WARREN – Ohio’s Parole Board has denied parole for a 63-year-old Niles mother convicted of killing three of her children 40 years ago.

Instead Gloria Greenfield will complete the maximum amount of her 1-to-20-year prison sentence and remain incarcerated until 2023.

The board also had turned down Greenfield’s attempt at parole in December 2003, when she had been behind bars for only seven months. At that time, she would have to wait until this month for the next hearing.

Greenfield was sentenced to a 1-to-20 year prison sentence April 22 after agreeing to a plea bargain.

She pleaded guilty to two first-degree manslaughter charges, and the sentence provided for parole eligibility after serving less than a year.

Prosecutors said at the time they would neither oppose nor recommend more prison time at any parole hearing. The prosecutors also said the motivation behind the deaths of three of Greenfield’s children was believed to be insurance payoffs of between $2,000 and $3,000 for each baby.

The cause of death had initially been listed as crib deaths.

At trial, prosecutors were prepared to use expert testimony from national pediatric forensic specialist Dr. Janice Ophoven of Minneapolis at trial. Ophoven was convinced all three deaths were homicides.

Under terms of Greenfield’s plea bargain, two counts of assault with intent to kill were dismissed along with one of the first-degree murder counts pertaining to the March 7, 1969, death of 28-day-old Melissa Woods. That death, originally ruled as sudden infant death syndrome, was overturned but never determined to be a homicide.

Meanwhile, the other two first-degree murder charges were amended to manslaughter.

After a review of medical records and an 18-month investigation by Niles police, then-Trumbull County Coroner Dr. Theodore Soboslay overturned previous rulings by former Coroner Dr. Joseph Sudimack and re-classified the deaths of Melissa, 17-day-old Theodore Woods and 15-day-old Regina Woods. Soboslay’s ruling was based on findings and research by then-forensic pathologist Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk. Germaniuk has since been elected coroner.

Theodore died Feb. 8, 1970; Regina died March 5, 1971.

The original SIDS rulings for Theodore and Regina were changed to asphyxia and declared homicides. Melissa’s death was changed to undetermined with an unknown manner of death.

The dismissed assault charges pertained to Greenfield’s surviving daughter, Gloria Lee Bennight. According to prosecutors, Bennight was responsible for contacting the coroner’s office about re-opening the cases.

cbobby@tribtoday.com