"It wasn't until we actually had the death of (Corrections Officer) Bobby Vallandingham and the riot in Lucasville that people understood that we'd been serious and what we'd been saying was real, " Goldberg said.
Essie Mae Washington-Williams, whose mother was black, didn't come forward and identify Thurmond as her father until after his death at age 100 in 2003.
Peterson, founder of the Jack in the Box restaurant chain, from 1977 until his death in 1994, but court documents don't disclose the size of the couple's fortune that apparently funded O'Connor's gambling habit.