Daughter of slain couple sues admitted murderer for damages

The daughter of a murdered couple filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the man who admitted he killed them. Jessica Tyrell-Murray of Oklahoma City seeks damages for pain, suffering and other injuries, plus punitive damages, from Mark Porter of Ozark.

Porter is serving two life prison sentences after pleading guilty last August for killing Gary and Jan Tyrell in their home in southeast Springfield on April 30, 2014. Investigators believe Porter beat Jan, then shot and beat Gary, after they refused to loan him money to pay his gambling debts. All three had worked together in the Mansfield School District when Porter was the superintendent, and remained friends after Porter left for another job.

In the lawsuit filed Friday in Greene County Circuit Court, Tyrell-Murray accused Porter of battery and negligence against her parents and seeks sums "that will fairly and justly compensate her for injuries and damages" . . . in an amount that is fair and reasonable." Tyrell-Murray says she was "deprived of their services, support, comfort, companionship, instruction, guidance, counsel and training." She said she also suffered pain and suffering and wants additional money for that.

Tyrell-Murray also wants punitive damages "in an amount that is fair and reasonable" to "serve to punish defendant and deter defendant and others from like conduct." No specific figures are named in the lawsuit. Those amounts are left to a judge or a jury after hearing testimony in a wrongful death case.

The lawsuit will have to be served on Porter at the prison in Licking. A civil lawsuit often take months or years to reach a resolution.