Parole denied in Modesto fireplace poker killing

Parole has been denied for a 44-year-old Oakdale man convicted of beating a woman with a fireplace poker 18 years ago and leaving her to die along a canal bank in San Joaquin County.

A Stanislaus County jury convicted Delbert Duane Tinsley of second-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon in April 2000. He later was sentenced to serve 17 years to life in prison.

At a Nov. 29 hearing in Tehachapi, the state parole board decided to keep Tinsley in prison for three more years. Then he is eligible for another parole hearing.

Tinsley was at a friend’s home on Chrysler Drive in north Modesto on June 1, 1998, when Cindy Lou Hubbard walked by. Prosecutors said Tinsley was in the garage drinking beer and called Hubbard to come over.

Once Hubbard was inside, Tinsley closed the door and beat her unconscious with the poker, according to prosecutors. She was cut several times, and her nose, jaw and arm were broken. She was stabbed multiple times with a small knife.

Tinsley and his friend wrapped the 39-year-old nurse in plastic and a blanket, loaded her into the trunk of a car and dumped her body on a canal bank southeast of Escalon.

Several hours later, a man collecting aluminum cans spotted the victim struggling to stand up on the bank before she slipped into the water. The witness could not swim, so he rode his bicycle to a house for help.

Hubbard was dead by the time rescuers arrived. A pathologist testified that, given time, she might have died from the beating.

At the parole hearing, Deputy District Attorney Jeff Laugero asked the board to keep Tinsley in prison, because of his lack of remorse and insight into the murder.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Parole denied in Modesto fireplace poker killing."