KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A former Catholic priest who was named in dozens of child sexual abuse lawsuits was found dead in Kansas City on Sunday, police said.
Emergency responders found Thomas Reardon, 80, a former priest in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, dead Sunday at the Brookdale Wornall Place, a senior living facility where he lived.
Police said there was no evidence of suspicious circumstances or foul play in Reardon’s death.
Reardon resigned as a priest in 1989 and was later removed by the diocese from the priesthood.
In 2019, he was among 24 priests whose names the diocese released as being credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.
Reardon was among 12 current and former priests named in a sexual abuse case involving 47 plaintiffs that the diocese settled for $10 million in 2008, the Kansas City Star reported.
He also was included in a $10 million settlement by the diocese in 2014 that covered 32 lawsuits involving 14 current and former priests facing allegations of sexual abuse over three decades.
Rebecca Randles, a Kansas City attorney who has filed about 30 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Reardon, said that he “left behind a legacy of loss and shattered lives.”
