The prisoner review board has denied parole to a serial killer who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and brutally murdering three young women in McHenry and Cook counties.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board denied parole for 75-year-old Mark Smith on Thursday.
Smith was convicted in 1970 for three separate murders in Illinois.
Prosecutors said he kidnapped, raped and brutally murdered a young woman in each of the three incidents.
Two of the murders occurred in McHenry County. The third occurred in Cook County.
Smith was sentenced to a total of 500 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the three murders.
Defendants sentenced to life in prison prior to 1978 in Illinois are allowed to seek parole after serving 20 years.
Every three to five years, Smith is considered for parole by the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.
The process requires the surviving families of the victims to “again relive their nightmare of the possibility of Smith’s release,” the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office said.
Smith was additionally convicted for the rape and murder of another woman in Arkansas.
He also confessed to several murders of young women in Germany where he was stationed in the Armed Forces in 1969, prosecutors said.
The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office hosted several family members of the three Illinois victims to voice their objections to the parole board during an objection hearing on August 21.
Criminal Chief William Bruce represented the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office on behalf of all the victims in Illinois, including the Cook County victim, because the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office no longer participates in parole hearings.
McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said he recognizes the “sincere and forceful objections” presented to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board by the families of the victims and the numerous letters submitted by the public objecting to Smith’s release on parole.
After the parole board’s decision, Kenneally said he was “very thankful” that the board denied Smith’s parole and granted his office’s request to extend the next parole hearing to five years from three, providing some relief for the families.