Parole denied until 2028 for Bennie Adams, killer of Gina Tenney in 1985

YOUNGSTOWN — The Ohio Parole Board has denied release for Bennie Adams, who was convicted in 2007 of murdering Youngstown State student Gina Tenney more than 20 years prior.

Adams, 64, is still serving a life sentence in Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg for Tenney's murder in 1985.

Though he would have become eligible for parole on Sept. 29, the state parole board denied his request during an Aug. 26 hearing and pushed his parole eligibility back to 2028, the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office confirmed Thursday.

County prosecutors argued against Adams' release, according to a news release issued late last month.

"While Adams was always a suspect in Ms. Tenney's murder, evidence directly tying Adams to her murder was not obtained until more than 20 years after her death," reads the release.

That was when the Ohio Attorney General's office called for police departments across the state to submit cold-case evidence for DNA testing. Youngstown Police Department still had semen evidence from Tenney's case, including a vaginal swab and a pair of underwear, that showed Adams "cannot be excluded as the source," reads the release.

Adams' aggregate sentence is 32 years, including 18 years for a separate, unrelated rape that occurred in Boardman Township in 1985, according to the prosecutor's office.

Adams had originally faced a death sentence for Tenney's murder, but the Ohio Supreme Court ultimately vacated that sentence and resentenced him in 2016.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Rivera in an objection to Adams' parole said the man's "terrifying pattern of criminal behavior in 1985" justifies his continued imprisonment.

Prosecutor Paul Gains said there is no "reasonable ground to believe that ... paroling the prisoner would further the interests of justice and be consistent with the welfare and security of society."

This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Parole denied until 2028 for Bennie Adams, killer of Gina Tenney in 1985."