Death row inmate sues victims' family

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A Florida death row inmate lost his lawsuit claiming the pickup truck for which he killed his victims is rightfully his.

William Deparvine, 58, a St. Petersburg steel construction worker, was out of prison for seven months when he killed Richard and Karla Van Dusen, of Tierra Verde, in 2003.

Deparvine sued Michele Kroeger, Richard's daughter, for the 1971 Chevy Cheyenne for which he had drawn up a phony bill of sale, the St. Petersburg Times reported Monday.

Deparvine had intended to rob and kill the Van Dusens while making it appear that he bought the truck and someone else shot them in the head, authorities said.

Three appellate judges last week affirmed a circuit judge's finding that the estate of Richard Van Dusen was the truck's lawful owner. They didn't enter an opinion, which all but precludes Deparvine's chance for further appeal, the Times said.

"I hope this is the last we hear from him, but I'm still not 100 percent convinced," Kroeger said.

Deparvine also had written to Kroeger in the spring, accusing her of stealing the truck and selling it without his permission. He gave her 30 days to send him $61,800 -- three times the truck's purported value -- to avoid a lawsuit.

"Nothing he might continue to do would have any legitimacy at all. From this point forward, it would be pure harassment," Kroeger's lawyer, Richard Pearse Jr., of Clearwater, said.