'Hell on Horton' murderer up for parole

On March 3, 1989, 13-year-old Horton Road resident and Woodmere Middle School student Kelly Tinyes was babysitting her younger brother, Richard, when they received a phone call from a man named “John.” Kelly told Richard that she was heading to a friend’s for a short while. She never returned.

Roughly 24 hours later, her mutilated body was found stuffed in a sleeping bag in a neighbor’s basement. Within a month, a suspect was arrested: then 21-year-old bodybuilder Robert Golub, who lived in the Valley Stream house, after a bloody handprint was discovered on the basement doorway.

After a nearly year-long trial, Golub was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He would later admit to the killing, saying it was accidental. After serving more than three decades in prison, Golub is eligible for parole in November.

Golub’s release is an imminent possibility the Tinyes’ family is doing everything in their power to prevent. The family will stand before the parole board on Oct. 6 to vehemently urge Golub to remain in jail. In the lead-up  to the meeting, the family has circulated a GoPetition.com petition with over 4,000 signatures as of press time, calling on the parole board to deny Golub’s release.

Much of the testimony in the case focused on the grisly nature of Tinyes’ killing, with prosecutors and medical experts giving graphic testimony about a brutal beating, mutilated sex organs, the use of an 18-inch bayonet and a possible sexual motive.

Tinyes was reportedly beaten and slashed for roughly 20 minutes before dying by strangulation, according to news accounts from the trial, but she fought back, and it was Golub’s blood found on her body that would lead to at least some semblance of justice for her family.