Category: Age: Adult

Age 30-59

Melissa Couture

Photo of Melissa Couture, a young woman with fair skin and brown hair. She is wearing glasses and a striped sweater. She is smiling broadly and looking down at some candles.Name: Melissa Couture.
Died: April 26, 2016.
Age at death: 38.
Cause of death: Choking, starvation, pressure sores.
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
For four years before her death, Melissa’s mother did not provide medical care for her, even though she was having trouble swallowing and rapidly losing weight. Melissa died from choking, starvation, dehydration, and severe pressure sores, weighing only fifty pounds.

Case status:
Patricia Couture (Mother), charged with criminal negligence resulting in death, ruled not criminally responsible.

Source:
Calgary woman charged in death of special needs daughter
Police lay charges in death of disabled Calgary woman
Calgary woman charged with death of daughter released on bail
Senior charged in adult daughter’s death says she was mistreated by police
Calgary mom charged in disabled daughter’s death shocks neighbourhood
Deep bed sores would have been painful leading to disabled woman’s death, mother’s trial hears
Disabled woman weighed 51 pounds when she died, mother’s trial hears
Disabled woman went years without medical treatment: Court
Melissa Couture choked to death on substance consistent with meat, trial told
Melissa Couture went years without medical treatment, Calgary trial told
Trial begins for Calgary senior accused of negligence in death of daughter
Trial begins for Patricia Couture, Calgary mom accused in death of disabled daughter
Trial underway for Calgary mother charged in death of disabled daughter
Young disabled woman would have been in pain and discomfort prior to death, court hears
Trial begins for senior in death of daughter
Father of deceased disabled girl testifies at trial of ex-wife: ‘I’m shocked she died’
Father tells Calgary trial he wanted to get help for disabled daughter
Father testifies at trial for mother accused in death of disabled daughter
Mom blamed stench on demons: Trial
Mother accused in death of disabled daughter expected to take stand in own defence Friday
Mother of disabled daughter blamed overpowering smell of excrement on ‘demons,’ ex testifies
Mother on trial in disabled daughter’s death kept ‘immaculate’ care of her but believed in demons, court hears
Mom charged with negligence in disabled daughter’s death sent for psychiatric assessment mid-trial
Calgary mother found not criminally responsible in 2016 death of disabled daughter
Judge rules senior not criminally responsible in death of disabled daughter
Judge finds Calgary mother Patricia Couture not criminally responsible for death of disabled daughter
Calgary mother accused in daughter’s death found not criminally responsible

Laraine Rayner

Photo of Laraine Rayner. She is a middle-aged woman with short strawberry-blonde hair. She is wearing hoop earrings and a red sweater.Name: Laraine Rayner.
Died: Two weeks before April 24, 2016 (Body found).
Age at death: 52.
Cause of death: Sharp trauma.
Location: Wisbech, UK.
Disability: Mental and physical health problems; OCD; mobility impaired.

Details:
Laraine was stabbed to death by her boyfriend.

Case status:
Steven Stocks (Boyfriend), convicted of murder, sentenced to 20 years to life.

Source:
Laraine Rayner murder: Disabled woman’s partner jailed for life
Man left dying stabbed partner to rot in shrine, court hears
Wisbech carer ‘stabbed girlfriend to death, then wrote letter apologising for mess’, court hears
Man ‘fatally stabbed his disabled partner and left her body under makeshift shrine for two weeks’

Lynda Cestone

No PhotoName: Lynda Cestone.
Died: April 16, 2016.
Age at death: 56.
Cause of death: Burned.
Location: Lucerne Valley, California, USA.
Disability: Stroke; wheelchair user.

Details:
Lynda was mobility-impaired because of a stroke. Her husband is suspected of killing her by detaching a gas line in their cluttered home and setting it on fire. Lynda and her twelve cats burned to death.

Case status:
Donald Wayne Jenman (Husband), charged with murder.

Source:
Man suspected of causing fire that killed wife arrested
Donald Wayne Jenman, California man, charged with murdering bed-ridden wife Lynda Cestone who died in house fire
Fire investigators suspect man murdered his wife
Husband charged with murder after bedridden wife dies in house fire
Lucerne Valley man arrested in connection to wife’s death
6 Years After A Catastrophic Stroke Leaves Wife Bedridden, Her Home Mysteriously Burns Down. When Her Husband Makes It Out Alive, Police Get Suspicious

40-year-old man

No PhotoName Unknown.
Died: April 6, 2016.
Age at death: 40.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Khamariya, India.
Disability: HIV/AIDS.

Details:
This 40-year-old man was a truck driver by profession. He had fallen ill, been diagnosed with AIDS, and kept it secret, fearing stigma. When his wife and father-in-law found out that he was HIV-positive, they allegedly conspired with other in-laws to strangle him to death.

Case status:
His wife, father-in-law, and two relatives were charged with murder.

Source:
AIDS patient killed by wife, in-laws in India
Wife And In-Laws Kill Bareilly Man After He Was Diagnosed HIV Positive
AIDS patient killed by wife, in-laws in India
AIDS patient in India allegedly killed by wife, in-laws

Kazue Kawazura

No PhotoName: Kazue Kawazura.
Died: March 21, 2016.
Age at death: 53.
Cause of death: Traumatic injury.
Location: Kobe, Japan.
Disability: “Mentally handicapped”.

Details:
Kazue’s sister and niece reported finding her dead in her bed. When police questioned them, they allegedly admitted to beating her to death with a vacuum cleaner tube, and said they had been beating her for several months because she made a mess when she ate.

Case status:
Shizue Nakahara (sister), arrested on suspicion of murder.
Akiko Nakahara (Niece), arrested on suspicion of murder.

Source:
Woman, daughter held over fatal abuse of woman’s sister
Hyogo cops: Woman dies after abuse by sister and niece in Kobe

Tony Myhand

Photo of a white marble gravestone reading, "Tony Myhand, SP4 US Army, Feb 7 1957 to Mar 11 2016."Name: Tony Myhand.
Died: March 11, 2016.
Age at death: 59.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Montgomery, Alabama, USA.
Disability: Unspecified; wheelchair user.

Details:
Tony and his son were arguing because his son would not give Tony the keys to the van. Angered, his son shot him twice, in the neck and chest, killing him. Tony was unarmed.

Case status:
Christopher Myhand (Son), convicted of murder, sentenced to 11-22 years.

Source:
Montgomery man convicted of fatally shooting his father in 2016
Montgomery man accused of murdering father during family altercation
Montgomery Man Convicted of Fatally Shooting His Father in Argument Over Keys

Roberta Rybinski

Photo of Roberta Rybinski, a woman with fair skin and blonde hair. She is grinning with her eyes squeezed shut, as though she is laughing at a joke.Name: Roberta A. Rybinski.
Died: March 8, 2016.
Age at death: 51.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Tonawanda, New York, USA.
Disability: Bipolar disorder.

Details:
Roberta, who was living on disability payments due to her bipolar disorder, was abused by her boyfriend. At one point she was able to leave him and get a protection order, but eventually she moved back into his apartment–an apartment to which he held the only key.

Roberta was stabbed to death by her boyfriend.

Case status:
John M. Avent (Boyfriend), convicted of murder, sentenced to 25 years to life.

Source:
Judge tells convicted murderer his 25 years-to-life prison sentence is well-deserved
Jury convicts boyfriend in Tonawanda woman’s murder
Man arrested in connection to Tonawanda murder
Police investigate Town of Tonawanda woman’s death

Ronald McCabe

Photo of Ronald McCabe. He is a middle-aged man wearing glasses and a suit with a rose pinned to the lapel. He has fair skin, dark brown hair and a mustache.Name: Ronald McCabe.
Died: March 7, 2016.
Age at death: 56.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
Disability: Paralysis resulting from severe head injury.

Details:
Ronald was shot by his son, who came to his care home and killed him there.

Before his disability he had worked as a manager at Home Hardware.

Case status:
Adam McCabe (Son), charged with second-degree murder; pleaded guilty to manslaughter, sentenced to two years in an alcohol rehab center.

Source:
Ronald McCabe Obituary
Man found dead in long-term care home; 32-year-old charged with murder
Man killed at Kitchener long-term care home
Man, 32, charged with 2nd-degree murder in death at Kitchener care home
Murder charges pending over death at Kitchener care home
Man who killed dad in Kitchener nursing home says he wanted to ‘end his suffering’
Son sentenced to treatment centre after killing his father

Tamra Turpin

Photo of Tamra Turpin. She is a young woman with long brown hair and fair skin. She is wearing dark mascara and deep red lipstick.Name: Tamra Turpin.
Died: March 2, 2016.
Age at death: 36.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Disability: Unspecified; she “could not work because of a disability from a car accident in her teens”.

Details:
Tamra, a Missouri native, enjoyed traveling with her boyfriend; she was visiting Mexico when she died. At first her boyfriend said she had died of a seizure, then he claimed she had committed suicide. But medical examiners concluded that she had been strangled.

Case status:
John Loveless (Boyfriend), acquitted of criminal homicide. Civil lawsuit brought and settlement reached.

Source:
Settlement Reached In Civil Lawsuit — Mother Files Petition in Daughter’s Death
U.S. man held in girlfriend’s asphyxiation death at Mexico resort
Boyfriend arrested after Missouri woman found dead in Mexico
Did John Loveless lawyer kill disabled girlfriend Tamra Turpin?
John Loveless & Tamra Turpin: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
John Loveless arrested after disabled girlfriend Tamra Turpin is strangled to death

James Hill

Photo of James Hill, an adult man with black hair and light skin. He is smiling. He has a short goatee and mustache.Name: James Matthew Hill.
Died: February 18, 2016.
Age at death: 33.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Enterprise, Alabama, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
James was murdered by his roommate, who had also been his caregiver. Police say he was bound, blindfolded, and repeatedly stabbed.

Neighbors remember James as “a blessing” who would do anything for others. They often saw him going to a nearby restaurant, where he ate nearly every day.

Case status:
David Montel Cunningham (Caregiver; roommate); pleaded guilty to murder, sentenced to 40 years.

Source:
Enterprise man arrested in stabbing death
Enterprise man pleads guilty to murdering his roommate