Richard Shenkman Tyler, who was sentenced to 70 years in prison for kidnapping his ex-wife Nancy Tyler outside her Hartford law office, then holding her hostage for more than 12 hours in their former South Windsor home, habitually called their divorce “The War of the Tylers.” Shenkman Tyler, who has generally been referred to simply as Richard Shenkman during the criminal case, made crystal clear at his sentencing that The War of the Tylers isn’t over, at least as far as he’s concerned. When he got his turn to address the judge, an opportunity criminal defendants often use to apologize to their victims, Shenkman described in detail a plan he said he has put in motion to have a hired killer assassinate Nancy Tyler. Whether there was any substance to Shenkman’s claims, or whether they were nothing more than an elaborate fantasy, their intent was clear - to terrorize Tyler, her children, and her friends, three of whom he said were “alternate targets” if Tyler went into hiding. It was a speech that combined buffoonery with malice. Shenkman claimed that Tyler “declared war” by filing for divorce in 2006 and that “the rule of law did not apply in our divorce” or in his subsequent criminal cases. He also claimed to have sent a television reporter a detailed history of Tyler’s tactics in the last five years. But notably absent from Shenkman’s speech were any specific claims that Tyler had done anything wrong or unfair during the divorce. Shenkman plainly had the same goals of terror and revenge when he kidnapped Tyler at gunpoint on July 7, 2009, then held her hostage in their former home at 96 Tumblebrook Drive in South Windsor for much of the day and evening. He made repeated threats to kill her and fired a gun close to her on two occasions before she finally managed to escape.

WTIC-TV, Hartford, CT

WTIC