I heard about it a week ago. I knew it was inevitable; that it would finally happen.

It was a hot August summer  day in 1990 when the news began trickling in. Cindy Lewis, age 15 and the child she was baby sitting for, Curtis Rizzo were missing.

An extensive search lead to a field behind the Pal-Mac schools. Two bodies were found two days later. Cindy had been brutally stabbed 44 times, and Curtis six times.

State Police Investigators began developing a picture at the crime scene and it lead to Cindy’s 15 year-old classmate Chad Campbell. Ironically, Chad had joined the search parties leading up to the gruesome discoveries.

The murder trial was a scene out of a movie. The community was split. How could a local 15 year-old boy in a rural peaceful village do such a thing? Rationals began developing. Satanic rituals and signs were reportedly poking out all over. Fear griped the less informed as rumors abound.

His defense lawyer stoked conspiracy ideas and looked for any way to help his client, but the facts won out and Chad’s initial confession sealed the deal.

A young teen, convicted of the two murders would go through the New York State penal system, initially as a juvenile until he reached legal adulthood, then it was prison.

 His 18 years to life sentence began  - and time passed.  Many years later,  the New York State Parole Board would do their obligatory hearings as the victim’s families watched closely. They always objected as well as the Wayne  County District Attorney’s Office to any suggestion that Chad Campbell should be eligible for release.

Though Campbell wasn’t charged with rape, he admitted in a 2014 parole hearing that he had raped Lewis and murdered her, and murdered Rizzo because "I wanted silence" and the boy was crying. My mission was basically to rape and possibly kill, to be honest with you."

Years passed and parole hearings came and went, but it was only a matter  of time before the inevitable. After al,l life in prison does not actually mean life in prison, especially for a boy who created the mayhem at age 15.

Only the old timers and those involved in the case remember the brutality, the residents’ fear and confusion at the time.

More than 35 years have passed and the New York State Corrections Department confirmed Campbell’s parole. Somewhere between now and March 12, the bars confining Chad will swing open.

Now 50 years-old Chad Campbell will be freed on parole. It is my understanding he will return to the only home he ever knew outside of prison.

His old friends, classmates have moved on with their lives, as have  the victim’s families. How will anyone who still remembers the brutal, senseless crime feel about Chad’s release, Chad’s homecoming? Will anyone besides his family welcome him with open arms? How has he spent the last 35 years? Has he advanced well in life behind bars? Has he, his mind-set really changed? Is their real rehabilitation? 

Years after his conviction and incarceration I was made aware of prior signs/incidents of Chad Campbell’s  history before the murders that were perhaps ignored.

What is the conclusion? I simply do not have the answers. There have been so many brutal, senseless killings over the years and no one has defined reasonings. Chad Campbell could be a nice guy now, or a stick of dynamite ready to blow. Regardless of the future, Chad will have a very difficult transition, Can Palmyra ever be ready for this?

Time will tell.

Chad then...and now.