Rose Yusko has been denied parole again for her 1983 attempted murder conviction in one of Summit County's most notorious cases of child abuse.

The decision by the Ohio Parole Board will keep Yusko, 62, in state confinement at least until her next scheduled parole hearing in 2012, prosecutors announced today.

Yusko and her boyfriend, Peter Cook, were convicted in separate trials more than two decades ago for beating, burning and starving Cook's then-12-year-old daughter, Tara Cook.

Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, whose office opposed the release of Yusko in April 2004 when the parole board initially was prepared to release Yusko, said the case was ''the worst instance of child abuse Summit County has ever seen.''

Walsh said Yusko and Cook, who lived together in Stow in 1983, abused the victim ''to the point of being one breath away from death.''

The child was admitted to a hospital in June 1983 weighing only 40 pounds, with burns and open sores over 15 percent of her body from cigars and cigarettes, Walsh said.

The abuse was so perverse, Tara's case made national headlines. She later received a $1.3 million judgment against the Summit County Children Services Board for not protecting her.

Yusko, who has multiple sclerosis, is hospitalized in the state's Corrections Medical Center in Columbus, according to state prison records.

She originally was sentenced Dec. 19, 1983, to 181/2 to 55 years in prison for attempted murder, felonious assault, kidnapping and child endangering.

Cook, who was sentenced to 12 to 45 years in prison for felonious assault, kidnapping and child endangering, was released from Grafton Correctional Institution in June 2004 after serving 20 years for his crimes.

Tara survived her ordeal, Walsh said, and is thriving with her husband and family in Summit County.
http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/44905952.html

"Yusko was the girlfriend of Peter Cook, Tara's father. Together, this Stow couple abused the victim to the point of being one breath away from death. Tara was admitted to Marymount hospital on June 17, 1983 weighing only 40 pounds at 12 years. She had been tortured and deprived of nourishment to the point where she was unconscious, totally unresponsive to verbal or painful stimuli, and hypothermic with labored breathing and no eye reflex. Her eyes were open and the cornea dry. There were burns and open sores over 15 percent of her body from cigars and cigarettes.
"Details during the trial revealed that Cook had been restrained with handcuffs to a chair or naked in the bathtub, forced into a locked closet or handcuffed to the handrail in the basement. In addition to being abused, she was deprived of her basic needs of food and clothing."
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