Testimony begins in wrongful death trial

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November 17, 2009

Mother of slain Royal Center teen is suing restaurant owners

by Kevin Lilly Pharos-Tribune Tue Nov 17, 2009, 11:25 PM EST

A trial in the wrongful death suit filed last year by the mother of teenage murder victim Stephanie Wagner began this week.

Jane Gonzalez, the mother of the Royal Center girl killed in 2006, is claiming that the managers/owners of the Indian Head Restaurant in Winamac were negligent because they allowed convicted murderer Danny Rouse to work alongside the 16-year-old.

Attorneys for the plaintiff and defendants spent Monday selecting the six-person jury and began taking testimony Tuesday in Cass Circuit Court.

Mike Fitousis, owner of the restaurant that has since closed, testified that all he knew is that Rouse had stabbed someone more than 20 years ago while strung out on drugs and alcohol. He never conducted a criminal background check and said he did not know that Rouse had killed a 5-year-old boy and attempted to kill the boy’s mother in 1979.

Gonzalez’ lawsuit states that when Fitousis hired Rouse as a dishwasher in 2006, he knowingly put his employees at risk by not informing them about Rouse.

“Despite having knowledge of Rouse’s propensities based upon his violent past, the defendants did not inform any of their other employees of what they knew, or provide them with any warning or cautionary information,” the complaint stated.

Fitousis explained that when Rouse came looking for work, he was struggling because of his past. Fitousis let Rouse clean grease from an exhaust hood. He said Rouse did a good job so he gave him steady work for $250 a week.

According to the claim, Fitousis promised Wagner’s mother and stepfather he would look after her because it was her first job. Wagner had only been working as a waitress one month prior to her death on Oct. 31, 2006.

Fitousis testified that on the night Wagner died, he noticed Rouse did not leave immediately after completing his duties as he usually did. Instead, Rouse helped Wagner wrap silverware in napkins, which bothered Fitousis.

“I didn’t like it,” he said.

The plaintiff claims that both Mike and Heidi Fitousis noticed the behavior and were concerned by it, but did not intervene.

The two employees left at about the same time. A short time later at a location near the intersection of U.S. 35 and 900N in Cass County, Wagner stopped to assist Rouse, who faked having car trouble. He attacked and killed her with a knife. The next day authorities found Wagner’s body dumped in a cornfield along 700W.

On cross examination by Michael Tolbert, one of his attorneys, Fitousis said Rouse never harassed or had been aggressive toward anyone in the restaurant.

“He was real quiet,” Fitousis said.

For the alleged negligence in hiring a “convicted child murderer” and exposing restaurant employees to “substantial risk of potential harm,” and the subsequent loss of her daughter, Gonzalez wants compensated for damages, the attorney fees and the expenses for a funeral and burial.

Attorneys for the plaintiff are Perry Cross out of Muncie and Courtney Justice, Logansport. The defendants — Mike Fitousis, Heidi Fitousis and Mike Fitousis Enterprises — are represented by the law firm of Hoeppner Wagner and Evans in Merrillville.

The trial is scheduled for the remainder of the week.

• Kevin Lilly is news editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at 574-732-5117 or kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com.

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