The former inmate charged in the stabbing deaths of a Parma Heights couple just one month after his release from prison claimed to have been fully rehabilitated, according to court records asking for an early release.
Thomas E. Knuff, 42, of Mahoning County was charged with two counts of aggravated murder.
Investigators said he fatally stabbed John Mann, 65, and Regina Capobianco, 50, before leaving them in a Parma Heights home to rot while he committed other crimes across Northeast Ohio.
Parma Heights police said Knuff killed the couple just one month after serving 15 and half years for multiple charges, including aggravated armed robbery.
Capobianco had been Knuff’s prison pen pal, according to investigators.
According to 2014 court records, Knuff filed for an early release from prison, claiming that he’d “changed his life around.”
Court records show that Knuff took a series of alcohol and narcotics programs in addition to anger management, life skills, family skills, victim awareness and “criminal thinking errors.”
Knuff asked to re-enter society to become a “productive member of society, take care of his family.”
But Parma Heights police said just one month into his post-prison release supervision by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, Knuff began committing crimes.
He was charged with possessing drug paraphernalia and the unauthorized use of property in Medina County. He was also charged with breaking and entering into two Parma Heights salons the week after the couple were killed.
Knuff appeared in Parma Municipal Court on Monday. He waived his preliminary hearing with a bond set for $50 million.
