PORTLAND -- The man who killed his Sunset High School classmate in 1990 will not be released from prison until at least 2018, according to a ruling by the state parole board Tuesday.
Conrad Engweiler, now 37, raped and strangled 16-year-old Erin Reynolds when he was 15. The victim's family said the pair knew one another and briefly dated, but Reynolds had cut things off.
The defense attorney told jurors Engweiler was so high on LSD that he didn't know what was happening when he killed her. But Engweiler later admitted that he was not on drugs.
In 1991, Engweiler was convicted of aggravated murder, rape and sodomy. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
Last year, the Supreme Court said the parole board had used improper procedures in determining how long Engweiler must serve. The high court ruled that Engweiler and four other juveniles sentenced to aggravated murder before 1995 should get a hearing to set new parole parameters earlier than their original sentence.
During Engweiler's hearing on Tuesday, the Oregon Board of Parole ordered him to serve a minimum sentence of 28 years in prison. His next parole hearing was scheduled for Aug. of 2017, with his earliest possible release set for Feb. of 2018.
Background: High Court ruling could parole teen killer
Our family was given the best deal we could have gotten. In all four sentencing hearings, that's all that we've asked, is that he be sentenced the maximum amount, according to the law, said Erin's father, Earl Reynolds.
