Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against Ex-Police Chief Dismissed

A sexual abuse lawsuit filed against a former Bellevue police chief by a woman who says she is his daughter has been dismissed by a judge.

King County Superior Court Judge Peter Jarvis ruled Wednesday in midtrial that Theresa Obermiller had failed to prove Donald Van Blaricom was responsible for her psychological problems.

Obermiller accused Van Blaricom of assaulting her when she was a teenager in the 1970s, years after he and her mother were divorced.

Van Blaricom denied having sexual contact with Obermiller. He also said he is not her father - that she was fathered by another man while he was overseas with the Marines.

Obermiller, 41, of Marysville, was seeking unspecified damages.

Faced with Jarvis’ ruling, Obermiller immediately entered into negotiations with Van Blaricom and agreed not to appeal if he would drop his countersuit charging her with defamation, malicious prosecution and outrageous conduct.

She left the courtroom in tears, saying, “He did it. He won. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Van Blaricom, 62, who served as Bellevue police chief from 1975 to 1985, said he was pleased the case was over but called the allegations devastating.

“Where do you go to get your reputation back?” he asked.

Jarvis reached his decision after Obermiller’s lawyer, Don Kronenberg, concluded his presentation of evidence in the civil trial. The defense then moved for dismissal of the lawsuit.

Jurors said they were surprised and disappointed they didn’t get the chance to decide the case.

“We all felt robbed in a sense,” said juror Kelvin Freeman, 30, of Federal Way. “You want justice to be served.”

Obermiller contends Van Blaricom had sex with her 75 to 100 times from 1972 to 1974 after the two were reunited for the first time since she was an infant.

Van Blaricom’s lawyer, Robert Israel, told jurors in opening statements that the two didn’t reunite until she was about 18, but she contends that she was sexually abused by Van Blaricom when she was 16 and 17.

Obermiller testified that Van Blaricom had psychologically damaged her, but she also acknowledged she had been traumatized earlier by two stepfathers who had sexually abused her.

She said she was hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in 1995 after appearing on the Jenny Jones television show, where she was reunited with her first boyfriend.

She said she almost left her husband to be with the former boyfriend, and that the trauma of that event led her to understand the damage Van Blaricom had inflicted.

Jarvis said a medical expert called by Obermiller had not been able to link her mental problems to Van Blaricom, and that he couldn’t allow the jury to speculate on that issue, especially in light of the “countless traumas” that could have been the cause.

“The court is mindful this is a serious case,” the judge said.