LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The adopted daughter of a former Louisville Metro Police lieutenant is making new claims of a child abuse coverup by his fellow officers.
Sean Jackman is serving a 15-year prison sentence for sexually abusing Samantha Killary.
“He stole my childhood from me and warped my sense of what was normal," Killary said. “Even though he didn't get the amount of time he deserved it was emotional and I was sad and angry and I really felt betrayed.”
Jackman adopted her as a toddler, and Killary said the molestation happened in her pre-teen and teenage years from 2001 to 2006. She came forward as an adult in 2015 after Jackman retired from LMPD. He served on the now-defunct VIPER unit tasked with solving the city's most violent crimes.
Killary says the molestation started after her parents' divorce and lasted for years.
"He would bring me into his bedroom every night," she said.
But Killary believes others knew what was happening to her.
The 27-year-old is now suing her grandfather, Rick Jackman, a former LMPD officer. Also included in the suit is Linda Thomson, a retired LMPD Lieutenant, who once dated her dad.
"None of them did the right thing," Killary says. “The point of the lawsuit is just to raise awareness and continue to point out those who should have helped me.”
Killary says her grandfather stayed silent despite knowing the truth.
"He confronted Sean and told him that if one of us ever told a teacher or pastor or anything, that his career would be ruined but never reported it," she said.
Killary claims Thomson actually saw the abuse.
"She witnessed my father forcing himself into the shower with me several times, and then she was also nude with us in his bedroom, and she never reported it," she said.
Attorneys for both didn't return calls or declined to comment to WDRB, but in legal responses both say their clients didn't know about the molestation.
Sean Jackman confessed to the crimes in a secret conversation with his daughter recorded by LMPD.
"I do have this pit in my gut all the time when I think about it," Sean Jackman said. “I told ya I really don’t have any kind of logical lie."
The abuse is documented now along with Killary's fight for justice including how it took her a decade to speak up. Her years of abuse are written out in detail in her new book, "Out of the Blue."
"I feel like after everything I've been through -- there has to be something good to come out of this," she says.
Killary also named the police department and the city of Louisville in her civil case. And if she wins, she says the money will help her advocate for other victims of child molestation.
"It's important to continue the conversation and help make a change to protect future children," she says.
Killary no longer lives in Kentucky because she says she needed a fresh start.
Her adopted father is eligible for parole in two years.
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