A man who was convicted of beating and stabbing to death a woman and her disabled grandson was denied parole.
In September 1991, Jesse Rogers went to the Dorchester residence of Alba Pellegrini with the intent to rob the house, according to the Massachusetts Parole Board. Rogers had previously been assigned by the Boston Visiting Nurses Association to provide home care for Pellegrini’s grandson, John Ward, who suffered from the effects of cerebral palsy, but had been removed from the case weeks earlier due to his erratic behavior.
Rogers, who was 30 years old at the time, viciously attacked Pellegrini, 77, hitting her in the head with a tea kettle and stabbing her four times, including one strike that reached her heart. Rogers then went to the bedroom of Ward, 32, and attacked him with the same tea kettle before stabbing him to death.
Rogers was arrested in September 1992 and pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in March 1994. He was given two concurrent life sentences with the possibility of parole.
Rogers was denied parole in his initial hearing in 2007. Subsequent hearings in 2012, 2017, 2022 and 2023 were also denied.
His latest parole hearing was on July 16, 2025, and the board returned its decision on Jan. 6, denying Rogers once again.
In their decision, the board cited Rogers’ behavior during incarceration as a key factor.
“He is 64 years old,” the decision reads. “Mr. Rogers murdered two individuals — a grandmother and her handicapped grandson — and is still getting tickets for physical altercations with other incarcerated individuals in his early 60s.”
A member of the victims’ family testified in opposition to Rogers’ parole.
