Father, accused of killing wife as kids watched, to retain his parental rights

State case workers are recommending that four children whose mother was crushed under a van be placed with the accused killer’s sister, sources said.

Richard A. Atkinson, 32, remains in the Spokane County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder. He’s accused of repeatedly running over his estranged wife, 29-year-old Andrea Atkinson, with a van April 12 as witnesses and his four children watched.

Andrea Atkinson’s last act was to push her three youngest children out of the way as she was crushed by the van. As a result, Deputy Spokane Prosecutor Jack Driscoll on Thursday added three felony counts of second-degree assault and one count of reckless endangerment against Richard Atkinson.

Despite the charges, Atkinson retains parental rights and will have a say in who gets custody of the same children he’s accused of assaulting, said Monte Huntsman, who works as a liaison between juvenile court and the Department of Social and Health Services.

The victim’s brother, Dan Novick, said he and his wife tried to get custody of the four Atkinson children, but their efforts hit a stone wall. Child Protective Services case workers are recommending that the children be placed with Richard Atkinson’s sister, Novick said.

“It’s already been settled. They are going to the aunt, which makes me extremely unhappy,” said Novick, the younger brother of Andrea Atkinson. “It’s the most frustrating experience I ever went through. It’s salt in our wounds.”

But the final determination of custody won’t be made for some time, Huntsman said. A hearing is scheduled next week for a juvenile judge to determine whether the children will become wards of the state.

It’s likely, Huntsman said, that CPS case workers will tell that judge — who has not yet been assigned — of the recommendation to place them with Atkinson’s sister. She is Rachel Enriquez, a single mother of two who lives in California, Novick said.

Novick works as a high school teacher and football coach in Port Angeles. His wife, RandaLyn, works as the executive assistant to the local school superintendent. With no children of their own, Dan and RandaLyn agreed to pursue custody of the children, ages 9, 6, 5 and 3.

“If people can honestly argue that’s better for the kids, then I can’t comprehend it,” Novick said, referring to placement with Enriquez. “The state had an opportunity to put them in a place where they would be cared and provided for and it blew it.”

Richard Atkinson’s attorney was out of town this week. Efforts to reach Enriquez were unsuccessful Wednesday and Thursday. Atkinson turned down a request for an interview in the jail regarding custody.

Tracey Osburn works as a CPS case worker with the Atkinson children. Gayle Kaiser is a guardian ad litem, which is a volunteer assigned by a juvenile judge to speak for the children.

Kaiser said she could not talk about any aspect of the case. Osburn’s office directed questions to a CPS official who did not return a phone call.

Since the killing April 12, the four children have lived with Andrea Atkinson’s friend, Sandy Abel. She’s caring for Richard and Andrea’s three biological children, plus a 9-year-old girl who is Richard Atkinson’s daughter from a previous relationship, but considered Andrea her mother, Abel said.

But the temporary placement, that’s due to end in June, is in doubt because Abel is expecting to get evicted this week over a rent dispute.

Abel has expressed interest in custody of the children, but Huntsman said the children almost always go to blood relatives when possible.

The hearing next week is just one of many steps in the process to find placement for the children, he said.

“Within the first six months, there is not going to be any order saying who gets custody,” Huntsman said. “It will be up to the state to work out plans for permanent placement.”

Even though Richard Atkinson retains parental rights, he will not attend the hearing, Huntsman said. “If he agrees to the orders making the children temporary wards of the state, the attorney will sign off for him.”

The process of determining custody usually takes about a year, he said. It’s not clear when the children would be placed with Enriquez.

“The only reason it would take longer is if the father contests the state decision,” Huntsman said. “That would trigger some contested hearings. That delays the process.”

That’s exactly the reason, Novick said, that he and his wife gave reluctant support to the plan to place the children with Enriquez.

“We agreed that this would happen, but we are not happy by any means,” Novick said. “It was either that or fight this in court and leave the kids in limbo.”

Novick said Osburn did not return phone calls and refused to meet with him and his wife when they came to Spokane for Andrea’s memorial on April 22.

The only time CPS officials met with the Novicks was on April 27. Gary Woods, who works with federally-funded Safe Start, organized a family group meeting in Spokane that included members of Richard Atkinson’s family, Dan and RandaLyn Novick, Osburn, Kaiser, Abel and others.

“The best outcomes for kids are when they have the opportunity to be raised by the family,” Woods said. “They made a decision to recommend the kids . . . would be placed with Rachel” Enriquez.

Novick said he and his wife walked into the April meeting with determination that if they took the four children, that they would not allow the children to visit Richard Atkinson until they turned 18. And, the Novicks decided that they would not let the state tell them how to raise the kids.

“When we got in there, we were kind of blown away,” Novick said of the family group meeting. “We didn’t think they would put them with Ricky’s side of the family after he did what he did. It was like we weren’t speaking the same language.”

Case workers argued that since the father is Hispanic, his sister could do a better job keeping their culture intact. “We never gave any indication that we would raise them to forget their Hispanic culture,” Novick said.

They also argued that since Novick works as a coach and teacher that he wouldn’t have enough time to spend with the children. “I actually told them that I’m not going to apologize for going to college and having a job. That was being held against us,” he said. “They looked in our eyes and said it would be better for the kids to live with a single mother with two kids.”

As part of the deal, RandaLyn had agreed to give up her job to care for the children, Novick said.

“They actually argued that putting them in day care would be better for the kids because they would be around other kids,” Novick said.

Novick said Kaiser, the guardian ad litem, insisted that the children have visitation with Richard Atkinson.

“The act he committed was incomprehensible,” Novick said of Atkinson. “For a guy to continue to see children he tried to kill, I don’t see the benefit in that.”

Jim Novick, who is Dan and Andrea’s father, said he, too, was frustrated by the process. He had hoped his son could get the children to honor his daughter’s legacy.

“We are hoping it works out best for the kids, whatever that is,” Jim Novick said. “We hope they end up in the best environment.”