GROVELAND — Sean Aylward lost his sister more than three decades ago. It still bothers him that he never got to see her go to the prom, graduate high school, attend college, get married or have children.
Beth Brodie, who was murdered at age 15, also didn’t get a chance to be an aunt to Aylward’s son, who is now 30.
“We didn’t get to experience all of that,” Aylward said.
Brodie, a Pentucket High School cheerleader, was murdered in 1992 by Peabody resident Richard Baldwin, a then-16-year-old boy she had briefly dated. He beat her to death with an aluminum baseball bat.
Baldwin in 1994 was sentenced to life in prison without parole for Brodie’s murder.
But in 2013, a controversial state Supreme Judicial Court ruling allowed teen killers once sentenced to life without parole to seek release. The ruling expanded upon a 2011 United States Supreme Court decision holding that because the brains of juveniles were not fully developed, a sentence that forecloses all possibility of rehabilitation is unconstitutional.
On May 16, Baldwin has a hearing scheduled before the parole board in Natick. Aylward and his family are “adamantly opposed” to any consideration of Baldwin’s release.
“Our pain and suffering has not subsided since Beth was taken from us. It has in fact increased more pain, suffering and tears for us and Beth’s large circle of friends. The impending threat of parole is re-traumatizing and cannot be mitigated by the mere passage of time,” the Brodie family wrote in a statement posted on social media.
“Granting parole would only serve to undermine justice and disregard the severity of the crime committed. Releasing this offender, without a doubt, would pose a continued threat to society. We urge the parole board to uphold the original sentencing and deny any requests for parole,” Brodie’s family continued.
It was unclear what attorney would be representing Baldwin before the parole board.
Aylward, who lives in Atkinson, New Hampshire, and is a manager at Commonwealth Motors in Lawrence, became an activist after the 2013 SJC decision.
He, along with other family members and Beth’s friends, maintain social media posts in her memory and dedicated to justice for Brodie on social media. They’re hoping others will join a letter-writing campaign and ask the parole board to deny Baldwin’s release.
“We need to get people thinking about it,” Aylward said last week. He said he wants the parole board not to view the hearing as “just another day at work.
“This is a first degree killer,” he said, noting the board may be acquainted with the law “but they didn’t know Beth.”
Another teen killer is Jamie Fuller, 16, who was convicted of murdering Amy Carnevale, 14, in Beverly in 1991. Fuller is scheduled for a hearing before the parole board on April 25.
The parole board hearings, at 12 Mercer Road, Natick, are open to the public.
In 2019, Baldwin had a parole board hearing scheduled. However, the hearing request was subsequently withdrawn.
Aylward said he will be prepared to fight parole for as long as Baldwin lives.
“It’s our job to bring Beth back to the story,” he has said.
Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.