The Massachusetts Parole Board has granted so-called “satanic cult” murderer Robin Murphy release from prison just nine weeks after the 61-year-old Fall River woman made her case to be free once again related to the triple murders that occurred in 1979 and 1980. …
The board indicated they based their decision on several factors; addressing her trauma history, victim empathy and addiction issues, and earning her bachelor’s degree from Boston University. …
Murphy’s appearance in March before the parole board was her eighth appearance since being eligible for parole over the years.
Murphy was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after she confessed to the killing of her girlfriend, Karen Marsden, 20, a single parent to a little boy. At the time when Charles Manson and his followers were making headlines for their own gruesome alleged cult murders, Fall River police were investigating the local murders of Marsden, 17-year-old New Bedford runaway Doreen Levesque and 19-year-old single mother Barbara Raposa. All three women were sex workers at the time of their murders. …
The parole board in the past has expressed concern about Murphy’s changing stories over the years.
And in March, Murphy changed her story again, this time stunningly telling the parole board that she believed that Fall River pimp Carl Drew, the man she implicated in the murder of Marsden in 1980, was not to blame based on new information which she did not share publicly with the parole board.
Drew is currently serving a life sentence for first-degree murder without the possibility of parole. Drew has been incarcerated since 1981 and has exhausted all his appeals. …
Jo C. Goode, May 14, 2024, Robin Murphy confessed to role in Fall River’s cult murders. Here’s why she got parole.
See also: ‘Fall River’ true crime documentary is a compelling study of ‘Satanic cult’ murders