Norton denied parole
Morning Sun
June 28, 2011
Kenneth Norton Jr., the former prison guard convicted of murdering his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter 18 years ago, has been denied parole in his first opportunity for early release.
Norton was the central figure in a tragic case that riveted much of Michigan in the summer of 1993.
Monday was the first day Norton was eligible for parole, but after a hearing several months ago he was denied release by the Michigan Parole Board.
"The board looked at him and denied him parole," said Russ Marlan, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections. "They gave him a standard code that means he's still considered a risk to the community."
Norton's next parole review was set for 18 months after the first, or the fall of 2012.
Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick's office monitors parole processes for certain cases and can also appeal early releases.
"It's extremely unlikely somebody convicted of murder would be paroled on their first time up," Burdick said. "I could see it possibly happening the next time he's up."
Norton was convicted of killing Tabatha Horn and sentenced to 22 to 35 years by Isabella Circuit Court Judge Paul Chamberlain after a two-week trial in January 1994. His maximum release date is in 2022.
Trial testimony indicated that disciplining of Tabatha, who died of suffocation, was a source of conflict between Norton and the girl's mother, Wendy Gokee.
Tabatha's case gripped much of Michigan in July 1993 when Norton reported her missing and presumably kidnapped from a Brighton convenience store.
Norton told police he was headed from Vestaburg to Ann Arbor with Tabatha to visit the girl's hospitalized mother.
Searches for Tabatha continued for several days, but investigators became increasingly suspicious and eventually started to also look for her body.
Tabatha's case took another bizarre twist when a woman claiming to be a psychic called police and said her body would be found in a green duffle bag near a wishing well.
Investigators found Tabatha's naked body, wrapped in a towel and baby blanket, at the end of a two-track road, 150 feet from a wishing well.
The makeshift grave was about two miles from the house Norton shared with Gokee and nine children, two belonging to Gokee, three to Norton and four to Norton's brother.
Norton, then 34, was a state prison guard working at the Carson City Correctional Facility at the time.
Now 52, Norton is imprisoned at the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, a dormitory-style facility for prisoners who have displayed good behavior while incarcerated.
