Jun 16, 2006 11:31 pm US/Eastern
Doctor Found Responsible For Murder Of Girlfriend
CAMBRIDGE (CBS4) ―
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Dr. Linda Goudey was found murdered in her car in 1993.
CBS
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Investigators look over Dr. Goudey's car in the parking lot of Stoneham Hospital. (1993)
CBS
More than 12 years after the murder of Dr. Linda Goudey, a jury has found her former boyfriend responsible for her death. Dr. Timothy Stryker was never criminally charged. But Friday, a civil jury ordered him to pay $15 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Goudey was found strangled, stuffed in the trunk of her car in the parking lot of Stoneham Hospital back in 1993.
Her mother has long blamed Stryker for killing her daughter. She filed a wrongful death civil suit against Dr. Timothy Stryker back in 1996 but it only recently reached a courtroom.
"We just needed to get the facts out, wanted to get the facts out to see if anyone else believed me. Now I'm happy that they have," said Marguerite Rafuse, Goudey's mother.
Stryker has always maintained his innocence. During the trial he took the stand in his own defense, saying he was never violent towards Goudey during their four year relationship.
Linda Goudey's mother however, testified that her daughter was involved in a four-year abusive relationship with Stryker, a relationship that culminated in the murder.
It took a decade to bring the civil lawsuit to trial, because of a legal battle over the District Attorney's investigative files. A judge recently ordered the files be turned over, and the ruling was upheld on appeal.
The burden of proof in a wrongful death suit is lower than in a criminal trial. To be found liable for Dr. Goudey's death, a jury only had to find that it was "likely" Dr. Stryker was responsible. The proof did not need to be "beyond a reasonable doubt."
Stryker does not face any jail time, because it was not a criminal trial.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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