ROCKLAND POST DESK
Residents in both Westchester and Rockland counties are once again reacting with concern after the latest arrest of Robert McCain, one of the two men convicted in the 1980 killing of Pearl River teenager Paula Bohovesky.
Peekskill Police say McCain, now 63, was taken into custody on November 21 and charged with second-degree aggravated harassment, petit larceny, and additional offenses after an incident involving a local woman. According to the complaint, the woman reported that McCain threatened her and told her that her mother “wouldn’t find her body for years.” Police also say he took the license plate off her car during the dispute.
McCain’s name is familiar across Rockland County. He served roughly 40 years for the murder of Bohovesky, a case that left a lasting scar on the community. His release on parole in 2021 was met with widespread opposition from elected officials, residents, and Bohovesky’s family. Many felt the parole board ignored serious safety concerns at the time.
Those fears resurfaced this past summer when McCain pleaded guilty to groping a woman at a Cortlandt dog park, a crime that violated his parole but still resulted in his return to the community.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day, who has been outspoken about the parole decision since day one, said the newest arrest “shows exactly why so many of us fought so hard against his release.” Day added that the state “owes residents an explanation for how this individual continued to be free long enough to reoffend again.”
Neighbors who remember the original case say the situation feels like déjà vu. “People said this would happen,” one Pearl River resident told us. “It’s frightening, and it feels like nobody listened.”
In Peekskill, residents also expressed unease, with one woman saying the incident “shook a lot of people because this wasn’t just minor trouble — these were serious threats.”
McCain is currently facing the new harassment charges as local officials once again question how the parole board handled his earlier release. As the case moves forward, many across the region say they hope there will finally be a closer review of how violent offenders are supervised once they return to the community.
More information is expected as the Peekskill case proceeds through the courts.