2 sex offenders who prompted push to reform elderly parole law die within weeks of each other

One of the victims said she was 'deeply sad that it took God's justice
to do what California justice never could do because of politics' 

Two Inland Empire convicted sex offenders whose parole cases became
flashpoints in efforts to reform California’s Elderly Parole Program
have died within weeks of each other, according to the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. 

Cody Woodson Klemp, 70, of Moreno Valley died July 9 and Charles William
Mix, 71, of Riverside died June 19. Their cases helped fuel proposed
legislation to exclude violent sex offenders from early parole
eligibility. 

Klemp was transferred to a medical facility from the California
Institution for Men in Chino and pronounced dead at 11:55 a.m. Thursday,
CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said. She said the San Bernardino County
Coroner’s Office will determine his cause of death. 

Klemp had served more than 32 years of a 170-year prison sentence for
the repeated rape of his 14-year-old niece in his home in 1990. His
parole case sparked a broader push to reform California’s Elderly Parole
Program, drawing criticism from victims’ advocates, prosecutors and
lawmakers who argued violent sex offenders should not be eligible for
early release. 

Although the California Board of Parole Hearings later rescinded Klemp’s
parole grant, his case helped galvanize legislative efforts to narrow
the program and exclude violent sex offenders from consideration. 

Klemp was already a convicted rapist at the time of his 1994 conviction,
having been found guilty of rape in 1976 and attempted rape in 1981. The
latter assault landed Klemp in Patton State Hospital for three years as
a mentally disordered sex offender. Klemp’s 1976 and 1981 crimes
occurred in Long Beach, according to the Riverside County District
Attorney’s Office. 

The judge in the case involving Klemp’s niece took his prior convictions
into account when sentencing him to 170 years in prison in 1994. At the
time, a probation officer who recommended the maximum sentence noted
that Klemp had threatened to kill the victim for reporting the sexual
assaults. 

Mix was pronounced dead at 7:15 p.m. June 19 at California Medical
Facility in Vacaville. The Solano County Coroner will determine his
official cause of death, Xjimenez said. 

Mix was convicted in 2004 for the June 2003 kidnapping, rape and
molestation of the 5-year-old daughter of a roommate. He was sentenced
to life in prison, with the possibility of parole, for lewd or
lascivious acts with a minor under 14 years of age, kidnap for rape/oral
copulation/sodomy, and aggravated sexual assault of aa child under 14. 

At Mix’s Sept. 25, 2024, elderly parole hearing, the Board of Parole
Hearings denied his request for early release, finding he remained a
public safety risk. He would have been eligible for another parole
hearing in 2031. 

Klemp’s victim, now 50 and living in Orange County, said she received an
email from the CDCR on Thursday, July 9. She clicked on the attachment
and first noticed the words, in all capital letters at the top of the
document, that read, “Notice of release — confidential.” 

Her first thought was that Klemp, who has haunted her memories for more
than 36 years, had again been granted parole and was up for release. She
thought, “Not again. Not now. Can’t it wait?” It was her daughter’s 28th
birthday on Thursday, and she didn’t want it to be tainted by upsetting
news. 

Then she got to the line that said, “The inmate identified below died on
7/9/2026.” Her feeling shifted from fear and anxiety to relief and
disbelief. She said she rejoiced. 

“It was the Lord’s justice, in the Lord’s time. I just kept shouting
“dead, he’s dead!” she said. “But I’m also deeply sad that it took God’s
justice to do what California justice never could do because of
politics.” 

In a telephone interview Friday, Claira Stansbury, the sister of Mix’s
victim — who is now 29 and lives out of state — said, “We all feel a
little lighter.” 

“It just felt like a weight lifted off our shoulders of this lingering
evil,” said Stansbury, who along with Klemp’s victim has been pivotal in
the legislative push for elderly parole reforms. 

She said she received a notice May 14 that Mix had been transferred to
the California Medical Facility and placed in hospice care, then
subsequently received notice of his death. 

Despite Mix’s death, Stansbury said she plans to continue fighting for
elderly parole reforms. 

“Now we can fight for others, and we’re no longer doing it out of fear
of (Mix) getting out, we’re doing it because others need help,”
Stansbury said. 

As to the coincidence of Klemp and Mix dying within a month of each
the fact that both of them are gone now, within weeks of each other, is
definitely a higher power, and it definitely wasn’t California
legislators.” 

https://www.ocregister.com/2026/07/10/2-sex-offenders-who-prompted-push-t
o-reform-elderly-parole-law-die-within-weeks-of-each-other/