Rochester Man Who Killed Parents, Sister in 1993 Has Parole Hearing

NATICK (WBSM) — Just days after Robin Murphy, convicted in the Fall River “cult murders, was granted her second parole, another notorious SouthCoast killer had a hearing before the state parole board.

Gerard McCra, now known as Kuluwm Asar, murdered his parents and 11-year-old sister when he was a teen in Rochester in 1993. He had a hearing before the parole board on Thursday.

On October 9, 1993, the then 15-year-old McCra argued with both of his parents and was distraught that he could not see his girlfriend. He then stole a handgun from his grandfather’s dresser drawer and later that same day shot his mother, Merle McCra, 36, in the head inside their home.

McCra then went outside and executed his father, Gerard McCra, Jr., 34, and sister, Melanie, shooting them in the back of their heads inside the family car as he sat in the backseat.

He was charged with three counts of first degree murder, as prosecutors argued that he spent “a couple of hours, deliberately, methodically and intentionally planning to kill his entire immediate family."

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McCra was found guilty by a Plymouth County jury in 1995 and sentenced to three concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole. However, in 2013, a Supreme Judicial Court decision “determined that the statutory provisions mandating life without the possibility of parole were invalid as applied to juveniles convicted of first degree murder,” according to the D.A.’s Office, and that the juveniles must be given a parole hearing.

That meant despite the original sentence, McCra was now eligible for parole. He had his first parole hearing in May 2019, but was unanimously denied by the parole board.

On Thursday, he had his next review by the board, and Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz spoke out against freeing him just as he had in 2019.

“McCra savagely executed his entire family back in 1993 and once again today before the Parole Board, he showed no remorse for his heinous actions, refusing to utter the victims’ names,” Cruz said. “This man has had 31 years now to consider the magnitude and wrongfulness of his heinous actions. He has had 31 years to take advantage of all of the programming our criminal justice system has to offer in prison and better himself. He has not done so.”

“McCra was a danger in 1993, and in my opinion, he is still a danger today. I urge the board to deny parole to McCra,” Cruz said.

Murphy, meanwhile, was granted parole for the second time despite being convicted for second degree murder in the 1980 killing of 20-year-old Karen Marsden for what became known as the Fall River “satanic cult” murders.

READ MORE: "Fall River" Docuseries Takes New Look at Cult Murders

Murphy had been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, and she was released on parole in 2004 before violating it in 2011 and being sent back to prison.