CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A former lawyer in prison for life for murdering his ex-wife has been ordered to pay her estate nearly $4.4 million.

Following a bitter custody battle over their children, Seth Bader of Stratham was convicted in 1998 of shooting his 35-year-old ex-wife, Vicki, in the head two years earlier, then burying her near a hiking trail in Waterboro, Maine. The couple had divorced in 1994.

The body wasn’t found until the following April after the oldest of the couple’s three sons, Joseph, then 15, led police to her grave. He told police he lured his mother into their house, where Bader was waiting to shoot her, then helped bury her.

Police had charged Bader with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. His son was not charged. Another man who admitted being an accomplice reached a plea bargain that required him to testify against Bader.

Bader, a former defense attorney, has insisted that his former fiancee and Joseph were the killers.

Two days after Vicki Bader was found, her brother, John Buzby, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Bader, claiming he intentionally caused his ex-wife pain by vandalizing her car; breaking into her home and “roasting alive” her pet birds in her oven; and manipulating the children against her. The lawsuit asked for $15 million.

Buzby died of a heart attack in April.

After a three-day bench trial last month – which Bader declined to participate in – Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Kenneth McHugh ruled Bader should pay for the murder. The judge said Bader also should pay for what he called the “campaign of terror” Mrs. Bader suffered at Bader’s hands during a custody battle in the two years before her death.

The ruling was last week. Lawyers for Mrs. Bader’s estate released it Tuesday.

“This is securing the future for the children and that’s what it’s all about,” said Lois Stewart, Vicki Bader’s mother, who lives in Long Island, N.Y. “We were hoping for something like this because we want to make sure Seth doesn’t make any money from this story. So if he makes any money, he would owe it to the kids.”

The youngest child, Sam, now 9, lives nearby with another one of her sons and his wife, Stewart said. He was only 3 when his mother died. “He has a picture of her in his room,” she said. “We refer to her as his first mom and now he has a second mom and dad. He knows what happened to his first mom.”

Stephen Borofsky, an attorney for the family, said they anticipated an appeal from Bader’s lawyer, Michael Cormier, of Haverhill, Mass. Cormier did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Court records have shown that Bader is a wealthy man. In addition to owning several homes in the Seacoast area, Bader inherited much of his money from his late parents, as well as guns, real estate and cash. He also inherited a Steinway piano and a $440,000 J.B. Guadagnini violin from his mother, who was a concert violinist.

“We’re just glad that this one giant step is over with,” Stewart said.

“We still have a ways to go because he’s still appealing his conviction. We won’t feel we’re done with him until that’s done.”

AP-ES-11-16-04 1615EST