Dayton, OH: Man who buried wife in concrete is up for parole

Former Dayton Daily News worker began his 15 years to life sentence in 1989.
By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau
Updated 7:31 AM Thursday, July 1, 2010
COLUMBUS — Ohio parole officials will decide this summer whether to release convicted murderer Theodore Sinks, a former Dayton Daily News maintenance supervisor who killed his wife, Judy, at home and buried her body at the newspaper’s downtown building in 1987.
Sinks, now 71, is going before the Ohio Parole Board for the third time since he entered prison in 1989.
Terry Harmon, the younger brother of Judy Sinks, said his family opposes parole. “I just think that he is a very dangerous person and he doesn’t deserve to be out,” he said.
A Montgomery County Common Pleas Court convicted Sinks of beating and strangling his wife and sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison.
Sinks reported his wife missing on Nov. 23, 1987. He was arrested April 26, 1988, after Dayton police, based on evidence from a newspaper maintenance worker, found the body of Judy Sinks, 44. She had been a clerical worker in the newspaper’s circulation department.
Sinks had placed her body in a plastic barrel and had a subordinate, who did not know the contents, help him move it up elevators and stairs to the top of the building at Fourth and Ludlow streets. There, prosecutors said, Sinks placed the body in a small pit near a cooling tower, and poured cement over it.
Sinks is scheduled to meet with parole board officials July 6, according to the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. If they recommend his release, the issue could go before the full Ohio Parole Board for a decision.
The Montgomery County prosecutor’s office and Cox Media Group Ohio, which owns the Dayton Daily News, also oppose Sinks’ parole. “We strongly encourage the Parole Board to reject any request for release of Mr. Sinks,” said Emily Chambers, vice president for Human Resources, Cox Media Group Ohio.