Stark County killer has parole hearing in July. Becky Kerr's family doesn't want him out
The family of a woman killed in 1980 wants people to write letters, or sign an online petition, to the Ohio Parole Board to ask them not to release the man who murdered her.
Lincoln Mabry Jr., 83, is scheduled to have a parole hearing July 24.
He is serving a life term in prison for shooting Rebecca "Becky" Kerr in a Perry Township gas station parking lot in front of her then 8-year-old daughter. Mabry shot his former girlfriend Kerr, 29, seven times. He also abducted her and her daughter.
Mabry family in 2022: Family: At 81, it's time to release Lincoln Mabry Jr. after 42 years in prison
Mabry was previously denied parole in 2022 and 2017. He is housed at the London Correctional Institution in London, Ohio.
Remembering Becky Kerr
The Repository previously reported that Kerr, a graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School, began dating Mabry in 1975. In the fall of 1979, Mark Kerr remembered his sister's face being black and blue. She claimed she fell and hurt herself, but he knew it was more serious.
"Leave him because it's not going to get any better," he remembers telling her.
It wasn't until the following January that Becky Kerr mustered the courage to walk away from Mabry. She lived in a home for battered women for a few weeks before finding an apartment.
2017: Family wants killer to remain behind bars
On Feb. 15, Mabry followed Kerr as she left work and drove to the babysitter's house to pick up her daughter. It was there Mabry hit Kerr on the head with his gun and forced her and her daughter Melissa into the car.
According to the Perry Township Police Department's investigation report, Kerr drove south and pulled into the parking lot of the Kayo gas station where she exited the car and tried to run for help. Mabry leaned out of the driver's side window and shot her in the leg. He then left the vehicle and shot Kerr four more times. Mabry stood over her body as he reloaded his revolver, shooting her another two times.
Mabry ordered Kerr's terrified daughter out of the car and told her to stand by her mother before he jumped into Kerr's station wagon and drove off.
How to fight against Lincoln Mabry's release
When police arrived, Kerr's pulse was weak. She died on the way to what was then Doctors Hospital. Her daughter was found behind the cashier's booth inside the gas station.
Mabry drove to Columbus where his sister lived. Three days later, his sister brought him back to Perry Township where he turned himself in.
Persons wishing to submit a written statement about his parole hearing may send it to the Ohio Parole Board, Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 4545 Fisher Road, Suite D, Columbus, OH, 43228. Writers are advised to include the offender’s name and number, A158583, on correspondence.
The online petition is available on the web at: petition: Demand to Keep Becky Kerr's Killer In prison "Lincoln Mabry inmate#A158583 (thepetitionsite.com)
Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Becky Kerr's family seeking letters opposing Lincoln Mabry's release
