Man convicted in Trumbull County homicide in 1988 eligible for parole in June

A man who was convicted of a homicide in Trumbull County nearly 36 years ago is eligible for parole for the third time since he was incarcerated.

Sixty-six-year-old Robert Williams was given the sentence of 23 years to life for killing a pregnant women in a restaurant in the year 1988.

According to the media release, Williams had shot a waitress at Stone Gables Tavern in Trumbull County identified as 24-year-old Debra Blaine twice after an argument over his dinner.

When Blaine tried to go for the telephone, prosecutors say Williams slashed her throat with a knife from the kitchen followed by fondling her breasts and stepping on her throat until she stopped breathing.

According to the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office, Blaine was a pregnant and a mother of two.

"Unlike active volcanoes of the world, if this guy were released, he would have virtually unlimited access to go and find places or people he wants to find and choose his site to violently explode," said Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins

Watkins added that Williams had apparently threatened a corrections officer while incarcerated and that Blaine's family and even Williams's own family were opposed to him potentially being released.

Williams has been denied parole in both 2015 and 2020, the other two times he was eligible.

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