A man who has spent more than half his life in prison for killing his parents when he was 14 will be freed if he completes counseling and learns the skills he'll need to return to society, a state parole board has ruled.
Testifying against his brother in 1997, Jeffrey Dingman yesterday said that the teens ambushed their parents as they arrived home from work on a Friday afternoon, hid the bodies in the attic and basement and spent the weekend playing and partying with friends before returning to school on Monday.
They were arrested after their parents' worried co-workers called police.
Also Read
"I've stayed out of trouble. I've tried to get myself prepared to move forward," said Dingman, who had just turned 14 when he and his 17-year-old brother, Robert, shot their parents to death in 1996.
Robert Dingman is serving a life sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges.
Jeffrey, now 31, got 30 years to life in a plea deal that made him eligible for parole early next year. Had the board granted immediate parole, he would have been released on Feb. 7, but meeting the terms of his conditional parole likely will take several months beyond that, said board chairwoman Donna Sytek.
She and other board members said they were pleased that Jeffrey had done well in prison and at the halfway house where he's lived for the last year, but they worried that he lacks the life skills to succeed in society because he went to prison so young. They said they were concerned that he's had little experience with everyday activities such as managing money, using a cellphone or going to the movies.
"I don't want to just throw you out there cold," said board member Mark Furlone. "For 16 years, you've been insulated from the real world."
Dingman earned his high school equivalency degree while in prison and now walks 40 minutes each way to a full-time job at a steel mill. He said he has saved most of his paychecks, has done some shopping for himself and in response to a question from Furlone about his cooking skills said he can heat up canned food. But when asked whether he has any support in the community, he answered "not really."
Dingman's aunt, however, told the board that wasn't true.
Speaking through tears, Elizabeth Landry of Greenfield, New Hampshire, said she misses her sister and brother-in-law, Eve and Vance Dingman, every day, but wants to help her nephew.
"My husband and I are willing to help Jeffrey at a second chance at life," she said. "We truly mean it from the bottom of our hearts. We forgive him.
