Family and Trumbull prosecutor oppose parole for Van Fickes

WARREN — Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins is again opposing parole for Van G. Fickes, 51, who killed his mother and brother in 1983. His next parole hearing comes up in April.

Watkins said in a recent letter to the parole board that several Fickes family members have expressed fear of Fickes being released from prison.

“They have a genuine fear that Fickes will do harm to them or others,” Watkins said, adding that Fickes is “one depraved heartless killer that must not be given the opportunity to kill again.”

Fickes was sentenced in July 1985 to 30 years to life in prison for killing his mother, Christine Fickes, 42, and his brother, Ronald Fickes, 24, in their home on West Market Street on Oct. 10, 1983.

“In my opinion, Van Fickes was, is and always will be, a sociopathic personality who will present an extreme danger to the community if released,” Watkins wrote the last time Fickes was eligible for parole in 2010.

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