to worry and if you let them out, somebody is going to get hurt," said Kerr. 

He said he's upset Mabry even has a chance of parole.

"A guy that did what he did in front of a little girl, they shouldn't even think of letting a guy like that out," he said. "It kind of makes me sick to my stomach."

Kerr wrote a letter to the parole board for Monday’s hearing in Columbus.

He shared part of it:

During the trial, Lincoln Mabry was pronounced guilty and on the way out of the courtroom Lincoln looked at my brother Mark and started laughing, and I thought he was probably thinking, 'I told you if you told your sister to leave me one more time I'd kill her.' Lincoln showed no remorse during the trial for what he'd done. Please deny his parole and keep him where he belongs.

Mabry has been in prison for 37 years. The last time he was turned down for parole was five years ago.