ROANOKE, Va. – Thomas Melton, 75, is serving three life sentences for a 1977 murder in Newport News, but he will still have a parole hearing this year. The family of his victims — Alice Sutphin, 41, and her children, Teresa, 15, and Allen, 10 — have made it their mission for Melton to never see the outside again.
"We feel that this man should die in prison for what he did," said Jerry Rector, the half-brother of Teresa and Allen Sutphin. "He took three lives."
Rector and his sister, Aimee Bright, drove two hours from Bristol to Roanoke to speak with Roanoke Mayor Sherman Lea about the possibility of Melton's parole.
Lea is one of five people across Virginia on the commonwealth's parole board, which votes on parole for Melton and other inmates in the Department of Corrections.
Melton now faces a parole board hearing every year because he is classified as a "geriatric" inmate due to his age.
"I am confident in the good people that serve on the parole board that they will stand for justice and make sure he never receives freedom," Bright said.
After the meeting, Rector and Bright said they are optimistic Lea listened to their concerns about Melton and his crimes.
"He understands that no family should continue to be victimized," Bright said. "It's so horrific. No one ever forgot it happened."
"Thomas Melton took something from us that was irreplaceable," Rector said.
Lea says Melton's parole hearing will likely happen within the next month. Four out of five parole board members have to approve Melton's parole for him to be released from prison.