SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – The sister of Lee Lundskog wants his killer to remain in prison.

Adrian Gordon who in 2002 was convicted of murdering Lundskog recently appeared before the Utah Board of Pardons seeking parole.

He has been in prison for 20 years after he was convicted in September 2001.

“I don’t want him to ever get out of prison at all,” said Lundskog’s sister, Bevverly Willardson. “He’s dangerous. He’s violent. He’s scary.”

At his recent parole hearing, Gordon again maintained his innocence. As part of the agreement to proceed, the hearing officer said he would not re-litigate the case because it was being reviewed at the court level. Instead, the hearing officer wanted to focus on Gordon’s progress while in prison.   

“At the time I was just coming in, I was young,” he said. “I was wrongly convicted, and I was emotionally caught up in that.”

In response to why he had so many violations when he first entered prison, Gordon said those violations have since tapered off during the last ten years.

The murder happened in September 2001. Lundskog’s body was found behind a 7-11 store on Redwood Road in Salt Lake City. Authorities said he was beaten to death.
 
A witness claimed he saw a male black stomp on Lundskog and then return to the store to make a call.

According to a Salt Lake City police report, the witness identified the man making the call as Gordon.

Surveillance video from the store showed Gordon was at the store, making a phone call right after Lundskog was murdered.

Lundskog’s sister said the beating of her brother was brutal.

“We were all upset,” she said. “I mean, to have a brother murdered and dead. I never even went in and saw him. My mom said I don’t want you to go in and see him.”

After learning police were looking for him, Gordon went to the police headquarter and was arrested and never returned home.
In 2002, he was convicted of Lundskog’s murder and was sent to prison for five-years-and-up-to-life.

“It doesn’t matter where I am or what’s going on. Even though I am sitting here, I’ve been wrongly convicted,” said Gordon. “Right or wrong, I’ve lost 20-something years.”

For the past decade, the Utah Supreme Court and court of appeals denied Gordon’s effort to overturn the conviction.

Four years ago, the Rocky Mountain Innocence Project took up his case and convinced the courts to allow new DNA testing.

The testing has not been completed and based on the results, Gordon could either be cleared or the conviction could be upheld once again.

Lundskog’s sister doesn’t need convincing on who murdered her brother.

“He murdered my brother and he went to prison for that after he was found guilty.” Said the sister. “He needs to never ever get out of prison.”

Gordon claimed he is no longer that young man who was reckless. He said he has improved his life while in prison, and he maintained his innocence.

A family member of Lundskog who wanted to remain anonymous said she has followed the case from the beginning. She has doubts as to whether Gordon murdered Lundskog. If he did not do it, she said the real killer could still be out there. The board of pardons will soon decide if he should be paroled or not.