Now 72, Taunton Murderer Denied Parole

TAUNTON — A man serving a life sentence for beating another man to death in Taunton in July 1980 has been denied parole again, after spending more than four decades in prison.

Now 72 years old, Kevin Coe started serving his sentence in 1981 for killing Frank Sikorski and disposing of the body in Oakland Pond.

Since then, he has been denied parole six times — every 3-5 years since 1995, according to the parole board's written April 11 decision.

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Coe pleaded guilty to second degree murder in April 1981.

He and co-defendants and brothers Shawn and Derrick Dickinson met the victim — whom Coe did not know — outside a Taunton bar on July 30, 1980 and asked him for a ride.

The three men had been drinking and using "angel dust," or PCP, for several hours, according to court documents.

After Sikorski agreed to give them a lift, Coe and Shawn Dickinson beat him to death in an apparent attempt to steal his money and car.

Court documents state that the men then disposed of the body in Oakland Pond before going on to rob a West Bridgewater gas station at 2:50 a.m. and leading police on a high speed chase just over an hour later.

Authorities stopped and arrested them at a roadblock in Raynham.

At a prior parole hearing in 2016, board members raised concerns about several fights and assaults on prison staff as well as his spotty record for attending alcoholics anonymous meetings.

The board noted in its 2016 decision that Coe had simply told them, "I'm just an angry person, I guess."

But at his most recent parole hearing in July 2021, he claimed to have changed, citing a lack of disciplinary reports over the past five years.

Although the board agreed in its decision that Coe "has improved in recent years," board members noted that he has participated in "minimal programming" in his more than 40 years of incarceration.

They denied his parole, encouraging him to re-engage in rehabilitative programs, and set his next hearing for July 2025.