Serial Killer Ordered to Pay $5 Billion to Mother of 1 Victim

A jury has awarded $5 billion to a woman whose son was sexually tortured and murdered by a serial killer, a verdict that will ensure that the killer never profits from his crimes, the woman’s lawyer says.

The verdict Wednesday is believed to be the largest ever in a wrongful-death case, said Martin Meyer, an attorney for Betty Ann Haste. She sued Robert Berdella in 1989 after he admitted killing her son, Todd Stoops, and five others between 1984 and 1987.

Berdella, 42, is serving a life sentence. He told authorities that Stoops died in 1986 after being tied to Berdella’s bed for nearly two weeks, injected with powerful sedatives, given electric shocks and repeatedly sexually assaulted.

Meyer said there is no hope of Haste collecting anything close to $5 billion from Berdella, but the verdict will enable her to go after $55,000 he has in a trust fund and to lay claim to any money he might make. Berdella has talked about writing a book or selling the movie rights to his story, Meyer said.