Arthur Nolan’s killer will remain behind bars.
For now.
Laura Nolan, the sister of the Carlisle man murdered at the Red Door Deli in Central Bridge on November 12, 1984, learned Friday that the state Parole Board has denied parole to one of her brother’s killers, Thomas Hoyer, who was just 17 at the time—and the gunman.
Thomas Hoyer is serving 23 1/3 years to life, a sentence that includes later charges of attempted escape.
His brother, William, 19 at the time, was sentenced to 17 years to life; he was paroled about 10 years ago.
The two skipped a trial, pleading guilty in 1995 to assorted charges of second-degree murder, assault, and burglary.
Ms. Nolan, who lives in Fort Plain, has been fighting Thomas Hoyer’s parole for years, arguing that he’s showed no remorse.
In August, Ms. Nolan met with the Parole Board again, but the actual parole hearing was delayed until September 26 and it wasn’t until Friday that Ms. Nolan learned her brother’s killer will remain jailed for at least another 15 months.
“So here we go again,” she said Monday. “But that’s the way it works. It could have been six months…”
When Ms. Nolan met with the Parole Board, she took along letters and comments she’d collected after a July Facebook appeal.
Among the letters was one from a State Trooper, a rookie at the time, who shared comments he’d overheard Thomas Hoyer making about wanting to know what it felt like to kill someone.
“I think that’s why the hearing was delayed,” Ms. Nolan said. “The Parole Board told me they were waiting for more information, but in my mind, they wanted to pull his original confession and compare it to the letter I brought.”
Other letters and comments she collected, also “helped show that the public doesn’t want this creature on the street,” she said.
Ms. Nolan said she’ll never stop fighting to keep Thomas Hoyer in jail and though 15 months doesn’t sound like a long time, “It’s as good as we expected.”