THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604130327
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Thomas Smolka says he misses his children, that he wants to reconcile with them and wants what's best thing for them. Though Smolka doesn't say he will seek custody, he gave strong indications during an interview Friday that he wants his children back.
His slain wife's parents - who have custody - say if he wants what's best for them, he will leave them alone and in their care in Virginia Beach.
Willis Stephenson, who says he and his wife Betty have raised their three grandchildren as their own children, plans to respect the children's wishes not to have anything to do with their father. He plans to fight any move by Smolka to regain custody.
``It would ruin these children,'' Stephenson said. ``They don't want to go back. They don't want to see him. They're happy here.''
Stephenson described a typical day of picking up the children from soccer practice and taking them to church activities or to the horse barn. Jeffrey is 15, Katherine 13 and Molly 7.
Molly has no memory of her mother, who was killed when Molly was 2, or of her father, who was imprisoned for the slaying until a Florida appeals court overturned his conviction last year.
Stephenson said Jeffrey had his last conversation with his father right before Christmas, when Smolka was released from prison.
``He told his daddy, `I don't want to see you or ever have anything to do with you. As of July 10, 1991, (the day Betty Anne Smolka was killed), you were no longer my father,' '' Stephenson said. ``That took a lot of stamina for a 15-year-old boy to tell him that . . . I was in shock when he said it. I didn't know he'd gotten such a terrible hatred for his daddy, but he has.''
Stephenson said reconciliation with the children is not what Smolka wants. What he wants, Stephenson said, is the more than $300,000 that sits in a bank account earmarked for the children, the funds from their mother's life insurance.
``Smolka wants the money that is rightfully the children's,'' Stephenson said. ``That's all he cares about. We want the money to go to the children because it's rightfully theirs.''
Stephenson said Smolka's family paid the legal fees for his criminal trial, which Stephenson said were about $250,000. He needs the money to pay them back, Stephenson said.
``He took her away from the children who adored her, her friends, her parents and her sister,'' Stephenson said. ``He's just a bad, bad man. These children will suffer the rest of their lives for what this man has done.''
KEYWORDS: MURDER CUSTODY INTERVIEW by CNB