Prison Escapee Granted Parole 27 Years Later

A state board today granted parole to a man who escaped from prison nearly 27 years ago and built a new life for himself in Nebraska.

The seven-member Board of Prison Terms and Paroles was unanimous in granting parole with minimum supervision to 61-year-old Mayland Groo, Chairman Bill Henry said. The board could have ordered him to serve the rest of his sentence.

“We wish him well,” Henry said.

“Oh boy!” Groo’s wife exclaimed. “That makes me very happy.”

Groo walked away from Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla after serving three years of an 8- to 30-year sentence for attempted robbery. He took the name Eugene Day in Alliance, Neb.

Groo was arrested last fall after he hit his former son-in-law, who had knocked down Groo’s crippled stepdaughter as she was carrying an infant.

Identified by Fingerprints

Assault charges against Groo were dropped but not before he had been fingerprinted and the FBI had identified him as a prison escapee.

He was returned to Washington on March 15 at the insistence of Gov. Booth Gardner.

Groo told the parole board of the life he had led since his escape and train-hopping halfway across the country.

“I’ve tried to block that (prison) stuff out of my mind,” he said.

During questioning, Groo explained how he met his wife, Elaine, assumed the name Eugene Day and worked at a variety of fairly steady jobs over the years.

He told board members that he would like to return to Alliance, where he has been promised a new job and where his wife still lives.