According to several reports ranging from HuffPo to Gothamist, 60-year-old Connecticut ad exec Richard Shenkman finally surrendered to police late last night after holding his ex-wife Nancy Tyler hostage, demanding that police send a priest to give her last rites, requesting a judge to remarry them and then finally burning the house down.
Shenkman apparently relayed his demands through a reporter from the New London Day, saying:
“If I wanted to do a murder/suicide, I could have done it three years ago. I’ve never hurt her in my life. I do want Nancy to walk out of here. I don’t trust the cops. They have screwed up so much in the arson (case) and all that stuff.”
After midnight, Shenkman surrendered to police after a tense 12-hour standoff that involved gunfire along with threats that the house contained 65 pounds of explosives. The Day reports that this bizarre event is a culmination of three years of disputes between Shenkman and Tyler which included forgery, reckless endangerment and more.
Before committing multiple crimes in a span of an evening, Shenkman worked at an advertising firm out of Bloomfield, CT that produced The Gayle King Show and did commercials for state government.
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