A sad story gets worse

From the Honolulu Advertiser we read the continuation of a very sad event:

Masumi Watanabe's parents sue her Hawaii murderer, company

The parents of murder victim Masumi Watanabe yesterday sued her convicted killer, Kirk Lankford, and his former employer, Hauoli Termite and Pest Control.

The suit was filed almost two years after Watanabe, 21, disappeared while walking along Pupukea Road and almost one year after Lankford, 24, was convicted of murdering her.

At his trial, Lankford said he accidentally struck Watanabe with his Hauoli truck, injuring her slightly, and was trying to drive her the home where she was staying when she jumped out of the vehicle, struck her head on a rock and died.

He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The Hawai'i Paroling Authority is considering what his minimum term behind bars should be before he can be considered for parole.

The lawsuit was filed by Hideichi and Fumiko Watanabe, the woman's parents, who had sent her from Japan to stay with friends in Hawai'i to help her become more self-confident and outgoing.
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At trial, Lankford denied attempting to kill Watanabe, but said he was afraid he would lose his job if he reported the incident. So he said he stored Watanabe's body in the back of his work truck for the entire day of April 12, 2007, then transferred her remains that evening to his personal pickup truck.

He claimed he tried to bury her on the North Shore of O'ahu but was disturbed while digging the grave. He said he then wrapped the corpse in a plastic garbage bag and carried it several hundred yards offshore of Kualoa Ranch by walking on the reef. Lankford testified he released the body and walked back to his truck, then went home to his wife and child.

Watanabe's body was never found.

The lawsuit claimed Hauoli officials were negligent in their supervision of Lankford, citing trial testimony that he had previously been involved in two earlier accidents that damaged his truck.

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I passed this story along to you good folks months ago, and cited it as ‘disturbing’ for a number of reasons. The deceased was admittedly paranoid, so the accuser’s story of her ‘jumping out of his truck’ sounds reasonable.

The entire episode is tragic – both for the family of the deceased and the family of the accused. But I feel the deceased’s parents filing a law suite against the employer is over-the-top.

I ask you - just how much responsibility must an employer accept for their employees?
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