Remembering the Disabled Murdered by Caregivers
Parents, foster parents, stepparents, parents’ significant others.
Name: Nicholas Richett.
Died: June 12, 2015.
Age at death: 20.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Melvindale, Michigan, USA.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Nicholas’s father shot him and then killed himself.
Case status:
John Richett Jr. (Father), deceased.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Nicholas Richett
Statement on the murder of Nicholas Richett
Terminally ill man kills himself and autistic son
Melvindale cops say dad killed autistic son, himself
Nicholas Richett Obituary
Name: Kimberly L. Stern.
Died: June 9, 2015.
Age at death: 27.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Dubuque, Iowa, USA.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Kim’s father killed her by shooting her 17 times.
Kim had a doll collection, with a name and a personality for each doll. She liked to write stories about them.
Case status:
Robert Stern (Father), convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life.
Source:
Dubuque man convicted of killing daughter gets life sentence
Testimony begins in Robert Stern murder trial
Opening statements, witness testimony heard in Robert Stern trial
UPDATE: Police: Dubuque dad shot daughter with 3 different guns
Dubuque Father Charged with Murder in Daughter’s Death
Police say Dubuque man admitting to killing his daughter
Autism Memorial: Kimberly Stern
Police: Man admits to shooting, killing daughter
Dubuque man charged in daughter’s death
UPDATE: Dubuque man convicted of 1st-degree murder in daughter’s killing
Name: Courtney Liltz.
Died: June 5, 2015.
Age at death: 28.
Cause of death: Poisoning.
Location: Rolling Meadows, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.
Details:
As a baby, Courtney was put up for adoption, but her first adoptive placement failed, and instead she had to live in an institution for people with developmental disabilities. At five, she was adopted.
Courtney was a fan of Sesame Street‘s Ernie. She liked going to school and using the computers there.
Courtney’s adoptive mother poisoned her with an overdose of drugs. She died in the hospital nine days later.
The case was used as precedent for the trial of the killers of Alex Spourdalakis, who were both sentenced to four years and released on time served.
Case status:
Bonnie Liltz (Adoptive mother), pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, sentenced to four years in prison, served 72 days before being released pending appeal; appeal rejected; died by suicide.
Source:
Illinois mom accused of killing daughter gets support
Friends support Schaumburg mom charged with disabled daughter’s death
Schaumburg Woman’s Sentence being determined in Daughter’s Death
Schaumburg mom gets four years in prison for killing disabled daughter
Schaumburg mom out on bond after serving 72 days for killing disabled daughter
Mother, godmother who killed autistic teen released from prison
Court Rules Against Bonnie Liltz During Appeal
Schaumburg mother ordered back to prison for disabled daughter’s death
Mom gets prison for killing disabled daughter
Mom Who Killed Disabled Daughter Loses Appeal To Drop 4-Year Sentence
Schaumburg woman who killed disabled daughter faces possible return to prison
Schaumburg mom appeals manslaughter sentence to state supreme court
4-year sentence stands for Schaumburg mom who killed disabled daughter
Bonnie Liltz on killing her daughter: ‘She stayed asleep’
Bonnie Liltz hopes Illinois governor will grant her clemency
Bonnie Liltz, woman who killed disabled daughter, commits suicide
Woman who killed disabled daughter found dead 2 days before prison stint was to begin
Schaumburg mom who killed disabled daughter found dead
Name: Gracie Buss.
Died: June 3, 2015.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Waterloo, Iowa, USA.
Disability: Epilepsy.
Details:
When her boyfriend beat little Gracie Buss to death, Gracie’s mother told the police that Gracie’s seizures had made her fall down the stairs.
Case status:
Chad Little (Mother’s boyfriend), convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life.
Kristi Buss (Mother), pleaded guilty to neglecting a dependent person, child neglect resulting in serious injury and involuntary manslaughter, sentenced to 25 years.
Source:
Iowa crime: Waterloo woman pleads guilty in 4-year-old daughter’s death
No bond reduction for mom held in child death case
Waterloo man charged with death of 4-year-old girl
What happened to Gracie Buss?
Gracie Buss’s family searching for answers one month later
Defense begins in child death trial
Name: Aiden Archer.
Died: June 1, 2015
Age at death: 3.
Cause of death: Head trauma.
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Aiden was beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend.
Case status:
Maurice Snyder (Mother’s boyfriend), pleaded no contest to second-degree reckless homicide and three counts of physical abuse of a child, sentenced to 24 years.
Megan Scott (Mother), charged with failure to act to prevent bodily harm to a child; died before trial.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Aidan Archer
Maurice Snyder Jr. now faces homicide charge in death of three-year-old Aiden Archer
Charged: Two accused in connection with death of three-year-old Aiden Archer
Vigil honors life of 3-year-old Milwaukee boy
Maurice Snyder sentenced to 24 years in prison for murder of 3-year-old Aiden Archer
Name: Leon Jayet-Cole.
Died: May 28, 2015.
Age at death: 5.
Cause of death: Head injury due to blunt-force trauma.
Location: Papanui, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Leon was a “beautiful, happy-spirited kid” who made his family laugh with the quirky things he said. He had learned to speak and learned to read when he was four, and at five years old was enrolled in school. His obituary calls him the “chief mischief maker of his brothers and sisters Lucas, Nadia, Anabelle, Fabian, and Liam; Giane, Daniel and James.” He loved pillow-fighting and riding his tricycle. He had to have his toast cut just right, or he wouldn’t eat it. His favorite movie was Frozen.
He hadn’t spoken until he was four, but then he started speaking, reading, and doing math all at once. Leon was a bookworm who would start reading the moment he woke. When they saw how fast he was learning, his family began calling him “Superman”. He loved school, which he attended for half-days, and Dr. Seuss was his favorite author. He had a brother who was also autistic.
Leon’s stepfather allegedly beat him to the point that he suffered a severe head injury; despite the head injury, no one sought medical care for him right away. Leon survived on life support in the hospital for two days before he died. His organs were transplanted and have saved the lives of five people.
Leon may have been abused regularly for some time; he and his older brother had both been treated for head injuries at the hospital, but they had all been written off as accidental.
Case Status:
James Stedman Roberts (Stepfather), charged with murder, committed suicide while out on bail.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Leon Jayet-Cole
Coroner: Agencies missed red flags before autistic Christchurch boy Leon Jayet-Cole’s death
Stepfather hit 5-year-old ‘four times a week’, but mum saw nothing
Police could have done more to stop violent stepfather
Christchurch schoolboy Leon Jayet-Cole hospitalised with head injury months before death
Concerns raised with CYF before Leon Jayet-Cole’s death
File shows tragedy of Leon Jayet-Cole unfolding
Funeral for man accused of killing autistic boy
Leon Jayet-Cole, the little New Zealand boy whose gravestone has his murderer’s name on it
Man accused of killing child found dead
Man accused of murdering autistic boy found dead
Warning signs in CYF reports before Leon Jayet-Cole’s alleged murder
Inquest into death of Leon Jayet-Cole, 5, hears from step-dad who died awaiting murder trial
Mother accepts dead husband killed autistic son
Name: Thenmozhi.
Age at death: 18.
Disability: Malaikan (night blindness).
Name: Vasanthi.
Age at death: 16.
Disability: Mental illness; unspecified physical disability.
Name: Vasantha Kumar.
Age at death: 14.
Disability: Unspecified physical disability.
Died: May 27, 2015.
Cause of death: Poisoning.
Location: Markandeyapuram, Dindigul, India.
Details:
Sisters Thenmozhi and Vasanthi, and their brother Vasantha, were poisoned by their parents in a murder-suicide.
Case status:
Murugesan (Father), deceased.
Krishnaveni (Mother), deceased.
Source:
Dejected Couple Kill 3 Disabled Wards, Commit Suicide
Couple kill 3 children, hang themselves
Upset Couple Poisons 3 Ailing Kids to Death, Hang Selves
Couple poison to death 3 children, end lives
Name: Fardeen Khan.
Died: May 17, 2015.
Age at death: 8.
Cause of death: Blunt trauma.
Location: Chandni Mahal, central Delhi, India.
Disability: Unspecified.
Details:
Fardeen’s mother came home to find him gone, and her husband would not tell him where he was. She called police, who say Fardeen’s father confessed to bludgeoning him to death.
Fardeen’s disability is unknown, but it may be cerebral palsy, from a fall to the floor as a baby.
Case status:
Nazar Khan (Father), charged with murder.
Source:
Man kills disabled son
Name: Malachi De’Andre Golden.
Died: May 11, 2015.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Malnutrition.
Location: High Shoals, North Carolina, USA.
Disability: Chromosomal disorder, epilepsy, developmental delays.
Details:
Malachi was physically abused by his stepfather and mother over an extended period of time. He was also starved and neglected, his seizure medication was withheld, and he was denied medical care. His mother kept him in a small closet, without food and water. Malachi died from starvation, weighing 19 pounds; his mother also said that his stepfather had strangled him.
Two years after Malachi died, courthouse staff took up a collection to get Malachi a proper headstone.
Case status:
Thomas Cheeks (Stepfather), convicted of first-degree murder and child abuse; sentenced to life without parole.
Tiffany Cheeks (Mother), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and child abuse, sentenced to 19 years.
Source:
North Carolina Supreme Court upholds murder charge in starvation death of 4-year-old child
New report: Child strangled to death
Stepdad offered plea deal in boy’s death
Abuse charges for accused child killer
Court clerks raise money to buy grave marker for boy who starved to death
Mother served murder papers in disabled boy’s death
Gaston County mother could get life in prison for 4-year-old son’s death
GASTON CO. MOM CHARGED IN SON’S MURDER: 19 more years in prison for Gaston County mother in 4-year-old son’s death
Name: Emily Janzen.
Died: May 7, 2015.
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Rosedale, British Columbia, Canada.
Disability: Migraines, depression.
Details:
Emily and her family were shot by her father, who said he could not “watch his little girl hurt for one more second” before he killed Emily, then killed her mother Laurel and aunt to spare them the pain of hearing that Emily was dead, and then killed himself.
Emily was a music student who aspired to be an opera singer.
Case status:
Randy Janzen (Father), deceased.
Source:
Emily Janzen Remembered As ‘Amazing’ Singer After B.C. Triple Murder, Suicide