William Wieland was convicted in 1995 for the 1986 murder of his then mother-in-law, Katherine Kimbrel. The case was prosecuted by now deceased Benton County Chief Deputy District Attorney, Ken Osher. The lead detective on the case for Bentoun County Sheriff's Office was John Chilcote, now the investigator for the Benton County DA’s Office. The State’s theory of the case was that Wieland committed the murder following his failed attempt to burn down the house where his wife, children and victim were inside sleeping, in order to keep her from reporting his likely involvement to the police.

Following his conviction for aggravated murder, Wieland was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for thirty years. Wieland’s conviction has since been affirmed by the Oregon Court of Appeals, his two earlier requests for parole were denied, and his 2020 petition to the governor for clemency was rejected.

On October 21, 2026, Wieland appeared before the Board of Parole to seek parole for a third time. Benton County District Attorney Ryan Joslin, and Investigator John Chilcote, appeared remotely before the Board to object to the Wieland’s petition for parole. Jody Wieland-Vanhulle and Joshua Wieland, granddaughter and grandson of the victim respectively, appeared before the Board in person and objected to parole.

The Board handed down its decision yesterday, denying the petition of Wieland, and unanimously finding that Wieland was not likely to be rehabilitated within a reasonable period of time. The Board noted that Wieland’s assertions as to why he took certain actions were “ridiculous” and found “his statements completely lacking in credibility.” A copy of the Board’s Final Order can be found at the link below.

“A tremendous amount of work went into obtaining the original conviction in this case. For the ongoing safety of the community, and peace of mind of the surviving victims, justice demanded that Mr. Wieland continue serving his life sentence without parole. I would like to posthumously express gratitude to Chief DDA Osher for his tremendous work on the original case, and for Investigator Chilcote’s ongoing efforts, some 40 years after the murder, to keep Benton County a safe place to live.” Ryan Joslin, Benton County District Attorney.