another domestic violence case

but thankfully she escaped her ex husband captor. (as a note, i am NOT a woman who believes a woman should get EVERYTHING in a divorce. a woman should get her fair share and NOTHING more - but NOTHING LESS as well. that includes child custody. if she doesn't deserve it she shouldn't get it. no one should be raked over the coals if they don't deserve it. i don't know what went on in the divorce proceedings for this couple. NOTHING justifies kidnapping and/or taking a hostage).


Hostage Drama Ends In South Windsor

By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY, MARK SPENCER and DAVID OWENS

staff writers Jesse Leavenworth and Hilda Muñoz contributed to this story.

SOUTH WINDSOR - A tense standoff ended early today when Richard Shenkman emerged from his burning house on Tumblebrook Drive, hours after his wife escaped from the home where she had been held hostage since Tuesday morning. Nancy Tyler, who was taken hostage by her ex-husband about 9 a.m. Tuesday in Hartford, escaped from the house at 8:27 p.m. Nearly an hour later, around 9:30 p.m., gunfire and flames erupted at 96 Tumblebrook Drive. Police said all the gunfire came from Shenkman, and that he set fire to the house. As the house burned police called to Shenkman to leave. By 9:55 p.m., the house was engulfed in flames, and gunshots rang out again. "He keeps yelling, 'Shoot me, shoot me,' as if he wanted someone to kill him," South Windsor police Cmdr. Matthew Reed said. Police put Shenkman into an ambulance after he left the house. Police believe Shenkman, 60, took Tyler hostage around 9 a.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of her workplace at CityPlace in downtown Hartford. He allegedly brought her to the house at 96 Tumblebrook Drive, and by 11 a.m., police had cordoned off the house and evacuated the neighborhood as Shenkman threatened to harm his hostage and blow up the house.......

pic: South Windsor firefighters watch from Clearview Drive as the house of Richard Shenkman burns Tuesday evening around 10 p.m. Earlier in the day, Shenkman abducted his estranged wife, Hartford attorney Nancy Tyler, and held her hostage for several hours before she could free herself. Shortly after the police ordered Shenkman out of his home, it became engulfed in flames. (BETTINA HANSEN / HARTFORD COURANT / July 7, 2009)