Question: Whatever happened to Justin Boulay, the convicted murderer who moved to Hawaii after he was released on parole from a prison in Illinois?
Answer: Boulay has been working full time on Oahu and meeting monthly with his parole officer, said Bert Matsuoka, chairman of the Hawaii Paroling Authority.
“I just spoke to his parole officer. He said he’s a model parolee,” Matsuoka said, adding that the parole officer had concerns about publicity that could discourage Boulay. “At this time, things are going well for Boulay.”
Boulay, 34, was deemed at “very low risk to reoffend” during an evaluation, and last July he had his required visits with his parole officer reduced to monthly from twice a month. His parole officer also makes scheduled and unannounced visits to Boulay’s condo.
“At all times, things have been going real well for Mr. Boulay,” Matsuoka said. The condominium’s resident manager, who is aware of Boulay’s history, has reported no issues or problems, Matsuoka said.
Boulay’s parole will end on Nov. 16, 2013, a date set by the state of Illinois.
On that day, if he stays out of trouble, “he’s completely free,” Matsuoka said. “He becomes just like anyone else. He can do whatever he wants. He can travel.”
Boulay currently has a travel restriction and must get permission from Illinois to travel outside Hawaii.
Boulay arrived in Hawaii in November 2010 as part of the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision. The compact allows offenders to live in communities where they would have the most support and most likely success at being rehabilitated. He moved in with his wife, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Hawaii, whom he knew in Illinois and married in 2007 while in prison.
Boulay was 20 when he strangled his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend, Andrea Faye Will, with a phone cord in 1998. She had broken up with him a few months earlier. He was sentenced to 24 years, but served only 12 years at the Danville Correctional Center because of an old law that knocked a day off for every day of good behavior behind bars. Laws now require violent offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.
His release upset residents in both states, prompting vigils in the victim’s honor. Will’s mother called Boulay’s release a “slap in the face.”
“For myself and my family, it has been a complete and total injustice since the day he was arrested,” Patricia Rosenberg of Batavia, Ill., said at the time.
Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro had unsuccessfully asked the Paroling Authority to reject the transfer request to Honolulu and said it was a red flag when a man who murdered a university student is married to a staff member at a university. He said he would talk to the Paroling Authority about notifying him whenever there is the arrival of a violent offender.
Dave Koga, the prosecutor’s office spokesman, said the Hawaii Paroling Authority now notifies the prosecuting attorney whenever a parolee from another state intends to move to Hawaii.
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This update was written by Rob Shikina. Suggest a topic for “Whatever Happened To…” by writing Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4747; or email cityeditors@staradvertiser.com.
