Victim’s family tries to stop parole of murderer

Photo

Thomas A. Kemp

A newspaper ad asks for letters opposing parole.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The family of a man shot to death 20 years ago doesn’t want the killer to be paroled.

On Nov. 4, 1988, Thomas A. Beno, 43, was shot seven times at the Boardman home of his new in-laws just hours after his marriage that day to Lorie D. Elder.

Her stepfather, Thomas A. Kemp, now 64, pleaded no contest to aggravated murder, kidnapping and felonious assault and was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison in February 1989. The plea negated the death-penalty specification, according to Vindicator files.

Kemp, who had once been friends with Beno, is incarcerated at the Richland Correctional Institution. His parole hearing is scheduled for October.

Beno’s family recently placed an ad in The Vindicator, saying it is too soon for parole to be granted. They are asking those who knew Beno and oppose Kemp’s parole to send letters to 2219 Kensington Ave., Youngstown 44505. The letters will be forwarded to the parole board.

Beno’s daughter, Tara Joy, 36, said she doesn’t know exactly what she’ll say when she and her 16-year-old daughter Kayla Yousko speak to a member of the parole board Sept. 30. Joy was among family members who spoke in person to oppose Kemp’s parole two years’ ago.

“It’s hard but it just kind of comes out, it flows,” Joy said of talking to a member of the parole board. “After the murder I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. So, I’ll talk about that.”

Joy, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, said her parents were divorced and she lived with her dad on Hopkins Road, next door to Beno’s Nursery which he owned and operated. She said Kemp opposed her father’s marriage to Lori Elder.

Elder, Joy said, used to baby-sit her and her brother Todd Beno, now 39.

“No one knew they were getting married,” Joy said. “My dad thought [Kemp] wouldn’t approve.”

Joy said her father had dropped her off at his friend’s house the day he and his new wife went to tell Kemp of the marriage. Her grandmother called and said her father had been shot — but not that he was dead.

“My father’s friend, I called him uncle, told me he was dead. He grabbed my hand and said, ‘Your dad didn’t make it.’”

When asked if she believes Kemp should spend his entire life in prison, Joy said: “Yes, yes I do.”

Joy said her father didn’t get a chance to walk her down the aisle when she got married, didn’t get a chance to see his grandchildren or spend holidays with his family. “Why should Tom Kemp’s family get to enjoy being with him?”

Beno was in the Navy for two years during the Vietnam War and served six years in the Naval Reserves.