Sobek Family Files Suit in Model’s Death

The family of slain model Linda Sobek filed suit Tuesday against her accused killer, automobile photographer Charles E. Rathbun, as well as the magazine that hired Rathbun and the car maker that lent him a vehicle on the day she disappeared.

The wrongful death lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from Rathbun, AutoWeek magazine and Toyota, maker of a prototype Lexus sport utility vehicle.

Rathbun, 38, allegedly hired the former Raiders cheerleader Nov. 16 to do a photo shoot with the Lexus. A week later, he led authorities to her body, which had been buried in a shallow grave in Angeles National Forest.

Rathbun told police he accidentally struck Sobek with the vehicle, then panicked and buried her body. Autopsy results released Monday revealed that the 27-year-old had been sexually assaulted and died of asphyxiation, and was legally intoxicated at the time of her death.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, contends that “Rathbun, AutoWeek and Lexus . . . were acting in concert with one another, and the acts of each defendant were within the course and scope of the relationship shared by the defendants.”

Mike Michels, a spokesman for Lexus, said he had not seen a copy of the lawsuit. While expressing sympathy for the Sobek family, he said “the suggestion that Lexus may somehow be at fault is wholly unjustified and totally without merit.” The other defendants could not be reached for comment.