A murderer serving a life sentence who was paroled once until he was accused of child rape in Henniker in 1990 is seeking his freedom a second time.

Clifford Avery Jr., 63, will go before the parole board Thursday.

Avery is eligible for parole because in 1975, when he was convicted of first-degree murder, a life in prison sentence was 18 years.

But his parole is not guaranteed. Avery will have to convince the parole board he has a viable parole plan. He'll also have to convince the board he's not dangerous. The siblings of the 18-year-old Concord woman he murdered in 1973 believe he is. So does Concord attorney Tom Rath, who prosecuted Avery for the murder. Both oppose Avery's parole request.

Ditto for former Henniker police chief Tim Russell, who investigated the rape case there in 1990.

"If he gets out, somebody will get killed or sexually assaulted," Russell said last week. "I don't care if he's in a wheelchair or if he's crawling. This is a dangerous man."

Avery, who lived in Concord and Henniker before going to prison, also has a past that is larger and more troubling than his single murder conviction.

Before he killed Lee Ann Greeley in 1973, he is believed to have killed her fiance, 21-year-old Gary Russell of Pembroke.

The state charged Avery with both deaths but dropped the Russell case after securing the life sentence for Greeley's murder.

Avery has always maintained his innocence and testified at his trial that Russell killed Greeley because he was jealous of another man. He said Russell was then killed over a drug debt.

Jurors, however, accepted the state's version: Avery, who knew both murder victims, told Russell he had hidden $50,000 that he got from a bank robbery. He offered to pay Russell $1,000 to help him retrieve it, and the two were seen leaving together with a shotgun, purportedly to go hunting, according to news accounts.

Then Greeley went missing.

Russell's body was found five months later in Deering. Greeley's body was discovered several days after that, in the Merrimack River in Hooksett.

According to court records, Avery had taken Greeley out alone, telling her he was going to help her find Russell.

In 1977, two years into his sentence for Greeley's murder, Avery and another murderer jumped a wall at the Concord prison and remained on the run for 12 days, according to news accounts at the time.

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