Judge gives Tinker mom chance at a new life

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The mother whose children were gunned down at Tinker Air Force Base wept in court Wednesday as a judge wiped out her divorce so she can seek benefits from the military.

"From the bottom of my heart ... I tell you I'm sorry,” Oklahoma County District Judge Don Deason said to Michelle Thorson.

The ruling means she now is the widow, not the ex-wife, of Tech Sgt. Dustin Thorson, who fatally shot their son and daughter before killing himself.

Her attorneys said after the hearing the ruling was the only way the longtime stay-at-home mom could get any money or health care from the military to make a new life.

"She would have received nothing,” said attorney Lynn Loftis of the Women & Children's Law Center in Oklahoma City.

The judge said, "I'm doing what I believe is the right thing to do.”

Dustin Thorson and Michelle Thorson divorced on Valentine's Day. They were married almost 11 years.

On Feb. 25, the airman shot the boy, Dylan, 4, and girl, Jourdain, 9, in an upstairs bedroom inside their base home after a scuffle with their mother, officials said.

Dustin Thorson, 35, a decorated technical sergeant who served in Iraq, then shot himself. Michelle Thorson was fleeing for help when she heard the shots that killed Dylan and Jourdain.

The airman had threatened last year to kill the children after a divorce, once saying to his son, "Tell Mommy you love her and don't want Daddy to hurt you,” according to court papers.

The final paperwork on the divorce was never filed.

The woman's attorneys argued the divorce should be wiped out — the legal term is vacated — because the airman was guilty of fraud. They argued he never intended to abide by the divorce agreement as "evidenced by his actions” Feb. 25.

Opposing the request were attorneys for the airman's estate. They said Cheyenne Thorson, his 13-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, could lose out on benefits if the divorce was vacated. The judge said they had filed their objection late Tuesday afternoon, too late to be heard. The attorneys said they may appeal.

The judge revealed Wednesday that he had reservations Feb. 14 about agreeing to the divorce. The judge said the hearing that day had focused at first on accusations by Dustin Thorson that his wife poisoned him and accusations by Michelle Thorson that the airman abused drugs.

The judge said he was surprised when the two agreed after lunch Feb. 14 to the divorce. The judge said he wonders now if the airman was pressured by his commanders.

"I wish ... that I had inquired further,” said Deason, a former prosecutor. "I had reservations. I had impressions of this man's behavior. I did not act on them,” the judge said.

"I think back to myself and think, ‘What if? What if I had done something differently?'”

Michelle Thorson, 30, wept harder as the judge spoke. She spoke little during the hearing, saying, "Yes, sir,” when the judge asked her directly if she wanted the divorce vacated.

Afterward, her father hugged her as she wept some more.

She came to the hearing Wednesday from Illinois where she is living with her mother and father. "She did not want to be, but she is here,” said Loftis, her attorney, as the hearing began.

Her children were remembered at a service Feb. 29 at the Tinker Air Force Base chapel. A family friend, Greg Krager, who lives next to her father in O'Fallon, Ill., said at the end of the service mourners released purple and red balloons after a prayer.

"It was a touching service,” Krager said.

He said the children's bodies were cremated and their mother has the ashes with her in Illinois. "That way, wherever she goes in the world, her kids will always be with her and when she dies the kids will be buried with her,” Krager said.

The family friend also said Michelle Thorson plans to set aside money from the benefits for Cheyenne to attend college.