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On March 23, the Oregon Parole Board announced that Robert King, the twice-convicted contract killer, will be imprisoned for at least three more years, adding to the four decades he’s already spent behind bars.
It is unclear if he will appeal the board’s decision, as he has done in the past. His attorney, Venetia Mayhew, declined to comment.
Six months ago, the board said it was tentatively planning to release King in May after concluding the 72-year-old man was rehabilitated.
That decision sparked opposition from the families of both King and his victims—as well as law enforcement in three states—who have all campaigned in recent months to keep the aging murderer behind bars.
“I’m really relieved,” said Gillian Salter, the daughter of Julie Salter, whom King paid a hit man to kill in her Lake Oswego home while Gillian was at elementary school down the street.
“I’m really grateful for the people who were brave enough to stand up with me,” Gillian added.
In January, a WW cover story detailed King’s crimes and the terror he’s instilled in the many people who have drawn his ire over the years.
According to a jailhouse informant, King tried to kill members of the influential Bullitt family in Seattle. Dorothy and her father, Stimson, long believed that King was involved in the suspicious death of Dorothy’s brother Benjamin.
Dorothy Bullitt praised the parole board for its decision. “They were very diligent, which was heartening,” she said. “[The decision] will allow many to sleep easier,” she added.
In its Thursday decision signed by the board’s vice chair John Bailey, the parole board concluded that King “suffers from a present severe emotional disturbance that constitutes a danger.”
Bailey cited a psychologist’s conclusion that King “was at a heightened risk for noncompliant behavior and deceit if released to community supervision.” The psychologist diagnosed king with “Narcissistic Personality Disorder with antisocial features” and said he “appeared impervious to the emotions of others.”
Bailey also noted that three of King’s brothers had expressed a “lack of closeness” with King to the board.
Over the years, King has repeatedly told the parole board that he plans to return home to his family in Alabama, submitting a letter from his brothers in 1994 offering him a job at the family law firm as proof.
But when WW called King’s brother, Daniel, last year, he didn’t seem enthusiastic about the idea.
Daniel King later submitted an affidavit to the parole board saying he’d first learned about the letter from the WW reporter—and disavowed it, claiming to have never signed it.
King’s new projected release date is May 11, 2026. If he is released, he’ll be shipped to Washington. Officials there granted King parole in 1994, but recently withdrew it, citing new, unspecified evidence.