Families sue killer, health board, Burdman Group

The killer is serving consecutive life prison sentences.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The husband and mother of two vocational rehabilitation agency employees who were killed by a client in 2002 have filed wrongful death complaints in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Troyan E. Houser and Betty J. Bogan seek compensatory and punitive damages exceeding $25,000 each against convicted murderer John Staples as well as Burdman Group Inc. of Youngstown and Mahoning County Mental Health Board.
Staples, formerly of Youngstown, was a Burdman Group client. He was convicted in June 2002 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court of the shooting deaths of Hope E. Houser, 34, of Campbell, and Wynn Bogan, 23, of Lowellville. He is serving two consecutive life prison sentences plus three years for using a gun.
What happened
Houser was a vocational rehabilitation worker at Burdman, and Bogan also was a client. Both were shot in the back of the head as they sat in the front seat of a Burdman van at Gypsy Lane and Belmont Avenue on the Youngstown-Liberty Township line.
Houser had picked up both men at Burdman Group's administration building and was taking them to clean a roadside rest stop on state Route 11 near Canfield. She had stopped for gas when the shootings occurred.
Burdman Group offers employment training to disabled people. The agency's contract was through the Mahoning County Mental Health Board.
Troyan Houser and Betty Bogan say Burdman Group and the mental health board failed to ensure safe working environments for Hope Houser and Wynn Bogan through screening of clients and various security measures.