Parole board rejects release bid by 1978 killer of Camp Sherman runner

For fourth time; board says he failed to accept responsibility for Kaye Turner's murder

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Roger Beck’s bid for eventual release has been rejected again by the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision, which found Thursday that the convicted killer of Camp Sherman runner Kaye Turner in 1978 had taken few steps to improve himself over the years.

It was Beck’s fourth time asking the board to deem him “likely to be rehabilitated,” a finding that would have cleared the way for eventual parole, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Each time, the board has rejected his request, concluding Beck, now 70, has failed to accept responsibility for his role in Turner’s murder and that he had not meaningfully participated in self-improvement programs or Alcoholics Anonymous in prison.

Turner, 35, of Eugene vanished while running along an isolated road in Camp Sherman in Jefferson County.

“Petitioner’s continued denial of his responsibility for the murder of Ms. Turner, which is wrapped up in a fantastical conspiracy theory involving at least six different independent actors, demonstrates that he does not have the maturity or stability which may promote conformity to the law,” the board wrote in its decision.

Beck and his friend John Ackroyd, a mechanic for the state highway department, were convicted in the case a dozen years after Turner went missing. Witnesses testified that Beck bragged about the attack, often while in a drunken rage. Ackroyd’s own statements implicated him in the murder.

Ackroyd died at the Oregon State Penitentiary in 2016.

Beck, who has been at the penitentiary since 1994, can appear before the parole board again in 2022.

His lawyer declined to comment on the board’s decision.