Wrongful Death Suit Against Deceased Marion County Woman Reaches Settlement

A wrongful death suit filed against a Marion County woman, now deceased, recently settled “without a finding of fault.” The suit was filed against Barbara Lucille Stricklin and named her a person of interest in the shooting death of her husband, John L. Stricklin. The suit itself was filed by Mr. Stricklin’s adult children last November.

Prior to the wrongful death suit being filed, Barbara was “charged with aggravated murder in the shooting of her 68-year-old husband.” Back in April 2017, John was found “on his neighbor’s front porch, dead of a gunshot wound in the back.” However, the charge against Barbara was dismissed in October 2017 “after new ballistics evidence suggested there was more than one person involved in Stricklin’s death, which contradicted the prosecution’s then-theory of the case.” As a result, Barbara was set free. Months later, she “died of an overdose on citalopram, an anti-depressant, and methamphetamine in her bedroom,” according to autopsy reports.

While the cause of death on her death certificate was listed as unknown, she left behind a handwritten note “saying to whom she wanted to leave all her belongings.”

So what prompted Johns children to file the wrongful death suit? Well, according to the suit, the siblings claim that Barbara “had a hand in their father’s shooting death.” At the time, the “sought tens of thousands of dollars in damages and asked the court to bar her from inheriting any of their fathers’ possessions, including jointly owned ones.”

During the litigation process, Barbara maintained her innocence and continued to do so until her death back in March.

The case settled last month without a finding of fault against Barbara, though the siblings were granted damages. Jim Murray, the attorney for the siblings, said that while “no exact dollar figure was arrived at, it was agreed to that the siblings would receive roughly half of the assets in their parents’ estates, not counting a list of several items agreed upon by the parties.”

While commenting on why the case settled, Murray said:

“Because of the number of attorneys involved in the case, because an executor is appointed in both estates and the amount of expenses in the case and the fact that people generally want closure — when you combined those issues, it generally made sense for all the parties to resolve the matter.”

Not all Barbara’s children believed she killed her husband, though. In fact, Michelle Lumberson, who is Barbara’s daughter and John’s stepdaughter, said she “think her mother was capable of murder.” In the aftermath of her stepfather’s death, she also added that she “didn’t trust the investigation and questioned whether every lead was followed.”

Sources:

Wrongful death lawsuit in unsolved homicide reaches settlement

Person of interest in Marion unsolved homicide has died