Man Charged With Killing Field Adjuster

Commenting on Ms. Froeschles death, one professional in the adjusting field said that such incidents happen very rarely, but noted that the event highlights inherent dangers involved for field adjusters.

According to the Tampa police reports, Ms. Froeschle, who worked for Gainesville, Fla.-based Farm Bureau Insurance, was clubbed in the back of the head and killed in a house where she had gone to assess hurricane roof damage.

Police said Mr. Funk had been renting the house. In addition to murder he was hit with a felony drug charge.

Tampa police spokesperson Joe Durkin told National Underwriter, "We can't make any sense of why he would attack her. There is no motivation that we know of right now. He was also charged with cultivation of marijuanamarijuana plants were found in his home."

"It was a criminal act, a terrible tragedy," Florida Farm Bureau spokesperson Rade Musulin told NU. "We are always concerned about the safety of our adjusters as with all of our employees," Mr. Musulin said.

But one regional manager for an insurance adjusters firm in the Tampa area, who declined to be identified because he did not want his company linked to such a volatile case, said the incident underscores some of the occupational dangers involved, especially for female field adjusters who have to go out alone on inspections.

"Ive always had concerns specifically for women adjusters who go in and inspect homeowners losses," he said. "Field adjusters develop an inherent trust over time because people are calling you out for legitimate reasons. But when you go into somebodys home, you are pretty much at the mercy of that person. And female adjusters are more susceptible to becoming prey than men."

And while there are more male field adjusters than there are females, "there are still quite a few female field adjusters working."

He also noted: "I dont think these things happen very often. But it doesnt surprise me that they do happen once in a while."

"Should female field adjusters go out in teams?" he asked. "It makes sense, but is it cost-effective? It would be cost-prohibitive. Companies wouldnt hire female adjusters if they had to send them out in groups to every loss."

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, December 3, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.