Teen killer in 1986 case to go before Parole Board for fourth time

Rod Matthews spoke at a Parole Board hearing in 2016.Art Illman

A man convicted of second-degree murder in the 1986 beating death of a Canton High School classmate will go before the state Parole Board for a fourth time Tuesday to seek his freedom, officials said.

Rod Matthews was 14 when he convinced Shaun Ouillette, also 14, to follow him into a wooded area, where Matthews beat Ouillette to death with a baseball bat. The boy’s body was found by searchers three weeks later, after Matthews twice brought friends to view the body.

Matthews is scheduled to appear before the Parole Board at 10 a.m., according to Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Security.

The panel refused to release Matthews in 2016, when he was last up for parole, saying he was not rehabilitated and deciding unanimously he should remain in prison for at least another five years.

At his 2016 parole hearing, Matthews apologized for murdering Ouillette and asked for his freedom, a request opposed by Ouillette’s mother, Jeanne Quinn. Quinn told the board she forgave Matthews but believed he was still prone to violence.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey and Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz also testified then in opposition to Matthews’s release.