This, of course, was all before truth-in-sentencing laws turned prison terms from optional to draconian. In 1982, the Arizona Board of Pardons and Paroles released Huff to federal custody but tried to retain control if there was ever a chance he’d be released. It didn’t work.

In November 1984, Huff was released to a halfway house on Miracle Mile. He would bicycle to work as a janitor at Tucson International Airport, the Star reported, but outrage grew that he had been released from prison at all.

A group called “We, the People” formed and called for him to be imprisoned again. Gov. Bruce Babbitt got involved. By January 5, 1985, Huff was back in federal prison, not to be released again until 31 years later, on Jan. 4, 2016.

All those years were marked for Darlene Roy by Huff’s parole hearings. Roy, who was 12 when her little sister Cindy Clelland died, regularly phoned in to listen to and oppose Huff’s release when the hearings came up. It was a twice-a-year occasion because the laws of the time he was convicted required hearings that often.

They regularly rejected his requests. Then, on Dec. 2, 2015, the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency shocked Roy by changing its mind.