On a split vote, Oregon Parole Board denies release of Adam Thomas, last of the ‘Redmond 5’ in prison

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A quarter-century after five Redmond teens fatally shot and beat a Redmond woman when she arrived home, the last one still in prison — the victim’s son — has lost his first bid for parole, as a state board found he had not yet fully come to terms with his role in the brutal crime.

In one of the most notorious crimes in Central Oregon history, Barbara Thomas was beaten with wine bottles and shot by a 15-year-old after five teens trashed her home on the Old Bend-Redmond Highway on March 26, 2001, looking in vain for a missing set of car keys.

The teens, who became known after their arrest as the “Redmond 5,” then fled in the woman’s car but were stopped and arrested at the Canadian border.

Adam Thomas, now 43 and one of the victim’s two sons, was the oldest of the five charged teens, at 18, and the only one sentenced to life without parole as an adult. Ashley Summers, who at 15 was the youngest of the group, was one of the four granted early release, in May of 2023, by the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision.

The four juveniles at the time were released in 2023 under the terms of a commutation by Gov. Kate Brown. That came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a life sentence for violent juvenile offenders violated the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual” punishment.

Adam Thomas pleaded no contest to two counts each of aggravated murder, conspiracy and attempted murder, as well as two counts of first-degree robbery and one count each of first-degree assault and second-degree kidnapping. In January of 2023, Brown converted his sentence of life without parole to life with the possibility of parole after serving 25 years.

The parole board denied Thomas’s parole request on a split 2–1 vote after holding a “murder review” hearing on April 22 at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. The board action and findings were signed last Friday by Presiding Member John Bailey.

The parole board said Adam Thomas had not met the burden of proof outlined in state law and found that he “is not likely to be rehabilitated within a reasonable period of time.” He can appeal that decision administratively, and/or again seek parole in two years.

Joining Thomas at the hearing was his attorney, Jody Davis, as well as Jason and Melissa Thomas, his older brother and sister-in-law. Jason Thomas was called as a witness during the hearing.

Two others attended by video and provided statements to the board — Barbara Thomas’s niece, Sara Jones, and Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Darryl Nakahira, who played a key role in prosecuting the cases.

Grisly details of killing plans recounted

Seth Koch, also 15 at the time, admitted to taking a hunting rifle from Adam Thomas’s hands and shooting Barbara Thomas with a rifle after he and Thomas bludgeoned Thomas in the head with wine bottles.

The teens said they killed the woman to get her car, as they had lost the keys to the car they arrived in — one of the many issues in dispute in a long string of hearings.

Link, who was outside the home at the time of the killing, was referred to by authorities as the “ringleader” of the plot. He at first denied helping plan the killing but later acknowledged he was the first to suggest it.

Koch and Justin Link, who was then 17, also were sentenced to life in prison without parole. Lucretia Karle, 16 at the time of the killing, and Lucretia Karle, then 15, received 25-year prison terms. Koch was granted parole in April 2023 and Link was granted parole in March of that year.

Karle said that before Barbara Thomas returned home from work that day, she’d come up with a plan to electrocute her by putting her in a bathtub and putting a portable stereo and hair dryer in it. Summers devised a plan to knock her out and inject her with bleach.

Thomas had left his home a week earlier and with Koch rented motel rooms for parties with other teens, including alcohol and marijuana, also traveling to Haystack Reservoir with the others.

Shortly before the fateful day, Barbara Thomas, with a sheriff’s deputy’s help, spoke with her son in an emotional parking lot conversation and took away his house key, unaware he had another one.

Board cites progress but voices concerns

The board noted that since arriving in prison, Adam Thomas violated its rules four times, including contraband, disobedience, false info and assault, between 2003 and 2016.

Thomas has held several jobs during his prison term, from writing tutor to the call center, and is currently the lead maintenance clerk at the Oregon Corrections Enterprises Laundry. He obtained his GED and has taken college courses.

In weighing the required 10 factors for or against granting parole, the board found several in his favor, including no disciplinary violations in the past decade and a detailed release plan. But it noted that he didn’t take part in rehabilitation programs until 2020, some of which his sentence precluded until then.

The board said it’s clear Thomas “is now committed to working on his rehabilitation,” and “strongly encourages (him) to complete his substance abuse treatment program,” as well as other programs that might help him.

It noted clear progress on rehabilitation but said there remains “multiple present issues” weighing against his release.

Thomas, the board said, “has a long history of self-hatred and shame regarding his brutal murder of his mother.” They pointed to “multiple accounts on the precise moment he made the decision” to do so, including before or after she returned home, or only after Koch first struck her with an empty wine bottle.

The parole board said Thomas “admitted he was particularly angry when he learned (Barbara Thomas) had disposed of his song journals,” including 400 lyrics, short stories and poems that it noted were “anti-religious and anti-authority” and filled with “angry, violent rhetoric.”

“It is clear to the board petitioner (Thomas) has not fully reckoned with how his emotions towards his mother were related to his brutal attack on her,” they wrote.

The parole board also said that while Thomas showed “emotional reactions during the hearing,” such as when talking about the impact of the crime on his brother and there family he “displayed little emotion” as he walked through the accounting of the actual killing. That left the board “concerned his emotional distancing may also be in part due to his continuing to minimize his responsibility for the murder.”

“It is clear to the board that (Thomas) is an earnest man who is making efforts to improve himself,” they said, adding that if he continues to make progress, he “may be successful in future murder review hearings.”

The board also acknowledged that Thomas has made progress in moving beyond the social isolation of his early years in prison, but said they need to see continued commitment to that, as well as an acknowledgement of the role his substance abuse played in the murder.

Victim’s family split on parole’s denial; niece offers forgiveness

Asked by this reporter for the family’s reaction to the board’s ruling, Sara Jones said Adam’s brother, Jason Thomas, expressed sadness but added, “Obviously, there is something more God wants him to do.”

Jones said the victim’s brother and her father, Rod Jones, had no comment, but added that “Mom (Linda) and I are disappointed with the outcome and feel it’s only fair that Adam gets released. The others have been.”

She paraphrased her statement to the parole board:

“I forgive you Adam. When you killed your mom, I not only lost my aunt, I also lost my cousin. I lost my friend. I lost family. I miss you and if given the chance, I would like to pursue a relationship with my cousin. I miss my family.”

Jones added that “when I spoke, Adam and everyone in the room started crying. Adam was surprised to hear that from me.”