WICHITA, Kansas – He believed in what he was doing so deeply he eventually died for it. Now the FBI is revealing abortion provider Dr. George Tiller lived for years as a target.
The FBI has released hundreds of documents revealing the violent threats against Tiller. The files don’t relate to his death, but they do show he was targeted for more than a decade.
As a late-term abortion provide, Dr. Tiller faced numerous threats against his life. Tiller’s murderer, Scott Roeder, carried out his threat in May 2009 when he walked into Tiller’s church and shot him in the head. There is now new information, however, showing that there was a long history of threats against Tiller well before his death.
“There were just a lot of them and apparently they knew who was making them,” said Roxana Hegemen with the Associated Press.
The FBI released nearly 300 pages of documents to the Associated Press detailing some of the threats against him. The cases are heavily redacted and are at least 10 years old. None of the cases are associated with Tiller’s death. In fact, the cases never went beyond suspect interviews.
"All the right people were involved and I think ultimately they decided at least with the ones that they gave me that there was nothing there,” said Hegemen.
One case involved a 1999 letter from a woman writing her ex-husband, claiming that a militant group paid her $25,000 to kill Tiller. The FBI interviewed the woman. She said she made the story up.
Another case involved a woman with a history of threats telling a nurse at a Wichita hospital that she planned to “finish the job” on Dr. Tiller. Attorneys told her defense attorney they would prosecute if she made another threat.
All in all, there were about six cases released – none of which were the most serious threats in the FBI file.
"It shows that he lived under a tremendous amount of strain, constant threats,” said Hegemen. “His attorneys were concerned that the threats were escalating."
Dr. Tiller’s attorneys declined to comment on the documents. In all of the cases, prosecutors either declined to prosecute or weren’t able to identify any suspects.
