PORTLAND – A bankruptcy judge Wednesday ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of slain teen-ager Ashley Ouellette can go forward even though the defendants have declared bankruptcy.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge James Haines Jr. lifted the stay on the lawsuit filed in February by Lise Ouellette and her late husband, Robert Ouellette, who died in May of natural causes.

The Ouellettes claim in their suit that Earl B. Sanborn Jr. and his wife, Muriel Sanborn, were negligent in not telling anyone that 15-year-old Ashley spent the last night of her life at their home.

A motorist found the girl lying in the middle of Pine Point Road in Scarborough Feb. 10, 1999. She had been strangled and the last place police can place her alive is the Sanborn residence in Saco.

The Sanborns filed for bankruptcy in April, just days before they were to be deposed in the civil suit. Bankruptcy filings automatically halt pending lawsuits.