Tennessee Court Lets Killer Keep Insurance Money

A Tennessee appeals court has reluctantly ruled that a Johnson City man convicted of killing his wife in a bathtub for the insurance money can keep $200,000 in life insurance proceeds.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that the Tennessee Court of Appeals agreed with a trial court’s decision to let Dale Keith Larkin keep the $500,000 in life insurance proceeds he collected in a settlement with Tia Gentry, the daughter of his wife, Teresa Larkin, who was found dead in a tub in 2003.

“This court is not happy with the results of our decision,” wrote Appellate Judge D. Michael Swiney.

The opinion said Gentry believed from the start that her stepfather was responsible for her mother’s death. Charges were filed against Dale Larkin and in 2011 he was convicted in her death and is serving a life sentence.

Gentry filed a lawsuit alleging her stepfather tricked her into a settlement in the life insurance case by claiming he was innocent. She also cited a Tennessee law, also known as the “slayer’s statute,” that bars people convicted of murder from inheriting property from the victim.

In the appellate court decision, the court noted that Gentry did not believe Larkin’s claims of innocence, but had agreed to a deal with him on the insurance anyway. That meant she was stuck with the deal.

“We are aware that our decision may appear inequitable given the results,” Swiney wrote. “We, however, are not free to decide cases based upon our personal preferences but instead must decide them based upon the law.”