Parole board rejects Hodge plea for early release

Sep. 22—COLUMBUS — The Ohio Parole Board has unanimously rejected a bid for early release from a former University of Toledo police officer convicted in the brutal murder of a student nearly 30 years ago.

The board determined that factors against granting parole to Jeffrey A. Hodge, then a 22-year-old rookie UT officer, outweigh his attempts at rehabilitation and decided that his release could pose "undue risk to public safety." Hodge was convicted of killing Melanie Anne Herstrum, a 22-year-old sophomore studying nursing, in January, 1992.

VIEW OHIO PAROLE BOARD DECISION

"He violated the public trust by taking a defenseless and vulnerable victim from her own vehicle, placing her in his police cruiser, transporting her to a remote location and shooting her multiple times at close range," the board's 6-0 decision reads. "In doing so, he betrayed his duty to keep her safe and protect the university community. His acts were purposeful and planned."

When confronted by investigators back in 1992, he admitted to the killing, saying he'd blacked out and could provide no motive.

That "lack of insight" continued to work against him when he appeared before the board during a closed-door, 90-minute parole hearing at Marion Correctional Institution where Hodge. now 52, is incarcerated.

"Offender Hodge does not have insight into what triggers existed to cause him to make the decisions he made," the board states. "Therefore, substantial reason exists to believe that the unique factors of the offenses of conviction, marked by brutality, complete disregard for life, betrayal of public trust, and a lack of insight thereto, significantly outweigh offender Hodge's rehabilitative efforts."

Hodge was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole prior to the creation of the option of life without parole, for killing Ms. Herstrum. He drove her in his cruiser to UT's Scott Park campus, handcuffed her, forced her to lie down, and shot her 14 times in the had, back and legs. Her frozen body was found face down in the snow.

Hodge agreed to a plea deal in Lucas County Common Pleas Court a year later to aggravated murder with a firearm and kidnapping. That deal took the possibility of a death sentence off the table.

Hodge has served nearly 30 years to date. This marked his first parole hearing, and he will have to wait another decade until his next.

First Published September 22, 2021, 1:04pm