NORTH COAST, Calif. – The man responsible for the 1993 murder at Lake Mendocino of a Redwood Valley Water District employee was denied parole at a hearing held Wednesday at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City.

Troy Harden, now age 43 and formerly of Willits, will not be eligible for parole reconsideration until the year 2021, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.

Mendocino County Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequeira attended the hearing to argue against Harden’s release in representing the interests of the district attorney, the residents of Mendocino County, and the victim’s family and friends.

Redwood Valley Water District employee Larry Stephenson, then age 47, a husband and father who lived in Upper Lake, was stabbed multiple times and his throat was cut by Harden on Jan. 22, 1993.

Stephenson encountered Harden, his brother and another man during a routine maintenance check at the water outlet tower on the east shore of Lake Mendocino.

The three suspects were arrested six days later after the discovery of Stephenson’s body. Harden's brother and the third man were convicted of being accessories to Stephenson’s murder and both received prison sentences, officials reported.

Because of publicity at the time, Troy Harden’s criminal proceedings were moved to Humboldt County for trial.

The prosecutor who presented the evidence against Harden at the Eureka trial was retired Mendocino County Assistant District Attorney Bob Hickok, and Harden’s defense was handled by then-Public Defender Ron Brown, who died in 2012.

Superior Court Judge Frank Petersen, who died in 2011, presided over the case in Eureka and sentenced Harden to the maximum allowed by law – 26 years to life in state prison – after jurors found Harden guilty of first-degree murder.

Judge Petersen received 118 letters from concerned citizens asking that Harden receive the maximum sentence.

After attending the sentencing hearing, the victim’s widow Marilyn Stephenson told reporters, “I pity anyone who has to go through this. It’s a nightmare. I’ll never forgive Troy Harden for what he did.”

Sequeira said Thursday, “It is our responsibility to never forget. It is our duty to protect Mendocino County by keeping killers like Harden in prison. When Harden comes up for parole again in 2021, the DA’s Office will be there to oppose his release, and to remind the Board of Prison Terms that he committed a brutal, cold-blooded murder of a good family man.”