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Teri Hatcher's Abusive Uncle Dies in Prison
Friday August 22, 2008

Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher arrives at the "Disney ABC TCA All Star Party" at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 17, 2008 in Beverly Hills, CA.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Teri Hatcher's uncle — whom she helped put in prison for molesting her, as well as two young girls — has died.

Richard Hayes Stone, 70 — who had been serving a 14-year sentence at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, Calif. — passed away of colon cancer on Tuesday, a prison spokesman tells the San Jose Mercury News.

He had been behind bars for six years.

"It closes the book on a very, very sad tragedy," said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Chuck Gillingham, who prosecuted Stone. "Unfortunately, those who are still alive will always suffer from his actions."

One of the teen girls whom Stone molested shot herself in the head in 2002.

Blown away by the story, Hatcher contacted prosecutors and testified that Stone — the then-husband of her mother's sister — had molested her as well in the late 1960s and early '70s when she was 5. (She said she last saw Stone when she was 8 or 9 years old.)

In an interview with Vanity Fair, she said that she kept the abuse a secret from everyone, including her parents.

"That's a victim thing; you ask yourself, 'Am I just crazy? Did I make all this up?' Somehow it might be easier to accept that you're crazy and made it all up than to admit that it happened, and how awful it was," Hatcher said.

By coming forth with her story, Hatcher said, "It's time for me to stop hiding."

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