Wife of accused killer files suit alleging sexual abuse of daughter

Wednesday, July 26th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PRYOR, Okla. (AP) -- Steven Ray Thacker, accused of three murders in a multistate killing spree, now faces a civil lawsuit from his wife alleging he sexually abused her 3-year-old daughter shortly before the rampage.

Trena Thacker, in a civil lawsuit filed last week in Mayes County, alleges that sometime in December, Steven Thacker molested and abused her daughter at their home, court documents show. Trena Thacker's suit seeks more than $20,000 worth of damages for her and her daughter's emotional pain as well as for medical expenses and transportation.

Steven Thacker, formerly of Chouteau, is accused in the rape and murder of Laci Dawn Hill of Bixby in December 1999. Thacker fled Oklahoma authorities to Missouri, where he allegedly killed 24-year-old Forrest Reed Boyd on Jan. 1. The next day, Thacker fled to Tennessee, where he is accused of murdering wrecker service operator Ray Patterson, 52.

Thacker was captured by Tennessee authorities at a motel and is currently awaiting trial for Patterson's murder at the River Bend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Thacker is also charged with first-degree murder in Boyd's death.

Prosecutors in Tennessee and Oklahoma agreed in January to have Thacker returned to Oklahoma to face charges for Hill's murder, but Patterson's family convinced a Tennessee prosecutor to press charges in that state first.

Trena Thacker's attorney, Martin G. Hart of Tulsa, said she came to him after her daughter said some things to family members that they believed to be out of the ordinary for a person that age. Hart arranged for the girl to be examined by a physician and the examining doctor verified findings consistent with sexual abuse.

Hart said he doesn't know whether Trena Thacker will ever see any money if her suit is successful. "I don't know how she expects to get the money. But I felt it needed to be filed right way and get on with it," Hart said of the civil suit.