Accused Killer Sues Ann Landers

Michael Knowles, of Southwest Virginia, wrote a letter to Ann Landers saying he had killed his estranged wife. She published his letter in her newspaper column.

The police, too, think Knowles killed his wife and have charged him with first-degree murder.

But Knowles has pleaded not guilty. And last week, he went a step further: He filed a $100 million lawsuit against Landers, saying that she slandered him by running his letter.

Knowles, who goes on trial next month, accuses Landers in the lawsuit of defaming his character.

Officials with Creators Syndicate, which distributes Landers’ column, said Knowles’ accusations are groundless.

Knowles wrote to Landers in February, nearly a year after he had been arrested in his wife’s March 1996 slaying.

“Today is my wife’s 44th birthday, but she is not around to celebrate it. I took her life because of an affair that started on the Internet,” Knowles wrote from the Montgomery County jail.

Landers, in her reply, criticized Knowles for blaming the Internet.

“Blaming the Internet is a cop-out. You killed your wife because she left you,” she wrote.