TEXARKANA -- The family of a Texarkana woman who was 89 when she was raped and beaten in her home wants Arkansas parole officials to know their pain continues.
"It was hard on our family to see the suffering she went through. It's still hard," the victim's youngest son said. "Heaven was her consolation, because she saw hell on earth."
Roy Gene Munson Jr., 54, was sentenced to 60 years in 1995 for rape and burglary in Miller County as part of a plea bargain that spared the victim the trauma of testifying.
"It killed her is what it amounted to," the victim's son said. "Her mind was never the same. For the rest of her life she felt like she was unclean."
The victim's son said his mother, who lived independently, was active in her church and enjoyed gardening, was never again able to live on her own before her death about five years later. The son said his mother required surgeries to address physical damage caused by the attack.
He said he worries that Munson is still young enough to offend again if granted parole.
"I don't want to see other families go through what we have," the son said.
In May, Munson's case comes before the Arkansas Board of Parole for the third time. The victim's son said he and other family members have attended every one of Munson's parole hearings and intend to express opposition again in May. The son said he approached Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Black, who handled Munson's case in Miller County 20 years ago, to write a letter to the Parole Board about the case.
"He said he'd be glad to do it and volunteered to go to the hearing with us," the son said.
The victim's son said the Parole Board allows 15 minutes for input at the hearing. The son, the victim's granddaughter and Black will share that time. Black wrote a letter earlier this month, which he sent to the Institutional Relief Services Division of the Arkansas Department of Correction.
Black's letter refers to Munson's previous criminal history and documentation of his admitted preference to prey on elderly women.
Munson was sentenced to three years in prison in 1981 for assaulting a 71-year-old woman in California, Black's letter states.
Munson was smiling as he told investigators, "I broke into her house, and I raped her," Black's letter states. "According to the file of the California District Attorney, Munson later told officers 'that he likes older women, ages 80 or 90. He likes it when they make brownies for him, and he dreams of having tea parties with them.'"
Black's letter graphically details other criminal conduct by Munson and refers to law enforcement reports that identify him as "disturbed" and a danger to others.
"The violent, 'aberrant, sexually assaultive,' 'vicious and cruel' behavior exhibited by the defendant against elderly vulnerable female victims in California continued when he slithered his way to Arkansas," Black wrote. "If he is ever released on parole, his record shows and I have no doubt, he will continue to plague society. Only by forever denying him parole will we be guaranteed he will not ever again spew his venom on another elderly female victim."
Metro on 03/31/2015