An Atlanta lawyer, who hired a hitman to kidnap and kill his wife in front of their two young sons, has died in prison at the age of 67.
Fred Tokers masterminded his wife’s murder in 1992 and was convicted of the murder in 1997 while already serving a life sentence for racketeering.
Tokars passed away of natural causes over the weekend at a prison in Pennsylvania after experiencing fever for several days, according to his attorney, Jerry Froelich.
Froelich stated that Tokars suffered from multiple health issues, including multiple sclerosis, and hadn’t walked in 10 years.
Despite his death, Tokars maintained his innocence in his wife’s murder until the end.
Sara Tokars was kidnapped at her home in Marietta on Thanksgiving weekend in 1992, along with her children Ricky and Mike, who were six and four at the time.
The kidnapper, later identified as Curtis Rower, forced her to drive her SUV down the street and then killed her with a shotgun blast to the head in front of the boys.
Prosecutors stated that Tokars had instructed another man to hire Rower to orchestrate the hit after Sara discovered his involvement in drug dealing and money laundering and threatened to turn him in.
The kidnapping and murder occurred as Sara and her sons were returning from a family trip to Florida.
Her husband had returned earlier but was not at home at the time.
Before his arrest, Tokars choked back tears at a news conference as he emphatically denied any involvement in his wife’s murder.
He expressed, “I became very depressed, and started to think of the lifestyle that I was losing. Not only my wife, but my, my whole lifestyle.”
He was eventually sentenced to multiple life terms in prison – both for the murder and for federal racketeering charges.
Following Tokars’ demise, his lawyer, Froelich, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “You know, he said he didn’t do it.”
The attorney added that he always accepted the juries’ verdicts, even though Tokars never did.
The couple’s younger son, Mike, passed away last month after suffering from depression.
