Family fights to keep man convicted for 1986 Plymouth murder in prison

The family of Paul Rober, murdered in Plymouth in 1986, is fighting the parole request for one of Rober's convicted killers, Kurt Kegler.

On Thursday, Kegler will appear before the Massachusetts Parole Board in Natick.

"It's hard to sleep," Paul's brother, Jim Rober, told me as he prepares for the hearing. "I still have memories of what happened, what I saw, and it doesn't change anything."

Paul Rober was 22 years old when he was killed.

He spent his young life overcoming long physical odds.

Paul Rober was born with cancer on his spine and needed crutches and braces just to walk.

"He was pretty down to earth. He liked to fish, he liked to read," Jim Rober remembered. "He just wanted to get out there and meet people and make friends. He wanted people to accept him for who he was."

On October 11, 1986, Paul Rober was tortured and strangled to death in the woods of Plymouth.

Three people, Kegler, Robert Wade, and Judith Amendola were arrested in the case.

"I just think they were bent on killing someone that day," Jim Rober said.

On Thursday, Kurt Kegler will go before the parole board seeking his release.

Just before Kegler's 2009 parole hearing, he saw our camera, changed his mind about early release, and went back to his cell.

Jim Rober has not seen Kegler since that canceled hearing 15 years ago

But he will Thursday when he and his mother will urge the parole board to keep Paul's killer locked up.

"What do you want the parole board to know?" I asked Jim Rober.

"That my brother had a right to life like anyone else. And these people did not have a right to take his life," Jim said. "just as my brother pleaded for his life and they turned a deaf ear, I'm asking the parole board to do the same."

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