Man Gets 70 Year Sentence For Kidnapping Ex-Wife, Faces More Charges
Former ad executive Richard Shenkman was sentenced to 70 years in jail on Wednesday for kidnapping his ex-wife at gunpoint and holding her hostage for several hours before burning their Connecticut home to the ground.
On July 7, 2009, Shenkman kidnapped ex-wife, Nancy Tyler, from Hartford, Conn., and took her to their old South Windsor home. Shenkman, 62, then handcuffed Tyler to himself and threatened to kill her over and over again.
While he held his ex-wife hostage, Shenkman would at times ask for a priest to deliver Tyler her last rites and for a marriage license so the priest could marry them for a second time, according to the Hartford Courant.
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After a 12-hour standoff, Tyler escaped the house while a police robot distracted Shenkman, the Courant reported. Shenkman then set the house on fire.
Shenkman exited the burning house close to midnight and was apprehended by surrounding SWAT officers.
The former ad executive, whose Primedia firm produced Gayle King's talk show in 1997, was convicted of kidnapping, assault, arson, and threatening, among other charges.
Shenkman's attorney asked Hartford Superior Court Judge Julia Dewey to postpone Shenkman’s sentencing so that he could have psychiatric evaluations, but Dewey denied the request, the Courant reported.
Shenkman also laughed and gave a rambling statement to the court when the judge ordered he pay $100,000 to his ex-wife.
"I believe … it's further evidence that Richard is definitely off the reservation," Shenkman’s attorney, Hugh Keefe, told the judge after Shenkman's statement, according to the Hartford Courant.
Shenkman will still face trial on charges that he set Tyler's East Lyme home on fire in 2007.
