The ex-wife of a man charged with killing an Alta View nurse provided her husband with the guns used in the incident and was with him while he made a bomb in the family's home the day he stormed the hospital, according to a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Karen Worthington knew her husband, Richard Worthington, took several guns and a large bomb to Alta View Hospital on the evening of Sept. 20, yet she did nothing, according to a suit filed by the family of the slain nurse against the couple.The husband and children of slain nurse Karla Roth filed the wrongful death suit in 3rd District Court Wednesday. The suit accuses Karen Worthington of negligence that led to Roth's death.
Karen Worthington could not be reached Wednesday for comment. However, her attorney, Paul Hess, said the allegations are unfounded."I haven't seen a copy of the suit yet, but I know that (Karen Worthington) will deny those allegations adamantly," Hess said. "Those allegations just aren't true based on my understanding of what happened."
The suit says that after Karen Worthington gave her husband several guns, she and her children remained at home with him for several hours while he made a bomb from 42 sticks of dynamite.
"I'm really bothered by this saintly image of Karen Worthington that has been projected," said Colin King, attorney for the Roth family.
Wednesday's suit painted a very different picture of Karen Worthington. The suit contends Karen Worthington knew her husband planned to harm Dr. Glade Curtis, the physician who performed a tubal ligation on Karen Worthington.
She removed Richard Worthington's guns from the family home early in September and hid them because she was afraid he would use them to harm Curtis, the suit said.
Worthington discovered the missing guns on Sept. 20 and demanded that Karen Worthington give them back to him. "Karen Worthington personally retrieved the weapons she had previously hidden from her husband and presented them to defendant Richard Worthington at approximately 5:30 p.m.," the suit said.
The guns Karen Worthington gave her husband included "the .357 Magnum handgun that defendant Richard Worthington later that evening used to shoot and kill Karla Roth."
Karen Worthington didn't call police after Richard Worthington left home that night "despite her knowledge that he had departed the Worthington home with a large bomb and firearms and was en route to Alta View Hospital," the suit said.
Richard Worthington is charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense, in Roth's death. He is accused of storming the Women's Health Center at Alta View Hopital armed with a shotgun, handgun and dynamite bomb. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday in 3rd Circuit Court.
He allegedly shot Roth after taking her and several others hostage. After the shooting, he barricaded himself and the hostages - three of them infants - in a suite of offices. He surrendered to police 18 hours later.
Minutes after the shooting, Karen Worthington admitted in a phone conversation with one of the hostages that she knew her husband left home for Alta View Hospital with guns and a bomb, the suit said. "Karen Worthington further acknowledged her failure to contact authorities or warn the hospital of her husband's intent and actions."
The Roth family is suing the Worthingtons for unspecified damages. The family also seeks to intervene in Karen Worthington's recent divorce from Richard Worthington.
"Even though the divorce may be final, the court still has jurisdiction," King said.
The Roth family is also seeking any proceeds Karen Worthington may get from a movie contract she is reportedly considering. King believes Karen Worthington divorced Richard Worthington to protect any assets she may get from the contract.
But the Roth family, who has been deprived of a wife and mother because of Richard Worthington's actions and Karen Worthington's failure to act, deserves to be compensated for its loss, King said.