Slain Colleyville housekeeper’s son challenges relatives over insurance

The son of a housekeeper slain last year in Colleyville has filed a motion in a federal lawsuit, trying to block his sister and brother-in-law from collecting on a $1 million life insurance policy they had on the slaying victim.

Al Fox III filed the motion to intervene Thursday, arguing that he is the “rightful recipient” of the insurance proceeds as his mother’s nearest relative and that his sister and her husband are “negligently responsible for the death of the insured,” thus prohibiting them by law from receiving the benefits.

The lawsuit — filed by Virginia Buckland against Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation — is one of four pending suits filed by the Bucklands this past Spring.

The Bucklands allege that three insurance companies have failed to pay out on millions of dollars owed on life insurance policies that one or both had taken out on Anita Fox at the time of her death.

The Ohio National lawsuit was transferred to the federal court. No motions to intervene have been filed in the three other pending lawsuits in state district courts as of Friday.

Anita Fox, 69, was found fatally stabbed Sept. 23 inside a Colleyville house where she worked as a housekeeper.

Officials have said that Bernard “Little Joe” Gorman and his father, Gerard “Joe” Gorman — both members of a nomadic ethnic group known as Irish Travellers — stalked and killed Fox in the hope of collecting on a $1 million insurance policy that she didn’t even know existed.

Little Joe Gorman has been charged with murder in the care and remains free on bond. His father died of apparent natural causes before police could arrest him in the case.

The lawsuits indicate that at the time of her death, Anita Fox had approximately $5 million in life insurance coverage.

All the policies listed either Mark or Virginia Buckland as beneficiaries, with exception to a $1 million policy that had been transferred to a third-party investor — Big Joe Gorman’s brother, Patrick Gorman.

The Bucklands’ attorney, Mark Humphreys of Grand Prairie, had said Anita Fox was aware of all the policies and had been the one to suggest them.

He said Mark Buckland had inquired in 2013 with the insurance agent who sold the policies about converting them from term to whole-life policies. When Buckland complained about the cost, the agent suggested allowing a third-party to invest in one of the converted policies, Humphreys said.

Humphreys said his clients never know who the third-party investigator was and had never met or had contact with the Gormans.

A police affidavit states Big Joe Gorman, Patrick Gorman, and two other Gorman relatives were paying $700 each to maintain the policy. Patrick Gorman was the listed beneficiary.

In their responses to the lawsuits filed by the Bucklands, the insurance companies argue that that the policies in question may have been obtained fraudulently and that it remains unclear whether Anita Fox knew they existed.

Ohio National, citing the ongoing investigation, even suggested in their response to the lawsuit that the Bucklands could have been involved in the slaying, thus forfeiting any payment.

Humphreys has said his clients have been cleared in Anita Fox’s slaying and that he does not expect either to be indicted as a result of an ongoing federal insurance fraud investigation.

Al Fox’s motion to intervene, filed by Dallas attorney Matthew McCarley, states that as executor to Anita Fox’s will, Al Fox has an interest in the controversy at hand.

Al Fox, and his attorney, declined to comment on the motion Friday.

Humphreys did not return a message seeking comment.

This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Slain Colleyville housekeeper’s son challenges relatives over insurance."