Family of murdered mother faces California parole board to keep her killer in prison

SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. — Once again, the family of a woman murdered in Redding is going before the state parole board to try and keep the killer in prison.

A little bit of a warning: a graphic description of the killer's crime is in this story.

It was November 1998 when a single mother of five, Carolyn Bolger, was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, Raul Higgins.

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Now 63 years old, Higgins was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

He's still in San Quentin State Prison and Carolyn's family wants him to stay there.

“He’s a violent criminal with a history, in his adult life, of stalking women and [committing] violent crimes against them. So that’s why he should remain behind bars," explained Carolyn's Daughter, Megan. "And, also, for the past ten years, my family has gone to the parole hearings to keep him behind bars where he’s consistently portrayed a behavior of not being able to understand the impact of what he did and why he did it.”

The Shasta County District Attorney's Office has reviewed Higgins' file and determined he has not followed any of the recommendations made by Governor Newsom when he overturned a parole board decision to release him two years ago. The DA's office will have a presence at Higgins' parole hearing on Sept. 28, 2022, arguing he should remain locked up.

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“Mr. Higgins strangled the victim to death and then he left her there to die. His own statement to law enforcement was that she was still breathing, or gasping for air, when he left. And, he knew that she had children. So he intentionally committed, what I would describe as, an extremely intimate crime," explained Senior Deputy District Attorney, Sarah Murphy. "Strangling someone to death means you’re holding that person’s life in your hands and you’re taking it away from them breath-by-breath.”

This is not unique to this case. With parole hearings every one to three years it forces families to relive the crimes over and over again.

“We have to do this every few years and it doesn’t get any easier; it’s really hard on all of us," Megan said. "But having the community supporting us has been helping us get through it"

If you would like to write the parole board on the family's behalf, or if you've had a loved one as the victim of a violent crime and you need support, the Bolger Family has a website: "www.UniteForCarolyn.com."

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