Man convicted in the murder of Dystiny Myers granted parole

April 28, 2023

By KAREN VELIE

A Nipomo man sentenced to 15 years to life for his involvement in the 2010 murder of 15-year-old runaway Dystiny Myers was recently granted parole, the second time the parole board has attempted to allow Jason Greenwell to leave prison.

Greenwell was the only defendant to testify in Myers’ murder trial. In exchange for his testimony, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office agreed to make him eligible for parole after 15 years.

In Nov. 2021, the parole board ruled Greenwell was suitable for parole. Following the hearing, the parole board’s legal office reviewed the decision and approved of it.

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow, however, wrote a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom urging him to reverse the parole board decision. Newsom agreed, stating in his decision that Greenwell would pose an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison at that time.

“Mr. Greenwell and his crime partners brutally killed a vulnerable teenage girl,” Newsom wrote in his decision to deny the Myers killer parole. “More than a decade after the crime, however, Mr. Greenwell describes his role in the murder as if he stumbled upon the crime and aimlessly joined in. He admitted to the parole board in 2021 that he left the scene of the crime briefly but chose to return.”

In Sept. 2010, firefighters found Myers’ body burned and buried in a shallow grave near Santa Margarita with her legs bound behind her, sweatpants tied around her throat and a glove stuffed in her mouth.

During the Myers murder trial, Greenwell testified that Rhonda Wisto, who was housing the teenage girl at the time, ordered the murder and that Ty Hill helped plan the killing.

Wisto, as well as her son Frank York, stood trial and received first-degree murder convictions with torture and kidnapping enhancements. Hill accepted a plea deal of life in prison without parole in order to avoid the death penalty.

Cody Miller, the fifth defendant, also agreed to a plea deal resulting in life in prison without the possibility of parole. Miller, however, requested that he not receive eligibility for parole because he said he did not belong in society. In 2016, Miller committed suicide.

As part of his testimony, Greenwell passed on Myers’ final words as she was beaten to death.

“She said, tell her mom that she loved her,” Greenwell said.