Kent, WA: Son: 'I believe my father killed my mother'

by Matt Markovich

Originally printed at http://www.komonews.com/news/local/79020187.html

KENT, Wash. - A son has filed an unusual lawsuit in an attempt to find out what happened to his mother, who disappeared nearly 50 years ago.

Essentially, the son is suing his father for the death of his mother - even though his father is dead.

The bizarre case began with the disappearance of Joan Hansen in 1962 - and it remains officially a mystery.

But family and friends believe Joan's body is buried somewhere along the Green River near the Kent-Des Moines Road. There used to be a farm there owned by the Hansen family at the time of Joan's disappearance.

Family members say the mother of three was murdered by her husband, Robert Hansen, and the killing was covered up.

"I know he did it," says Patricia Martin. "There's no doubt in my mind, he did it that day."

Martin may have heard Joan's last words by phone on the day she disappeared.

"She said, 'Oh my God, he's in the basement, Pat. He's coming,' And she started screaming, and the phone went dead," Patricia Martin remembers.

Martin believes Joan was referring to Robert Hansen, Joan's husband, who was also Ty Hansen's father, in that frightening, mysterious phone call.

"I believe my father killed my mother," Ty Hansen now says. "I don't think there is any question about that."

But there is - neither Joan nor her body have never been found. Her disappearance is still an open case with the King County Sheriff's Department.

Searches of the place where the family barn used to be in the Kent Valley - a place where many believe Joan's body is buried - have turned up nothing.

The latest twist in the case came in August, when Robert Hansen committed suicide.

He left a will saying, "I had a wife, Joan Hansen, who disappeared long ago. If she is still alive, I leave her nothing."

And he writes, "I'm leaving my children nothing."

The family has learned that his estate may be worth millions, and he gave it all to a friend in Costa Rica whom he met long after his wife's disappearance.

So, in an unusual move, Ty Hansen has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a man who's already dead, his father and his estate.

He's hoping to seek a final answer and part of an inheritance.

But Ty Hansen says, "That's not the main reason why I'm doing this. My primary motivation is to be able to get my mother's story heard and finally get some justice."

He and other family members want someone to come forward and break the silence.

"Everybody knows - his friends know - and I thought maybe after he died, you know, they would come forward," says Patricia Martin. "But they haven't."