Maybe some lawyers can shed light on the laws -- and the underlying moral evaluations -- that could determine whether or not BTK's family will/should pay for his crimes.
WICHITA, Kan. - A week after BTK serial killer Dennis Rader was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms, his ex-wife is fighting to keep the money she stands to make from selling the couple's former home.Paula Rader was expected to ask a judge Friday to allow her to intervene in at least six civil suits filed by the victims' families against her ex-husband. She is seeking to have Rader's name removed from the title of the couple's home, which has liens against it pending the outcome of the lawsuits.
The families' attorneys are opposing her efforts, saying the house sold for $30,000 more than it was worth because of BTK's notoriety.
On one hand, I'm sympathetic to the ex-wife... but I also find it hard to believe she didn't know anything about Rader's many murders. Let's assume though, for the sake of argument, that she was taken entirely by surprise and had no idea her husband was a serial killer. Do you think the victims' families should be able to sue and take all the assets that belonged to her and Rader jointly? What's the law, and what's the right thing to do?
The right thing to do is to treat Paula Rader as, at least, an individual no more morally responsible for her husband's crimes than you or I, and at best, as collateral damage of her husband's mental disorder, who deserves sympathy and legal protection from further victimization.
Is that how the law is likely to treat her? What's the superlative of "Hell, NO!" -- ?
The right thing to do is to disgorge whatever profits can be proven to be attributable to Rader's crime, and split the rest 50-50. The legal thing? LFI no. Kansas is not a community property state, so it's not a given that anything will be divvied up 50-50. If Dennis Rader owned the entire house, his wife may take nothing.
I don't think that Kansas is a community property state.
Suing the ex-wife is simply bizarre. If a co-worker or neighbor suspected that the guy was nuts, should the families sue them too? We need a loser-pays rule in this country.
What many people don't realize is that the ex-wife isn't being sued directly. Her husband is and all of his assets, of which she lived off of, are up in the air as well. The families are suing for some sort of compensation for years of terror and sadness.
If you research the Rader family and the BTK, it's quite difficult to imagine Paula Rader didn't know something. Even their daughter had night terrors about a killer throughout her life up until her father was apprehended. Rader even left tokens of his murders laying around his house and backyard. Literally, all anyone had to do was to open Rader's storage shed and see his kill stash.
Anyways, my point is that the victims' families deserve some sort of compensation, and they are attempting to keep Rader himself from benefiting from the sale of his home. The rest is just collateral damage.
I can't see why the families need to be compensated. What for? Losing a loved one to murder is not a for-profit business. At least I hope it isn't.
BTK's wife divorced him. She was awarded the home by a judge.
I think the ones suing her are greedy and malicious. What nasty people.
The Rader house went for about $30,000 over the assessed value due to WHO had lived there. Does anyone think Paula is entitled to this windfall because of that?
I think fairness would be for Paula to get half of the actual value of the house and half of any other property. The rest should go to the victims families. They lost loved ones who can never be replaced with any amount of cash.
And, yes, I think that if she didn't know, she surely suspected he was BTK. I lived in Wichita at the time of the early killings and EVERYONE suspected EVERYONE else. Wichita was a town stalked not only by BTK but by paranoia.
this is so stupid. if she knew something then she should be prosecuted. if she did not then she is a victim also. she trusted this man and he violated that trust and destroyed her world. will the families feel better when they get their hands on a little cash (minus the lawers cut) from this woman? maybe they can get together and have a kegger. it's getting difficult to have pity for people anymore.