Adoptive Parents Sue Over Killer Son

LOS ANGELES - The adoptive parents of killer Jeremy Strohmeyer are suing Los Angeles County, alleging that social workers deliberately withheld crucial information about his birth mother's mental illness that would have stopped them from adopting him, their attorney said yesterday.

Jeremy Strohmeyer is in a Nevada prison without possibility of parole for the murder of 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in a Nevada casino in 1997.

Before Winnie and John Strohmeyer adopted their son in 1980, they indicated on a county form that they would not accept a child whose birth parents had mental illness, according to a copy of the form. But county employees knew Jeremy's biological mother had been diagnosed as a chronic schizophrenic and neglected to inform the Strohmeyers, according to the claim for damages.

The nation reeled at accounts of the little girl's strangling in a toilet stall by the then-18-year-old Jeremy Strohmeyer.

According to court papers, the Strohmeyers spent more than $500,000 defending their son. The case was resolved in a plea agreement presented in September 1998 just as the trial was scheduled to begin.

In suing the county, the Strohmeyers are seeking reimbursement for their son's defense as well as unspecified compensation for their pain and suffering.

Winnie Strohmeyer said the couple chose this action in hopes of ensuring that future adoptive parents are spared from being misled or uninformed about their child's biological background. The dearth of information about their son's background meant they could not take appropriate measures to help him at an earlier age, she said.

A spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services said the county had not yet been served with the lawsuit.