Heather Heyer's mother sues Charlottesville killer to 'make sure he doesn't get rich' off of his story

Heather Heyer's mother is suing her daughter's killer — but she doesn't want his "blood money."

Susan Bro has filed a lawsuit against James Fields, the man convicted of hitting Heyer with his car and killing her in Charlottesville, North Carolina, in August 2017, she told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in a Wednesday interview. Bro, Heyer's father, and Heyer's brother are all listed as beneficiaries in the $12 million suit, but she says it's all a preemptive measure against Fields to ensure he can never sell his story.

At first, Bro was hesitant to sue Fields for wrongful death, seeing as she'd already endured a trial that landed Fields in prison for life. But Bro is familiar with how former President Ronald Reagan's attempted killer and Charles Manson both tried to profit off their stories, and she wanted to prevent Fields from doing the same, she told CNN on Thursday. "I want to make sure he doesn't get rich off this," Bro said. "I want to send a strong message to others who would try to murder people as an act of terror."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Fields was attending the white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville when he drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, hitting and killing Heyer, 32. He was sentenced to life in prison for Heyer's murder, and then got a second life conviction for 29 counts of hate crimes. Bro has since worked to turn Heyer's death into a "rallying cry" against white supremacy, and has founded a youth activist group in her name.