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Conn. serial rapist and killer denied parole

Edward Boyle was denied parole after failing to explain why he continued to prey on women during a prior

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Edward F. Boyle Jr. (Photo/Connecticut Department of Corrections)

By Karen Florin
The Day

BROOKLYN, Conn. — Edward Boyle, a serial rapist and killer returned to prison five years ago for parole violations, was denied release Friday after failing to explain to the Board of Pardons and Paroles why he continued to prey on women after being released to the community.

“That is something very in depth. There is no two-line answer,” the 55-year-old convict told board member Pamela Richards during a 15-minute hearing at the Brooklyn Correctional Institution. He said he had been attending sex offender treatment for years and working with “a very good psychiatrist.” He said he has been practicing at being a good person, but that there are “some things that still linger.”

“I do have to say, there is a concern about putting you back out,” Richards said. Chairwoman Joy Chance added that Boyle’s inability to articulate why he keeps reoffending is of concern.

The three-member parole panel, comprising Richards, Chance and Carmen Sierra, went into closed session with staff members for 10 minutes before returning and announcing they had voted unanimously to deny Boyle’s parole. He remains on special parole through 2024, and Chance said the board would be reviewing his eligibility for release on an annual basis, as required by law.

The decision brought relief to homicide victim Louisa Scott’s family members, who had rallied the media and public upon learning he was once again going before the Board of Pardons and Paroles. They had displayed throughout the hearing photographs of the pretty brunette, spanning from toddler age until just before Boyle fatally strangled her, at 20 years old, during a rape attempt in Coventry on May 31, 1980.

“I think the women of the state of Connecticut, young and old, can breathe a sigh of relief because Mr. Boyle won’t be out anytime soon,” said Timothy Scott, brother of the victim.

It was five years to the day since the family had turned out for Boyle’s last parole hearing, on Oct. 28, 2011, and they vowed they would continue to show up every time Boyle appears before the board.

Timothy Scott remembered the night he learned of his sister’s death. He and his mother were watching a Red Sox game when police officers knocked on the door and, without saying what had happened, asked for a picture of Louisa. Given the photo, the officers looked at it and nodded with sad expressions.

Scott’s sister, Beverly Canfield, had started sobbing as soon as correction officers led Boyle, a thin man in prison tans with a long gray pony-tail, into the prison visiting room. Boyle did not look to his left as the family members held up the victim’s photographs.

“We wanted him to know we’re here, and when he walked out of that holding cell, he couldn’t even look at us,” Timothy Scott said later.

Boyle had served 19 years in prison for killing Scott and raping five other women in Manchester in the 1970s and 1980. Released in 1999, he was rearrested for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old in Groton and sentenced to five years in prison. Released again in November 2009 under strict supervision, he was charged within 15 months with going out of the range of his GPS tracking device and missing a sexual offender treatment center appointment.

During his 2011 parole hearing, the board had received information that Boyle was corresponding with a 14-year-old girl from his prison cell.

Boyle has had only one disciplinary issue in prison, according to correction officials, who said he received an infraction in 2004. He told the parole board Friday that he has no remaining support in the community. He did tell the board he learns something new every time he goes to a group therapy session.

“I’m doing everything I can to learn how to conduct myself and be a better person,” he said.

Scott’s family members think he can’t be fixed.

“Mr. Boyle’s extensive and repetitive criminal history virtually guarantees he will strike again,” Timothy Scott wrote in a letter to the board. “It’s not a matter of if, but when. The facts make it clear that incarceration, GPS devices, and sexual offender treatment have failed to suppress Mr. Boyle’s innate predatory behavior. You represent the last line [of] defense for women of all ages that may come into contact with this monster.”

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