WARREN — A Trumbull County inmate convicted in the 1987 stabbing death of a Warren resident has been denied parole and will remain incarcerated until at least July 2026, according to a decision from the Ohio Adult Parole Authority.

John Lysikowski, 64, who is serving a 15-year to life sentence for the murder of Randy J. Nicholson in Weathersfield, was originally sentenced in October 1987 by former Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Robert Nader. The parole board’s recent decision marks another denial in a series of parole reviews for Lysikowski, who has been incarcerated for over three decades.

Lysikowski will continue serving his sentence at Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, with the possibility of parole reconsideration in 2026.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins expressed satisfaction with the board’s ruling, citing the inmate’s lengthy history of in-prison disciplinary issues, which includes 99 recorded infractions from 2006 through 2024. Incidents range from drug abuse and theft to violent behavior and threats against prison staff. Watkins cited these behaviors as evidence Lysikowski remains unfit for release.

Lysikowski served very little time in a Florida prison after his arrest in the 1985 stabbing death of a 26-year-old Orange Park, Florida, man whom he argued with in the parking lot of an apartment complex. He was taken into custody by Clay County deputies immediately after the episode.

Authorities said a Buck knife was the weapon used in the crime.

After a quick release and a move to the Mahoning Valley, Lysikowski was indicted in a similar murder in Weathersfield after being arrested at the scene with a knife. He was charged with killing Nicholson, 26, of Delaware Street SW, Warren, after the two argued at an address on Clearfield Avenue.

Weathersfield police said when they arrived, they found Nicholson lying on the ground next to a car with a stab wound to his left side.

Lysikowski served 20 years before his first release in Ohio.

During that release, a fiancee he lived with told a police officer in Youngstown that Lysikowski had argued with her before he was finally arrested for domestic violence.

She said on Sept. 8, 2007, he started the day off by abusing animals, beating a cat and then a dog with an ax handle. The fiancee said when she intervened, Lysikowski threw the ax handle at her through a window, then started beating her up. He left the home but returned and kicked in the door and tried to kick the woman down the steps, finally telling her: ” One of us is dying tonight, and one of us is going back to prison.”

The woman told police she feared for her life.

Lysikowski was sent back to prison after that arrest triggered a parole violation.