A shocking and horrific crime was made worse with the news that a murder victim had named her killer as the beneficiary on her 401k, potentially allowing him to financially profit from the deed.
The Cherry Hill Courier-Post reports that Mark Lyczak, accused of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend Colleen Brownell and her stepsister one year ago, is the designated beneficiary of Brownell’s 401k account, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Camden, New Jersey.
The paper says the suit seeks to bar Brownell’s former employer, PHH Corp. of Mount Laurel, from distributing any funds to Lyczak from her savings plan.
It also requests a court order declaring Lyczak an “invalid beneficiary who is disqualified from receiving any monies” from the slain woman’s account.
“The lawsuit has been filed because the family feels very strongly that the individual that murdered Colleen, her sister, Alysia McCloskey, and attempted to murder another young woman, cannot be allowed to benefit in any way from his heinous crimes,” John Zohlman, a Cherry Hill attorney for the estate, told the Courier-Post.
The suit describes Lyczak as Brownell’s “long-term boyfriend of over 20 years,” but also alleges “repeated acts of domestic violence” by the man.
His “abusive and intolerable behavior” included threatening Brownell with a hammer, pushing and shoving the woman, holding her against her will, and trying to strangle her “on multiple occasions,” the suit says, according to the paper.
The women died Dec. 30 in an attack at McCloskey’s home.
“Authorities allege Lyczak, who was also barred from possessing a weapon, fatally stabbed McCloskey on her porch, then killed Brownell in the living room. He allegedly stabbed and critically wounded a woman who accompanied him to the Collingswood home.”
The suit also asks that Brownell’s estate be named the primary beneficiary for the account.