A convicted murderer who bludgeoned his female roommate to death, dumped the body in East Palo Alto and remained free until investigators re-opened the case on its 10th anniversary was denied parole for 15 years.
The denial came at the first parole hearing for Mark Mepham Hensley since being sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of Kathleen Noble.
Hensley killed Noble, 23, on Feb. 25, 1989 at the Mountain View apartment they shared and left her body wrapped in a blanket inside her own car in East Palo Alto. Hensley and Noble’s boyfriend were questioned but no arrests were made. Ten years later, the family asked then-sheriff Don Horsley to re-open the case.
Hensley, who had since moved to Virginia, remained the prime suspect and was arrested in December 1999.
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Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, who prosecuted the case, argued Hensley killed Noble in a jealous rage because she rejected his advances. Hensley’s ex-fiance also testified that he once strangled her into unconsciousness.
Defense attorney Myra Weiher said no physical evidence tied Hensley to Nobel’s death.
The jury deliberated less than a week before convicted Hensley of first-degree murder. On July 25, 2002 he was sentenced to 25 years to life. The Court of Appeals reduced the convicted to second-degree murder and in 2005 Hensley was resentenced to 15 years to life.
Hensley is housed at Solano State Prison.
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