The sight of convicted murderers Myron Lance and Walter Kelbach made Rhea Shea ill.
Although Lance and Kelbach, now 51 and 53 respectively, don't appear the lean, mean killers who terrorized Salt Lake County in 1966, seeing them brought back Shea's painful memories of her son, Steven. He was 18 years old when Lance and Kelbach abducted him from a service station, stripped him, stabbed him five times and left him for dead in a remote area of Tooele County."It made me kind of sick to be here, but I don't regret coming," Shea said of attending Friday's parole hearings for the convicted killers.
Utah Board of Pardons member Michael Sibbett took under advisement whether to grant parole or set a future rehearing for the pair, who killed six people during a string of robberies in December 1966. Sib-bett said a decision should be reached within 10 days.
Friday's session was the third parole hearing for Lance and Kelbach, who were initially sentenced to die for the shooting deaths of two patrons at Lally's Tavern in downtown Salt Lake.
After hearing Sibbett recount the five-day killing spree, both Lance and Kelbach acknowledged they had killed Shea; Michael Holtz, another 18-year-old service station attendant; Grant Strong, a Ute Cab driver; and tavern patrons Fred Lillie, Jim Sisemore and Beverly Mace.
The infamous duo were on parole from the Utah State Prison when they committed the murders.
Rhea Shea attended the hearing with about 20 other family members and relatives of the six victims. It was the first time they had been invited to attend and express their feelings at a parole hearing for Lance and Kelbach. Many of the victims' relatives had sent letters to the board opposing parole for the two men, but the father and sister of Fred Lillie were the only ones to address Sibbett with Lance and Kelbach present.
Both Kenneth Lillie and his daughter, Judith King, expressed frustration at the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring capital punishment unconstitutional, thereby commuting Lance's and Kelbach's death sentence to life in prison in the mid-1970s. The Lil-lies also told Sibbett that a parole hearing with the possibility of freedom was unacceptable.
"Their death isn't enough to repay the debt they created by the six people murdered," King said. "Why reward them with freedom? How can we be sure they won't kill again?"
Lance acknowledged he couldn't restore his victims and said he didn't believe he would be paroled. "If I were them I would feel the same way. I think these hearings are a waste of my time and theirs."
Kelbach had no response to the Lillies' speeches.
Sibbett said he had also received a few letters from citizens and from family members of Lance and Kelbach supporting a release date.
Parole must be supported by a majority of the five-member Board of Pardons. But Sibbett left little doubt what his decision would be. "Of all the cases I have studied, none have had more aggravating circumstances than this," he told Kelbach, who responded that he understood.
Asked what he would do if he were to decide his own fate, Lance said, "I don't see how you could ever let me out."