YOUNGSTOWN — The Ohio Parole Board has denied parole to David E. Jacobs, 61, after a hearing in the June 3, 1979, murder of Helene Elaine Poullas, a 20-year-old Youngstown State University student.

Because Jacobs was 17 at the of the offenses, a recently enacted law involving juvenile murderers required the Ohio Parole Board to hold the hearing to determine whether Jacobs should be released. The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office opposed Jacobs’ release.

Jacobs is serving 15 years to life in prison in the Chillicothe Correctional Institution after being convicted in November 1979 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court of aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova and criminal division Chief Ralph Rivera appeared before the parole board in Columbus and presented the state’s arguments against Jacobs being released.

“The sheer brutality and callousness of Jacobs’ actions supported the state’s argument that David Jacobs was not entitled to rejoin society,” DeGenova and Rivera stated in a news release.

Also speaking at the hearing was Nick Modarelli, Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, who worked on the case as a member of the Youngstown Police Department’s crime lab. Several members of Helene Poullas’ family also spoke.

On June 4, 1979, Youngstown police found the body of Poullas near Slippery Rock Pavilion in Mill Creek Park. An autopsy revealed she died from two gunshot wounds, one to the thigh and one to the head.

Through investigation, Youngstown police learned that on June 2, 1979, Poullas went to the Beachcomber Bar on Market Street in Youngstown’s Uptown District. Inside the bar, she started to feel ill and told friends she was going to lie down in the car, according to the prosecutor’s office.

She left the bar and fell asleep in her friend’s 1978 red Thunderbird parked in a nearby lot. About 30 minutes later, her friends left the bar and discovered the Thunderbird and Poullas missing.

Youngstown police interviewed Jacobs and Charles E. Teague, also now 61, regarding Poullas’ homicide. Teague was 17 at the time.

Police determined that Jacobs and Teague went to the Uptown area looking to steal a car. They approached the red Thunderbird and saw Poullas in the back seat and keys on the front seat. Jacobs reached inside the passenger window and unlocked the door, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Jacobs and Teague got in the vehicle with Poullas in the back seat. The car’s interior light awakened Poullas. Jacobs told police Teague put a gun in her face and told her not to get up. Jacobs then drove the three around the South Side of Youngstown for about 30 minutes, then into Mill Creek Park. Jacobs parked the Thunderbird in a vacant lot, where Jacobs and Teague sexually assaulted her.

Afterward, Jacobs drove to the parking lot near Slippery Rock Pavilion. They ordered Poullas out of the car and shot her twice. Jacobs and Teague recalled that she begged them not to kill her, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Teague was denied parole in July 2022. He also was convicted of aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and rape in Poullas death.

The parole board voted 7 to 1 to deny Jacobs’ parole. The board cited the aggravating facts and circumstances in the case, as well as the community impact that was described at the hearing by Poullas’ family. The board found that the aggravating facts and circumstances of the offense significantly outweighed Jacobs’ rehabilitative efforts.

Jacobs and Teague also were denied parole in 2017.