The Missouri Department of Corrections Parole Board has denied parole to serial child sex abuser Pete Newman. His next parole hearing has been set for September 2029, the farthest possible date.
The ruling came down Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Newman was convicted in 2010 on multiple accounts of statutory sodomy and child enticement involving the abuse of at least 57 victims as a counselor at Kanakuk summer camp, located in Branson, Mo. However, after further investigation and more survivors coming forward, prosecutors and experts believe Newman’s victim count could be in the hundreds, if not thousands.
Pete Newman
Having organized an effort to encourage survivors and others to write letters to the parole board urging them to deny Newman’s parole, Kanakuk survivors and anti-sex abuse activists are pleased with the decision.
“We will take the win,” said Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, whose brother, Trey, would have turned 34 years old this week. He died by suicide due to the long-lasting traumatic effects related to Newman’s abuse. “He doesn’t have a voice except through the people who loved him and want to prevent the harm he endured.”
Including Trey, the survivor community knows of at least 17 survivor suicides.
Kanakuk Kamps, however, has not publicly responded to survivor conversations about the parole hearing, nor did they publicly comment on what they recommended for the parole board. But in their silence, the voices of survivors and their families were heard.
“Kanakuk remained silent on this parole hearing,” Phillips said, “but the Kanakuk survivor community did not and will not. We collectively spoke out and activated our allies to oppose Pete Newman’s parole. This feels like a small victory.”
Phillips and others in the survivor community, however, are frustrated this win may not be permanent. Referencing Newman’s right to future parole hearings, Phillips explained, “Under current criminal code in Missouri, we will have to do this every one to five years until Pete dies. Another thing that’s not fair to survivors. Life should mean life.”
Survivor Logan Yandell told OzarksFirst, “I was worried for the potential safety of other children that would be proximate to Pete Newman if he were to be released.”
And although Newman will be eligible for parole in five years, Yandell explained, “I do believe that as far as the measures of success around survivors rallying to make sure Pete remains behind bars, we did get the most successful outcome we could have hoped for.”
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