Parents of murdered student lose suit against Philadelphia

The city of Philadelphia is not liable to a Chevy Chase couple for the death of their daughter, a University of Pennsylvania graduate student murdered by a serial rapist in 1998, a federal jury found yesterday.Shannon Schieber was a 23-year-old doctoral candidate at Penn’s Wharton School when she was strangled by Troy Graves, known before his capture as “the Center City rapist” for his late-night attacks on women living alone in one of Philadelphia’s safest downtown neighborhoods.Sylvester and Vicki Schieber, of Chevy Chase, were seeking at least $3.8 million to compensate for their daughter’s lost earning potential, if she had lived, plus an additional amount for her pain and suffering at Graves’ hands.Schieber’s parents argued in their civil lawsuit that Philadelphia police had a pattern of mishandling sexual assault investigations.Officers initially misclassified one of Graves’ earliest attacks as a burglary. Another victim’s claims were dismissed by skeptical officers as having been fabricated. Some forensic evidence collected from the crime scenes was never analyzed.The Schiebers’ attorney, David Rudovsky, told the 12-member civil jury that a long-standing practice of “downgrading” or ignoring rape complaints meant that police on the beat, their supervisors and neighborhood residents were unaware that a serial rapist was preying on women.Chief Deputy City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith argued that police acted properly and that only Graves, not the city, was responsible for Schieber’s death.The six-man, six-woman jury, which began deliberations at around 2 p.m. Monday, reached its verdict yesterday morning.