A former McHenry man convicted of killing two people in 1971 was denied parole in a unanimous vote by the Illinois Prisoner Review Board on Thursday.

Phillip Lee Soper, 73, is serving two consecutive 150- to 200-year sentences for the first-degree murders of Marlene Ahrens and Guenther Dolenski, whose surviving family members lodged formal protests against Soper’s release during a remote hearing last month, according to a news release Friday from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Criminal Division Chief Jim Newman appeared before the full board Thursday and argued that releasing Soper would undermine the seriousness of his offenses, the state’s attorney’s office said in the release. Newman also noted that Soper had admitted to killing four others in neighboring states before coming to McHenry County.

On Dec. 17, 1970, armed with a .22-caliber handgun, Soper tried to rob what he thought was a McHenry tavern, according to the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office. Soper mistakenly approached the rear entrance of a dental office instead.

Ahrens, of Woodstock, was leaving her job as a dental assistant when she came across the masked Soper. He fired one fatal shot into her chest and then fired repeatedly at the building owner, John Boeker, who had come to investigate the shooting. Boeker was struck by one of the bullets but survived.

The next evening, Dec. 18, 1970, Soper, again masked, entered the Farmhouse Tavern. Inside, using the same gun, he robbed the patrons and bartender of about $750.

Before leaving, he fired five shots into the chest and abdomen of Dolenski, killing him.

Soper appeared in court in March 1971 at age 22, “smiling and waving at his relatives,” the McHenry Plaindealer reported at the time. After a conference between Soper, attorneys and Judge James H. Cooney, Soper pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two consecutive 150- to 200-year sentences.

In the release announcing the denied parole, McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said legislators in Springfield are “considering resurrecting the parole laws that were in effect at the time Mr. Soper committed these unspeakable crimes and that he now benefits from.”

“The fact that the victims in this case have to hold their breath every few years and hope that a new parole panel in Springfield does the right thing is absurd and prevents victims of crime from truly ever moving on,” Kenneally said in the statement.

After denying parole to Soper, the board ordered that any future parole request not be considered for five additional years.

Soper is in custody at the Sheridan Correctional Center, Illinois Department of Corrections records show.