FIGHTING BACK

Serial Killer Victim’s Mother Sues Academy Sports Over Gun Purchases

Authorities found Johnny Coxie, whose mother filed the suit, buried on the killer’s property in 2016 with two other people.

The mother of a victim of serial killer Todd Kohlhepp has filed a lawsuit against Academy Sports and against the man convicted of providing guns purchased at Academy to Kohlhepp. Authorities found Johnny Coxie, whose mother Cindy Coxie filed the suit, buried on the killer’s property in 2016 with two other people. The suit names 33-year-old Dustan Lawson and Academy Sports as defendants and claims that the national brand should have recognized that Lawson was buying guns on behalf of someone legally barred from owning them. Kohlhepp had been convicted of rape in Arizona in 1987 and was legally prohibited from owning firearms. A jury in 2017 decided that Kohlhepp must serve seven consecutive life sentences after killing seven people. He was first arrested a year earlier when a woman was rescued from a metal container on his property after spending weeks in captivity.