Stoneham —Dr. Timothy Stryker, the Winchester doctor who prosecutors believe played a role 17 years ago in the death of his then-girlfriend, Dr. Linda Goudey of Stoneham, died of pancreatic cancer Wednesday, Jan. 12, at the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Boston, according to Diane Wiffin, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.Stryker was serving a four-year state prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2009 to orchestrating and directing a perjury conspiracy in connection with the murder of Goudey, an obstetrician who was 42 years old when she was found strangled to death in her car in the parking garage of a Stoneham hospital in October 1993.Stryker, of Winchester, was investigated but never criminally charged with her death. But in 2006 a jury returned a civil verdict finding Stryker responsible for the wrongful death of Goudey. Stryker was ordered to pay Goudey’s family more than $7 million, which has increased to $15 million with interest.Attorney Michael Altman, who represented Goudey’s family in the civil case, said that in the last year or two, they were able to get whatever part of that $15 million they could from Stryker, which wasn’t anywhere near that figure. Stryker, who had a wife and three children, was forced to sell his home as part of the settlement. His wife divorced him. Now, besides a small amount left in his IRA, Stryker’s estate will provide no more monetary retribution for Goudey’s family, according to Altman.“He died with no assets and in prison,” said Altman. “But the family wasn’t in this for the money. They were in it to make up for the fact that Timothy was never prosecuted. They got an overwhelming verdict [in civil court] that Timothy did it.”“He ended up in jail and his life ended in jail, which was an appropriate place for his life to end. The verdict of getting whatever property they could and getting him in jail are what was the just result,” he added. “The only unfortunate thing is that he wasn’t prosecuted before he died. I know District Attorney Leone and his office felt cheated that there was no opportunity to complete the prosecution, and we certainly feel cheated their was no opportunity to take him before the criminal jury.”Goudey’s loved ones, the Rafuse family, said Stryker’s death is “bittersweet irony.”“We have always believed he was responsible for her death and his untimely end is only a small vindication for a life lost, but now we are forever deprived of ever hearing his own admission and giving us full closure,” the family said recently in a written statement.“Linda made extraordinary contributions to the world of mothers and babies, so the end of this chapter means we can now completely focus on recognizing her life through our family foundation effort to give back to her world in her memory.”HistoryStryker and Goudey had a four-year relationship until Oct. 4, 1993, when Goudey’s body was found in her locked Saab at New England Memorial Hospital.In filing a motion for a new trial, Stryker included an affidavit from a witness who claimed to have seen Goudey in her car in the parking lot with another man.District Attorney Gerry Leone investigated and determined that Stryker and one of his patients, Richard Chambers, 44, told the witness to fabricate the story in exchange for a promised payoff of thousands of dollars, officials said.“Stryker orchestrated the most serious of frauds upon the court and attempted to frustrate our criminal investigation into the murder of Dr. Goudey,” Leone said at the time.Stryker, who always maintained his innocence, remained a suspect in Goudey’s death.“He’s been adamant with me: ‘I did not commit this murder,’” said Kevin Mahoney, Stryker’s attorney, in 2009.But District Attorney Leone feels differently.“[The] news of Timothy Stryker’s death is both sad and disappointing,” said Leone, who worked on the case years ago as an assistant district attorney. “Sad, in that he leaves behind a wife and three daughters. Disappointing, in that we had an active investigation into his suspected killing of Dr. Linda Goudey, and were encouraged by the progress we were making, and confident that we would be able to provide some measure of closure and justice in the criminal courts for Lin’s family.”“With his death today, we will be forced to close the book on our criminal investigation, as Stryker was, and remains, our only suspect,” he added.Both Leone and the Rafuse family asked that anyone with information on the cashttp://www.wickedlocal.com/stoneham/breaking/x100916626/Stoneham-womans-alleged-killer-Stryker-dies-in-prison "Under the influence of maya, Brahman appears as Ishvara, the personal God, who exists on the celestial level of life, in the subtlest field of creation. In a similar manner, under the influence of avidya, atman appears as jiva, or individual soul." - MMY
