Parole board refuses parole Trumbull rapist and murderer

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Parole Board has refused to grant parole to rapist John Whisonant and murderer John L. Lysikowski II for at least three more years.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins wrote letters opposing parole for both.

Whisonant, 58, formerly of Niles Road in Howland, received a prison term of 21 to 75 years in 1985 and was denied parole in early 2010. His next parole hearing will be in 2016.

Whisonant raped his children, ages 9, 7, 6 and 5. Prosecutors dropped charges involving a fifth child, 4.

Marcia Tiger, former executive director of Trumbull County Children Services, wrote in 2010 that the offenses had a “far-reaching effect” on all five children, who are now in their 30s.

“They grew up fearful and distrusting, sexualized and hungry for emotional attention,” and the abuse “distorted their view of the world and all of the relationships they have experienced since.”

Lysikowski, 53, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in October 1987 for killing Randy J. Nicholson of Delaware Avenue, Warren.

Lysikowski, formerly of Campbell and Weathersfield, has served 25 years in prison.

Lysikowski was 27 and Nicholson 26 on June 20, 1987, when Lysikowski stabbed Nicholson to death on Clearfield Avenue in Weathersfield. Lysikowski pleaded guilty to murder.

Lysikowski was paroled in 2007 but violated his parole at least a dozen times in five months, Watkins said.

“He has killed two persons and is serving a life sentence,” Watkins said, referring to another death for which Lysikowski was not convicted. “You released him once, and he was a walking crime wave.”