The parents of slain Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich said Thursday that watching the coverage surrounding their son’s death was like seeing him killed a second time.
Joel and Mary Rich filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Fox News and two others over a since-retracted story that tied their son’s death to a right-wing conspiracy theory.
“We lost his body this first time, and the second time we lost his soul,” Mary Rich said on “Good Morning America.” “They took more from us with the lies.”
{mosads}Seth Rich, 27, was shot and killed in Washington, D.C., in 2016 in what police say was a botched robbery attempt.
Fox News published a story the following May that fueled conspiracy theories linking his death to the release of hacked DNC and Clinton campaign emails to WikiLeaks.
The network later retracted the story. In their lawsuit, Rich’s parents accuse Fox News, as well as reporter Malia Zimmerman and Ed Butowsky, of “extreme and outrageous” conduct and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“We want our son’s life, and his soul restored,” Mary Rich said Thursday. “And I want our life back, so we can move forward again.”
Fox News in a statement said, “We can’t comment on this pending litigation.”
Updated at 10:25 a.m.