PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — At 15, Seth Koch was the second youngest of the Redmond 5 — the group that brutally murdered Barbara Thomas in her central Oregon home on March 26, 2001.
He’s the one who hit her first with a wine bottle after she came home and discovered the teens had ransacked her house.
Koch is also the one who shot Barbara Thomas in the head.
Now, at 38, he is up for parole after former Governor Kate Brown granted dozens of violent inmates who were convicted as juveniles the opportunity to go before the parole board and try to convince the panel they are rehabilitated and should be released early. The board’s decision on Koch is expected as soon as Tuesday.
He said he alone is responsible for his actions and tried to explain the attack to the parole board.
“The only way we can not be in trouble for doing this to the house is by killing her and a room full of adults here right now understand how crazy that sounds,” he said. “I understand how crazy that sounds today. It doesn’t make any sense, but 15-year-old Seth felt like it made sense.”
The parole board spent a lot of time trying to understand the motive. They noted he came from a good family and there was a lack of warning signs.
“It seems like a big jump to go from stealing candy bars to committing murder,” Oregon State Parole Board member James Taylor said.
Koch explained he succumbed to peer pressure and group think — and how deeply he looked up to 17-year-old Justin Link.
“I didn’t want to let down specifically Justin. I didn’t want him to look at me as if I was weak,” he said.
Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Darryl Nakahira argued Koch should serve his full 30-year minimum sentence.
“It has caused a lot of stress and damage to the family,” Nakahira said.
Barbara Thomas’ niece, Sara Jones, said the parole hearing reopens the wound. At Koch’s hearing, she read a letter to the parole board.
“My family has tried to heal from this crime, yet every time we think we are close, the wound gets ripped back open. I do not feel that Seth should get a chance for freedom when my family has been in a prison of sadness and despair since the murder took place,” Jones said.
During the parole board hearing there was a lot of discussion about the unusually high number of classes he’s taken to better himself, the multiple prison jobs he holds and his work as a mentor to other inmates.
In the more than two decades he’s been in prison, Koch has not had a single disciplinary infraction.
“I just really want to acknowledge you again for all the positive you’ve done since you’ve been in custody and for your positive behavior since you’ve been in DOC,” parole board member John Bailey said. “It’s very rare.”
“Every day I think about what I did,” Koch told the parole board. “I don’t know how many thousands of times I thought about the things I could have done differently.”
The others in the Redmond 5
Justin Link will get out of prison on April 28, which is about 8 years early on a sentence of 30 years to life.
Ashley Summers has her parole hearing May 3.
Lucretia Karle was released from prison 4 years early after Brown commuted her sentence. Now in her mid-30s, she was released in Yamhill County in 2021.
Barbara Thomas’ son, Adam Thomas, was 18 at the time of the killing. He is eligible for a parole hearing after serving 25 years of his term — which is about 3 years from now.