This browser does not support the Video element.
Three Weeks Of Hell: The DC Snipers Podcast SNEAK PEEK
As we approach the 20-year anniversary of the DC beltway sniper killings, FOX 5 is launching a new podcast series: "Three Weeks of Hell: The DC Snipers." We’ll be looking back on those three terrifying weeks in October 2002 that ended with 10 people shot and killed, several more severely wounded and the entire region gripped in fear. A time seared in our memories as two murderous snipers encircled the Washington, DC region. A time when those of us living here realized our life or death in those 22 days was just a matter of chance.
RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia has denied parole to convicted sniper killer Lee Boyd Malvo, ruling that he is still a risk to the community two decades after he and his partner terrorized the Washington, D.C., region with a series of random shootings.
Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others over a three-week span in October 2002. Multiple other victims were shot and killed across the country in the prior months as the duo made their way to the nation's capital region from Washington state.
Malvo was convicted of capital murder in Virginia and sentenced to life in prison without parole. But a series of Supreme Court rulings and a change in Virginia law gave Malvo the opportunity to seek parole after serving nearly 20 years in custody.
The Virginia Parole Board rejected his request on Aug. 30, finding that Malvo remains a risk to the community and should serve more of his sentence before being released on parole, state records of Parole Board decisions for August show.
FAIRFAX, : Sniper suspect Lee Malvo (c) leaves a pre-trial hearing at the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court 04 December 2002 in Fairfax, Virginia. Malvo is a suspect in a sniper style killing spree. It has been reported 02 July 2 …
"Release at this time would diminish seriousness of crime; Serious nature and circumstances of your offense(s)," the Parole Board wrote.
Introducing "Three Weeks Of Hell: The DC Snipers," our latest true crime podcast
Malvo's accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, was executed in Virginia in 2009. Malvo, now 37, was sentenced to life without parole for the three Virginia killings. But after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that mandatory life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional, two federal courts found that Malvo was entitled to new sentencing hearings. The Virginia legislature also passed a law in 2020 that gave juvenile offenders an opportunity to seek parole after serving 20 years.
Malvo was a 15-year-old from Jamaica who had been sent to live in Antigua when he met the much older Muhammad. Muhammad trained and indoctrinated Malvo, and in 2002 the pair embarked on a nationwide killing spree that ended with the 10 slayings in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Trial testimony indicated the shootings were a plan for Muhammad to regain custody of his children by killing his ex-wife and making her death appear to be a result of random violence.
This browser does not support the Video element.
Maryland to begin review of DC sniper Lee Boyd Malvo's life sentences without parole
Maryland's highest court will begin oral arguments Tuesday in the case of Lee Boyd Malvo, who is serving life in prison for his role in the 2002 sniper spree that terrorized the Washington, D.C., region.
READ MORE: Maryland appeals court reviewing teen DC sniper Lee Boyd Malvo’s sentences
Malvo is serving his sentence at the super maximum-security Red Onion State Prison in Virginia.
Even if Malvo had been granted parole in Virginia, he also received a life prison sentence in Maryland for crimes in the neighboring state. Last month, Maryland's highest court ruled that Malvo must be resentenced for his crimes there.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.