WARREN — Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins wrote two letters to the Ohio Adult Parole Authority opposing early releases for two Trumbull County convicted murderers who face parole hearings this month.

Watkins is opposing any parole for Charles Crenshaw and John Lysikowski.

Crenshaw, 71, has been in prison for 53 years and one month and is housed in Belmont Correctional Institution. Lysikowski, who turns 62 this week, has been in prison for 35 years and is incarcerated at Pickaway Correctional Institution. Both inmates are expected to be questioned by three members of the parole board outside their respective cells sometime this month.

In his letter dated May 26, Watkins called Crenshaw Trumbull County’s longest-serving inmate.

“Unfortunately, according to prison records, his behavior in prison is disturbing, and your own evaluation has him as a moderate risk to society if released,” Watkins wrote, noting he has failed to complete a victim awareness program while locked up. Watkins said this “surely is some cause for concern, especially when he murdered a stranger in an unprovoked attack with a firearm in what could be described as some kind of road rage event incidental to a crime spree.”

FATAL SHOOTING

Watkins, in other letters, had gone over the case, gleaning testimony from Crenshaw’s trial:

On Nov. 14, 1968, a couple, William Richard Zelch and Mary Heideman, were riding eastbound on state Route 304, east of Hubbard when their vehicle was struck from behind twice by another auto.

After the second hit, Zelch pulled his vehicle over in an attempt to inspect any damage. When he looked up, he saw Charles Crenshaw, standing about 3 to 4 feet from him and Heideman, who had also gotten out of the car. Without saying a word, Crenshaw pulled the trigger of the gun he was holding. After firing, Crenshaw ran back to his car and took off.

Zelch was pronounced dead about a half-hour later at a Sharon, Pa., hospital from a bullet wound to the abdomen.

On the stand, Crenshaw testified that he stole an auto before shooting Zelch as well as breaking into various other vehicles the same evening. He said he also was involved in an armed robbery of a young woman in Hubbard.

After the shooting, Crenshaw further testified he participated in a break-in of the DeLost Dry Cleaners in Youngstown. He was arrested about four hours after the shooting by a Youngstown patrolman investigating the dry cleaner break-in.

After a short vehicle chase in which Crenshaw had crashed into a wall, the patrolman found a .25-caliber Titan handgun on Crenshaw, which was identified at trial as the murder weapon.

Heideman positively identified Crenshaw as the one who shot Zilch out of a live lineup consisting of two sets of four men.

Watkins suggests the public would be safer with Crenshaw remaining inside prison bars.

“It appears that this man is short on a moral compass and his prison history surely suggests (this),” Watkins writes.

EIGHT CHANCES

In October 1987, Lysikowski was sentenced to 15 years to life in the June 1987 stabbing death of Warren resident Randy J. Nicholson in Weathersfield. Lysikowski, who had lived in Campbell and Weathersfield, pleaded guilty to the crime.

A July 25, 1985, police report shows Lysikowski as a suspect in a stabbing death in Orange Park, La. Reports show Lysikowski served very little time in that case before moving to Ohio.

In Watkins’ letter about the Lysikowski case, the prosecutor notes this is his eighth letter to the parole board strongly opposing the inmate’s release.

“Without much question, his long criminal history of violence and horrible behavioral record in prison which is non-stop, clearly qualifies him as one of the most incorrigible offenders that this office has seen,” Watkins wrote.

Enclosed with the letter is a stack of Lysikowski’s in-prison disciplinary infractions from May 11, 2006, through May 27, 2020. They number in the dozens, ranging from his attempts to assemble a tattoo gun while sitting in his rack to stealing packets of sweetener and peanut butter from the cafeteria serving line.

“Though this is mild compared to his past behavioral record … it only exemplifies the fact this man has not changed and will likely continue his bad conduct outside prison walls,” Watkins wrote.

Watkins noted that he was released on parole once and Lysikowski nearly killed again, among his dozen violations of parole during about five months of freedom in 2007.

Testimony from a female victim showed that on Sept. 8, 2007, Lysikowski started the day abusing animals, bloodying a cat’s mouth and taking an ax after a dog. The woman stopped him, and he threw the ax at her and then started beating on her, later kicking her down the steps after she called 911.

“He truly is a career violent offender and sociopath,” Watkins wrote.

Lysikowski’s last chance for parole was denied in 2020, records show.

Laura E. Austen, deputy director for policy and outreach in the office of Ohio Public Defender, said her office usually does not comment on inmate’s parole hearings.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com