Despite the support of his victim’s mother, a convicted murderer’s appeal was denied by the governor’s office 17 years after he killed his girlfriend in Hopkinton.

Shayne Pitts, who shot and killed his then-girlfriend in 1991, had appealed the state in hopes of receiving a pardon, saying he did not knowingly kill Melody Derosia-Waters.

“I don’t know how I came to be, or what I was on,” Pitts said in his appeal letter. “It was not my intention to in any way hurt Melody that night, and once I came down many hours later, still highly intoxicated but finally able to comprehend what had happened, a horrible realization, that I had killed Melody.”

Pitts was sentenced to 40 years to life after being found guilty of shooting Derosia-Waters multiple times before burying her beneath the floor of his stepfather’s Hopkinton house.

Derosia-Waters’ mother, Lylah Rose Goldwater, began talking with Pitts a few years ago, and together they have been working on a book she is writing on the events that led to her daughter’s death.

Goldwater, who now lives in New London, has forgiven Pitts for the crime he committed against her daughter.

“I thought to myself that after all of these years, he has lost half of his youth on something I have come to believe was not intended,” said Goldwater. “Yes, I know he killed her and it was a terrible thing, I’m the first to think that. Two wrongs can’t make a right here. He’s lost all of his youth and he’s no better than the walking dead right now.”

Despite Goldwater’s support, Gov. John Lynch denied the pardon appeal on Oct. 8 and the state’s Executive Council supported the decision.

“The governor and council felt that the circumstances involved in this crime were heinous and did not rise to the level of deserving a pardon,” said Colin Manning, the governor’s press secretary.

After hearing of the denial, Goldwater said she was disappointed.

“The denial of the appeal really hurt. It didn’t hurt me, I know it hurt him. It bothered me because I saw it differently,” she said. “I just don’t think anyone has had the same contact as I have had to base their opinion. They’re looking at it from the legal cut-and-dry view, not the same view as I am. That’s OK. That’s their job.”

Goldwater also said after doing research, she thinks Pitts’ explanation that he does not remember the night he killed Derosia-Waters is plausible. Pitts is not eligible for parole until 2031, something that troubles Goldwater.

“He has spent most of his life there. He grew up in prison. That’s no place to grow up,” said Goldwater, who said helping Pitts has been emotional for her. “The truth is that there is no true closure when someone so close to you has been murdered. He did the crime. I know he’s also done some time, and that should have been looked at a little closer.”