Robbie Mills accomplice granted parole

A now 28-year-old man convicted as an accomplice in the 1998 murder of Memorial MIddle School student Robbie Mills has been granted parole. Jon Knowles, formerly of Laconia, has been serving an 8 to 20 year prison term he received as a part of a plea bargain agreement reached in 1999.

Mills' mother, Wendy, spoke against releasing Knowles at Thursday's parole hearing. She believes he got off easy when he turned himself in and agreed to testify against the killer, Richard Douthart, who is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole at the state prison in Berlin.

Knowles still needs to have a mental health evaluation performed and will not be allowed to enter Belknap County. He has not yet been released.

Mills was 14-years-old on August 2, 1998, when he was riding his BMX bike down Messer Street and was encountered by Douthart and Knowles, who were drinking beer near the point where the Boston and Maine railroad tracks cross the street. The youngsters body was later found in the brush between the street and the Winnipesaukee River and two days later Knowles turned himself in to Concord police and agreed to aid in getting Douthart to admit his guilt in a phone conversation.

Knowles later agreed to testify against Douthart at this murder trial.

Knowles admitted to authorities that he tied the teenager's hands behind his back with the straps he cut off the victims backpack and then handed the knife to Douthart that he used to slash Mill's throat. The youngster was lying flat on his stomach at the time, with Douthart on top of him.

The motive for the crime has historically been considered the theft of Mill's new bicycle but during a recent jailhouse interview, Douthart told Geoff Cunningham of The Citizen of Laconia that was not really the case. He and his friend, he said, did take the bike but they were just drunk and trying to "mess with him" at the beginning of the tragic confrontation.

Knowles was first eligible for parole last year but his request was denied.

Laconia youth sport's complex on Meredith Center Road is named for Robbie Mills.

(The Associated Press provided the core of this report.)