Massachusetts

Father of Groveland girl fatally beaten in 1992 opposes killer's chance at parole

Beth Brodie was beaten to death with a baseball bat in Groveland, Massachusetts; more than 30 years later, her killer, Richard Baldwin, is up for parole

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It's been 30 years since Stephen and Anne Brodie faced their daughter's killer in court. Now, they're getting ready to see him again at a parole hearing.

Beth Brodie, the couple's 15-year-old daughter, was savagely beaten in Groveland, Massachusetts, in 1992. Richard Baldwin, a 16-year-old, attacked her with a baseball bat inside a friend's home down the street from where she lived.

Her father ran to the scene of the crime when he found out what happened.

"I tried to revive her," said Stephen Brodie. "Her heart rate got slower and slower, it stopped, I tried to breathe life into her."

Prosecutors say Baldwin killed Beth Brodie because she declined to date him.

Baldwin was convicted of the crime, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has said juvenile offenders under age 21 serving life sentences must be given a chance for parole.

That has angered the Brodie family.

"[If] he gets out of jail, he can continue the rest of his life," said Stephen Brodie. "Get married, have kids. She was denied all of that. He should never have a chance to enjoy the rest of his life."

The ensuing decades have not been easy for the couple and their children.

Anne Brodie still can't talk about the case.

"You never, never, never get over it," said Stephen Brodie. "There's no such thing as moving on with your life, there's no such thing as letting it all go, it's there with you every single day of the rest of your life."

The parole hearing takes place Thursday afternoon.

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