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Prosecutor opposes parole for man who committed Champion murders in 1981
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has asked the Ohio Parole Board to keep a 71-year-old murderer in prison when his parole hearing comes up this month.
Henry G. Rockwell was 38 and living on Mahoning Avenue in Champion in July 1981 when he killed two men at his house in a drug-related confrontation. He’s been in prison for 33 years.
Rockwell was sentenced in October 1981 to 15 years to life on each of two counts of murder in the deaths of Frank Mancinelli, 39, of Warren, and Seymore Gillman, 52, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Both men had been shot in the head at the Mahoning Avenue residence, a short distance south of state Route 305. Their bodies were found in the trunk of Gillman’s Cadillac, which was found burning on state Route 82 about one mile east of state Route 46.
Rockwell told Ricky Williams, described in a court document as a man who sold drugs for Rockwell, that Rockwell “tricked” Mancinelli and Gillman while the two men were at Rockwell’s house for a meeting.
Dominic Bufano, described in court papers as a friend of Rockwell’s, told authorities Rockwell told him that Rockwell threw Mancinelli and Gillman a handgun to show it to them, but Rockwell also had a second gun and fired it at both men, killing them.
Rockwell denied the story, claiming he killed Mancinelli and Gillman in self-defense and owed them money for drugs.
Williams told authorities Rockwell called him the night Rockwell killed Mancinelli and Gillman and asked for his help in getting rid of the bodies.
Williams said he helped Rockwell put the bodies in the trunk, then followed along behind Rockwell as Rockwell drove the Cadillac on Route 82. But the Cadillac got a flat tire. Williams got some gasoline for Rockwell and they returned to the Cadillac, where Rockwell set it on fire.
Watkins told the parole board he thinks Rockwell is capable of committing murder again.
“His lifestyle and major drug-trafficking history with past prison time strongly suggest no release,” Watkins said.
“However, more than that, the ambush murders of these two victims and then burning their bodies beyond recognition provides an objective basis that a true life sentence is deserved in this case.”