WARREN — The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office is opposing parole for the man who shot and killed his wife June 29, 1987, inside the McDonald’s restaurant where she worked in McKinley Heights.

This marks the fifth time Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has argued against the release of Paul W. Smith, 53, who has a parole hearing scheduled in September.

In a letter to the Ohio Parole Board, Watkins urged the denial of Smith’s parole, citing “the horrific nature of the crime against his wife and unborn children and the real danger he may pose to surviving family members.”

Watkins recounted the final moments of Gina Smith’s life, stating Paul Smith stalked her during the early morning hours as she managed the restaurant. Gina Smith fled to the restaurant’s basement, where she was found kneeling with a gunshot wound to the back of her head.

Smith has served 31 years of an 18-years-to-life sentence.

Smith, who later confessed to the killing, fled the restaurant with police in pursuit. After wrecking his car, he ran and hid in a house in Girard for two days before being captured.

At the time of the murder, Smith was 21 years old and had been married to Gina for seven months. The couple, who had been living in Lordstown and with Gina’s parents in Hubbard, had become estranged. Smith claimed he only intended to talk to his wife on the day of the shooting, but brought a rifle with him.

Gina Smith’s co-workers said Smith attempted to enter the locked restaurant, but she instructed them to keep the doors closed. One of the employees, Ray Deluga, who later became a deputy with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office, recalled how Smith forced his way in, demanded to know Gina’s whereabouts, and terrorized those inside before murdering his wife.