Lawyer Who Survived Hostage Ordeal Talks About Aftermath
Praised for her calm attitude and the resourcefulness that helped her escape in July from a Connecticut home in which, authorities say, she was held hostage by her ex-husband in a 13-hour ordeal, attorney Nancy Tyler says she is still jumpy in the aftermath of the situation.
But the Connecticut medical malpractice defense practitioner is also a hero to others who relate to her experience and is apparently pondering a more active role in working to prevent violence against women once she has testified in the pending case against her ex, according to the Connecticut Law Tribune.
A former advertising executive, Richard Shenkman is now being held without bond after allegedly setting fire not only to the South Windsor home that was the site of her July ordeal but also, a year earlier, to an East Lyme beach house that he had been ordered by a court to transfer to Tyler.
Tyler praises the police for resolving the South Windsor situation without any serious injury and says, in retrospect, that it might have been better for her to get more help earlier and take a less active role in her divorce and related legal matters. (She had been handling some of the legal work to save attorney fees.)
“I was not prepared to respond to what I had to respond to,” she tells the legal publication, adding “I let it go too long. Had I known better, I would have asked for help sooner.”
The article doesn’t include any comment from Shenkman or his legal counsel. In a July 21 article, the Norwich Bulletin reports that attorney Hugh Keefe argued in a New London Superior Court hearing the same day that his 60-year-old client had a constitutional right to bond and hadn’t been convicted of any wrongdoing.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Hartford Lawyer, Held Hostage for a Day, Escapes Before Home Is Set on Fire”
ABAJournal.com: “How a Kidnapped Conn. Lawyer Managed to Escape”
