This petition is being organized by the family of Michelle Lentine-Forte to show the members of the New York Department of Corrections Board of Parole that the community does not support the release of Leroy Anderson Jr. (Inmate #94b0898). Anderson is a violent and dangerous murderer, with a long prior history of violence against women, who should NOT be granted parole under any circumstances regardless of the time that he has already served. He is currently serving a maximum 25 year to life sentence at the Wende Correctional Facility outside of Buffalo, NY after being convicted of murder in the 2nd degree, for the brutal and senseless murder of Michelle on February 24th, 1993. The state of New York schedules parole hearings every two years, once inmates have served their minimum sentence, so her family is forced to re-live these terrible events every two years and fight to keep him in prison and away from the community. Anderson is scheduled for his third parole hearing in November 2021, where he could possibly be released in Rochester, NY immediately following.

Michelle was only 23 years old and a newly wed to her husband Joseph Forte, and youngest daughter to Tina Lentine. Michelle was an interpreter for deaf and blind school children in the City of Rochester and Town of Webster, and was loved by her students, and all who knew her. She was a graduate of Our Lady of Mercy High School, an active member of Rochester Community Theater and an accomplished pianist and singer, who always put the needs of others ahead of her own. She was a beautiful, kind, caring soul who deserved more than to be murdered before her adult life could even get started.

Michelle's murder has devastated our family, and even after almost 28 years her presence is still missed by all who knew and loved her. She was denied life and the opportunity to be a wife and mother as well as to continue the impact she had on the school children she cared so deeply for.

Leroy Anderson shared the other side of their duplex apartment in Greece, NY in 1993, and in a short time he had gained Michelle and Joe's trust. After borrowing Michelle’s car several weeks before, for what he claimed was a family emergency, Anderson took that opportunity to make a copy of their house key which he used to gain entry into Michelle's apartment while her husband was working the night shift.

When Joe returned late that evening from work, he entered the apartment to find Michelle's naked body in a pool of blood on their bedroom floor. She had been stabbed over 20 times with so much rage and force that the knife went into her back, through the front of her chest and into the floor. Her throat was slit so severely she was nearly decapitated. Michelle was left to die on the floor of her own bedroom where she bled to death, and it was several hours before she would be discovered by her distraught husband.

Anderson’s guilt is not in question, having been convicted in 1994 based on blood and hair evidence left at the scene of the crime, and his fingerprints left in her car that he stole after the murder.  His shoes and clothes were found in his apartment with Michelle's blood all over them, as well as a key to Michelle's apartment on his key ring which he used to gain access.

In the last two parole hearings in 2017 and 2019 Anderson has admitted to murdering Michelle after initially claiming his innocence at trial. In 2017 his explanation of the how and why he murdered was impossible given the evidence and layout of the murder scene and he also painted Michelle as the aggressor in their initial confrontation leading up to her murder. In 2019 his explanation changed as he then stated he could not remember the details due to being high on cocaine and heroin at the time, and that the murder was a spontaneous act of aggression. However, his actions leading up to the murder and afterwards clearly show he was aware of what he was doing, and he did not blackout in a drug infused rage as he claimed. Instead Anderson carefully planned and premeditated the murder for days if not weeks before.

Anderson expressed in his parole hearings that he wishes it did not happen, yet given the opportunity he never once expresses any remorse for what he did to Michelle or the lifetime of pain and suffering caused to her family and the people who knew her. He only expressed feeling sorry for himself and the fact that he is serving his whole life in jail for what he has done, which is his only regret.

He lied repeatedly in his parole hearings about everything, omitting key information even when members of the parole board asked him direct questions regarding how well he knew Michelle and what previous interactions he had with her and her husband, along with every other aspect of the murder itself. Anderson is not a man who has come to terms with and taken responsibility for his deadly actions, and does not show the slightest bit of remorse for what he has done. He will say anything to get out of prison, but even he understands telling the true facts of how and why he committed the murder and what he was thinking at the time, would paint him as the evil monster he truly is. He is a master manipulator and when answers to the questions were too horrible to admit the truth to the parole board, he claimed he blacked out and did not remember the details.

Anderson is desperate to be released from prison and gain his freedom, and as he stated in his last hearing, he believes that after his third parole hearing he expects to be released. A parole board member corrected him saying there is not a set amount of hearings or time that would guarantee his release, but that “every hearing is its own thing and they base readiness for release after each one is complete”. We must convince the parole board that regardless of his behavior, age, and time served in prison, the brutality of what he did to Michelle is too severe and makes him ineligible to ever be released from prison.

A man who can commit such a brutal act of violence against an innocent woman who he barely knew and was only trying to help him, is a very dangerous predator and a danger to the community he lives in. Our mission is to keep him behind bars for the rest of his life for the safety of our family and yours.