BUFFALO, N.Y. — Edward Kindt was convicted and sentenced to prison for the Mother's Day rape and strangulation death of Penny Brown in Salamanca in 1999.
More than 20 years later Kindt was arrested again, this time in July for violating parole.
He left his supervised housing in Dutchess County for six days to visit his family home in Salamanca, where the Brown family also lives.
"There's not one person who worked on that case or who was affected by that case that's gotten to know Edward Kindt who believes he should be in society," former Cattaraugus County Sheriff Timothy Whitcomb said.
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said Kindt has been in custody since before his final hearing in August, and so the seven-day sentence has already been satisfied.
New York State Senator George Borrello says he's outraged by the judge's decision to release Kindt.
"He absconded, he created a statewide manhunt that used lots of resources and he still released again," Borrello said.
Whitcomb added: "He has no respect for authoritative rules and he's not going to grow a healthy respect for that at this point in his life. It is a matter of time before he hurts somebody again and the people who are in the mix that are allowing him to have that opportunity to do that- in my opinion they should be held accountable too."
Senator Borrello believes change is needed on the state level. "We need to repeal, absolutely must repeal, this ridiculous Less Is More [Act], which essentially means any parole violation pretty much will not send a career criminal back to prison."
Borrello says he's introduced a parole reform bill, "which would mandate that anyone who votes yes to release a monster like Edward Kindt, that that person, once released, be relocated as close to their home, that parole board member's home, as possible. So if they feel this person is safe to be released back into society, then they should be fine with them living near their home."
Whitcomb added: "He permanently damaged the lives and souls of Kaitlyn and Bradleigh Brown, Jerry and Sibyl Lockwood, Penny's sisters, Penny's husband, their neighbors, and our community."
According to the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Kindt is being released back to Dutchess County, where he will be placed back on GPS monitoring and closely supervised.