He beat woman in Modesto, dumped her into Escalon canal. Here’s how parole board ruled.
A man convicted of second-degree murder was found suitable for parole, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office said on Tuesday.
Delbert Dwayne Tinsley, 49, was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison for the 1998 death of 39-year-old Cindy Lou Hubbard, a press release from the DA’s office said.
According to the release, a student on his way to school on June 1, 1998, saw two men loading a body into the back of a car on Chrysler Drive in Modesto. He told school officials, who notified Modesto Police.
Responding officers detained three people at the home, including Tinsley. Police found blood and other evidence indicating a violent crime, the release said.
At the same time, San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to a report of a woman’s body found in a canal near Escalon, according to the release. Hubbard’s body was recovered from the canal. She had multiple wounds and the coroner determined she had died from drowning.
An investigation determined that Tinsley, then 26 years old, had beaten Hubbard with a fireplace poker and stabbed her in the garage of his home, according to the release.
“When he discovered she was still alive he stomped on her and got a co-defendant to help him put her in the trunk of his car. They drove her to Escalon and dumped her, still alive, onto a canal bank where she slid into the water and drowned,” the release said.
While in prison, Tinsley violated prison rules including participating in a riot, disobeying orders, refusing to work and assaulting other inmates, according to the release. He was a member of the Norteno prison gang until 2010.
He also was sentenced to an additional two years, eight months of consecutive prison time after being found in possession of a deadly weapon.
At the parole hearing, the prosecutor argued against Tinsley’s release based on his lack of insight into what led him to murder Hubbard and his inability to articulate how he would control his anger if released.
A prison psychologist’s opinion was that Tinsley represents a moderate risk for future violence, according to the press release.
The State Board of Parole found Tinsley no longer posed an unreasonable risk to public safety, according to the release. The board noted that Tinsley had not committed any prison rule violations in more than 10 years and had taken substantial self-improvement classes. This was his fourth parole hearing. He was previously denied parole in 2020.
