YOUNGSTOWN ‒ An Alliance man could spend the rest of his life in prison for repeatedly stabbing and killing 44-year-old Gena M. Wade of the Beloit area in October 2023.
Nicholas Cunningham, 34, won’t be eligible for parole until he serves at least 25 years.
Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Anthony Donofrio pushed back the parole eligibility recommended as part of a plea agreement between county Prosecutor Lynn A. Maro and defense attorney Michael O. Kivlighan. Cunningham pleaded guilty to aggravated murder on Aug. 7, eliminating the possibility of appeal.
The prosecution and defense attorneys had recommended a sentence of 20 years to life.
But Donofrio said he could not accept the 20-year parole eligibility because of the threats and pain Cunningham, an acquaintance of Wade’s family, had inflicted on them.
Donofrio said Cunningham killed Wade because she was trying to protect her niece from his “sick, demented fantasy” of pursuing a relationship with the girl, who was not yet a teen. The judge said Cunningham took Wade away from her family in the most horrifying and cruel way. He said Cunningham had threated to kill other family members.
“I don’t doubt that if you had the opportunity to kill them too, you would have,” Donofrio said.
Gena Wade’s family speaks about her death
Michelle Hively of Canton, sister of Gena Wade, said her family will never be whole again.
“Losing Gena was life-altering in every way. My mom lost a daughter, my daughter lost her aunt. My niece lost her mom and my brothers lost a sister. So many roles are left unfilled due to this loss. Every holiday, every birthday, every wedding,” Hively said.
Hively, of Canton, said she lost part of herself when her sister died. She said they were close.
“I miss her smile. I miss her contagious laugh. I miss how she was always in a good mood first thing in the morning,” Hively said.
Hively’s 15-year-old daughter, Suri A. Myers, said that since her aunt died, she’s had to learn to live with grief and the reality that someone she loved was taken from her. She described Wade as her babysitter, confidante and safe person.
She said she was 10 years old when Cunningham because obsessed with her.
“I was a child that should have been protected, allowed to grow without fear and given the opportunity to have a normal childhood. Instead, I was robbed of that,” Myers said. “Being 11 years old and seeing someone say I will get revenge on your family for taking away the one thing I love most is one of the most terrifying things a little girl could experience. The defendant’s inappropriate thoughts and behaviors towards me were not something that a child should ever have to experience.”
Gena Wade’s death
Myers discovered her aunt’s body on Oct. 26, 2023, in the kitchen of her home in the 18000 block of Courtney Road in Smith Township. She said she initially thought the body and blood were part of a Halloween display.
She asked that Cunningham never be given the chance to hurt another young child. She said she would worry what would happen if he were released. She asked the judge to give Cunningham the maximum sentence.
Maro read the coroner’s report about Wade’s death at Cunningham’s sentencing on Aug. 17. She said Wade suffered at least 17 stab wounds and 29 incised wounds.
“The nature of the wounds were such that they couldn’t discern exactly how many. That was the minimum,” Maro said.
“The defendant terrorized a whole family and threatened to harm all of them and carried out that threat on Gena Wade,” Maro said. “This was a death that all of them are going to live with forever, the images that they saw, the threats they sustained and the fear that has been imposed upon them. He took a life and destroyed an entire family.”
Cunningham did not speak in court at his sentencing.
Cunningham was also initially charged with aggravated burglary and violating a protection order. Those charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Wade’s family had a protection order against Cunningham that stemmed from a February 2023 incident. Hively said her family told police that Cunningham was making threats against the family. Hively said she and Wade knew Cunningham because they provided care to his mother. She said they sometimes helped Cunningham in ways such as giving him rides to a gas station. At the time Wade was killed, Hively said, the family thought the protection order was working.
Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance killer gets longer prison term for Beloit woman’s murder
Reporting by Nancy Molnar, Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nancy Molnar, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
