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Ruling allows lawsuit by parents of slain woman to proceed

Mikael Loyd

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The parents of a young woman strangled by her boyfriend and dumped in an open cemetery grave will be allowed to pursue their lawsuit against an Omaha mental treatment facility where the boyfriend was being held.

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the lawsuit Melissa Rodriguez’s parents filed against Lasting Hope Recovery Center of Catholic Health Initiatives should not have been dismissed.

Mikael Loyd is serving a 30- to 35-year prison sentence for the August 2013 death of the 19-year-old Rodriguez. Loyd was initially found not mentally competent to stand trial.

Loyd was being held at Lasting Hope at the police’s request in the days before Rodriguez was killed. The lawsuit blames the center for failing to call police after Loyd walked away from the center and killed Rodriguez.

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