TALLMADGE: Three men who killed a prominent businessman in Tallmadge 21 years ago are up for parole next month.A letter-writing campaign is under way to keep them in jail.Kelly Parsons, Daniel Burns and Ted Patterson were convicted of killing William Simcox in February 1990. They received life sentences with parole eligibility.An Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman said the state already has received several letters and at least 25 emails opposing their release.Simcox, 59, was stabbed 16 times in the face, head and body and was found dead in his Fernwood Drive home.An anonymous tip the weekend after the slaying drew police attention to Parsons, who had been expelled from Maplewood Joint Vocational School.The killers were 17, 18 and 20 at the time. Testimony during their trial revealed Parsons harbored a years-old grudge against Simcox. Parsons’ family lived on Simcox’s 40-acre cattle farm from 1980 until Simcox evicted them about four years later.The three men visited Simcox under the guise of Parsons looking for a job. Simcox invited them inside, where they killed him, stole $30,000 from the home and went on a spending spree, buying cars, appliances and clothes.Simcox’s sister, Marilyn Benedict, said the family has been writing to the parole board since 1998, when Patterson, who received the lightest sentence, first came up for parole. She also sends a letter to the board every year on the anniversary of her brother’s death.Reliving the experience every year “is horrible. It’s very draining,” she said.“We all lose family members, and he wasn’t the first in our family to die,” Benedict said. “But when you die at the hands of someone else like he did, it brings a component into the picture that isn’t normal. When you have a good memory, you just get seconds into it when the reality comes crashing down.”She said she finds strength to get those letters out every year because she’s confident they make a difference.She has met with parole board members before — she met with one again two weeks ago — “and they assure me that every letter sent in is read and kept and considered.”Jo-Ann Callahan said she has been asking “everyone I know” to write to the parole board. The Akron resident and elementary school teacher worked at Victim Assistance for several years with Benedict.Callahan said it’s important for area residents to have a voice, because released prisoners often return to their original communities.Parsons, Burns and Patterson need to serve their full sentences because their crime was premeditated and brutal, she said.“These men came with weapons up their sleeves with the intention of killing William and taking his money,” she said. “Did he plead for his life? Did they give him mercy? Of course, he pleaded for his life.”Tallmadge Police Chief Donald Zesiger was a new patrolman when the murder occurred and remembers the effect it had on the community.“It was one of those crimes that was shocking,” Zesiger said. “It happened in a very quiet area of Tallmadge where people don’t expect something like that. It made people uneasy.”Zesiger said there have been perhaps a half-dozen homicides in Tallmadge in the 22 years he has been in the department. He has sent off his own letter to the parole board.“There are certain things that happen in your police career you never forget, and this is one of them,” he said.Law Director Penny Taylor also wrote to the parole board. She was assistant law director when Simcox was killed.Simcox owned Simcox Grinding & Steel Co., was active in the Brimfield Memorial House Association and its Kelso House Museum, and organized bus trips to area attractions.“He was well-known. He was a businessman, self-made and successful. And we didn’t know who committed it, so until [police] knew, everyone was on edge,” she said.Taylor said she has written to the parole board only one other time, and was moved to do so this time “because the slaying was brutal, it was senseless.”Patterson, a former Mogadore resident who is at Belmont Correctional Institution, will have his parole hearing Sept. 1.Parsons, formerly of Ravenna and now at Marion Correctional, is scheduled for Sept. 13.Burns, a former Kent resident now at London Correctional, is up Sept. 20.Letters to the parole board may be sent to: Office of Victim Services, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 770 W. Broad St., Columbus, OH 43222, or by email to drc.victim.services@odrc.state.oh.us.Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.