Robert Golub, who killed Kelly Ann Tinyes, wants parole

Child killer Robert Golub is seeking his release next year on parole after 25 years in state prison and the family of his 13-year-old victim, Valley Stream neighbor Kelly Ann Tinyes, has launched a campaign to stop him.

Although parole is considered unlikely for a first-time applicant in a murder case, the Tinyes family has launched a petition drive against the release and plans to make a personal pitch to a parole official in a private session Friday morning.

"This guy is an animal. He shouldn't get out. He should die in prison," the victim's father, Richard Tinyes, said in an interview Wednesday.

Golub, 46, is eligible for parole for the first time this year, according to Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Community Services. He will have an interview with the Parole Board the week of Nov. 18 at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in upstate Stormville, and a decision will be made within days of the interview, she said.

Records show his tentative release date is March 20, 2014, if parole is granted; if not, he can reapply in two years.

Foglia said it was department policy not to discuss any meetings that victims or their families might have with parole officials, but the Tinyes family said they had been invited to meet with a parole official Friday.

The family objects to having to go through a hearing to ensure Golub stays in prison. "I don't think we should be going through this. He should be dead," the victim's mother, Victoria Tinyes, said. "He should have been put to death for what he did to my daughter. We are living this over and over again."

The family has gathered 2,700 names on an online petition against Golub's parole, and has thousands of other signatures on petitions that were circulated by hand since the family was notified about a month ago that the parole hearing was scheduled, the parents said.

"It would be rare, extremely rare," for a prisoner like Golub to be paroled on his first application, said Norman Effman, who has handled hundreds of parole appeals for state prisoners in his capacity as supervising attorney at the Wyoming County Public Defenders Office in upstate Attica.

"There are certain crimes where it is extremely difficult to get any discretionary release, including homicide and sex crimes," Effman said. Golub also will face "a Catch-22" because he has maintained his innocence and the Parole Board makes remorse for a crime a major element of its decision, Effman said.

Kelly Ann Tinyes was last seen leaving her Horton Road home on the afternoon of March 3, 1989, and was seen entering the Golub home a few doors away. Her body was found the next day wrapped in a sleeping bag in a closet near the basement stairs in the Golub house. Her head was bashed in, she had been strangled and sexually mutilated.

Golub was convicted of the murder in 1990 and sentenced to 25 years to life. A bitter feud between the Golub and Tinyes families went on for years until the Golubs moved away in 2009.

The Tinyes family has insisted that others were involved in the murder of their daughter, and District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in 2009 that she had reopened the investigation at the family's request. The Tinyes family said as far as they know the new investigation has ended.

A Rice spokesman said this week that the investigation was "ongoing."

Chronology of the Golub case

March 3, 1989: Kelly Ann Tinyes, 13, leaves her house and enters the Golub house a few doors away

March 4: Her body is found in a basement closet in the Golub home.

March 23: Robert Golub surrenders and pleads not guilty.

April 3, 1990: Jury convicts Golub of second-degree murder.

June 1: Judge Marvin Goodman sentences him to 25 years to life in prison.

April 5: John Golub, Robert's father, says family unable to move due to financial troubles.

Dec. 4: Golub appeals his conviction, claiming DNA evidence was flawed. Conviction upheld.

February 2006: The Golubs put their home up for sale.

October 2009: Neighbors learn the Golubs have moved. A new family moves in. Declines to comment.