Nan Toder was very cute—she looked much younger than thirty-three. Maybe that was because she was so vibrant, so vital. She taught aerobics part time; she worked out regularly. In fact, she had ordered a 5:30 wake-up call from her hotel room so she could work out on December 13, 1996.
This vibrant, vital woman never got that chance.
On the night of December 12, Nan spoke to her parents from her room, where she was staying while training for a new job. She was only going to be in the hotel one more night.
Nan was very cautious. She placed her suitcases behind her room door and latched the door to the adjoining room.
But it was not really latched.
On December 13, 1996, Nan Toder was brutally murdered as she slept in the Hampton Inn in Crestwood, Illinois. The murderer entered the room next to Nan’s with a master key, and opened the adjoining room door which he had “fixed” in Nan’s absence. He attacked Nan with a machete and strangled her to death. After six years, the murderer was found guilty of her murder in first degree. He now serves a life sentence with no parole.
The murderer was the hotel’s maintenance manager.
Many facts were brought out in the trial concerning the hotel’s complete lack of guest protection: NO security cameras, no enforcement of night management duties, deactivated door alarms , inadequate and untrained guards.
But most troubling of all was a maintenance manager whose background was never checked. A maintenance manager who had a key to every hotel room and access to the hotel computer.
This man was known to the local police for harassing girlfriends. His former employer suspected him of a major burglary. The Hampton Inn’s manager even told police the murderer told her he liked to pull the wings off birds to watch them die, and throw cats into wood chippers.
In spite of all this, the manager gave him a master key.
We, Nan’s family, want to honor Nan’s life and redress her death by making hotels safer, particularly for women traveling alone.
Our idea, the “Nan’s Law,” would require hotels to do employee background checks, and establish other rules and regulations for minimum hotel security. The Nan’s Law could help prevent future tragedies, and could even help insurers of hotels reduce their claims, by making guest protection requirements a condition of coverage.
Hotel guests want to feel well cared for, with perks like free breakfasts and complementary shampoo. But safety and security are unspoken expectations. Currently, that safety and security simply does not exist. It would with Nan’s Law.
April 6-11 was National Victims Rights Week. April, 2003 was also the month Nan would have been forty-probably still looking younger than her years. Instead, her vibrancy and vitality lie beneath a stone inscribed, “She brought laughter, sunshine and love.”
We cannot bring our beloved daughter and sister back to life. But we ask for your support in bringing our dream of Nan’s Law to life.
Lin and Sol Toder Debbie
S. Toder, MD Etta Toder
Menlo
808 Hillaire Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Phone 412-279-6180
FAX 412-279-4971