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PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The father of a 5-year-old boy slain in 1975 said Monday that he would kill the neighbor who was convicted of his son's murder if he is released, as scheduled, several years early from a 40-year sentence.
Michael Woodmansee killed Jason Foreman in South Kingstown and hid the boy's shellacked bones in his house for years. He confessed and was convicted of second-degree murder in 1983.
Woodmansee is eligible for early release in August, The Providence Journal reported Sunday.
...if this man is released or if I can find him after the fact, I do intend to kill this man.
–John Foreman
Foreman's father, John Foreman, told WPRO-AM on Monday that if that happens, he intends to kill Woodmansee as aggressively and painfully as he killed his son.
"I do intend, if this man is released or if I can find him after the fact, I do intend to kill this man," he told the station.
He called Woodmansee a monster and a cannibal who ate his son's flesh.
"That's what he thinks about. That's what is still on his mind I'm sure, if gets out again, to do this again," he said.
Amy Kempe, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, said in a statement Monday that he was concerned and outraged about Woodmansee's scheduled release, and said he was urging the Department of Corrections to consider all avenues available to keep him behind bars. Kempe said the office would work with the Department of Corrections to review all legal options available.
Patricia Coyne-Fague, chief legal counsel for the Department of Corrections, said Monday she had not yet heard from the attorney general's office, but that typically the only way an inmate can lose good time he's earned for early release is if he misbehaves.
She explained that Woodmansee is eligible for early release under a longstanding law, first put in place in 1872, and last significantly changed in 1960. That law allowed Woodmansee to earn up to 10 days off his sentence for every month he behaved. Because he also had a job in prison, he was eligible to receive up to two additional days per month off his sentence for every month he worked at least 15 days, she said.
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