Age: Elder – Page 16 – Disability Day of Mourning

Klara Wright

Name: Klara Eugenie Wright.
Died: July 10, 2020.
Age at death: 72.
Cause of death: Stabbing.
Location: Dakota, Minnesota, USA.
Disability: Dementia.

Details:
Klara’s husband called emergency services and told them that he had stabbed her to death. He claimed he “could not watch her suffer”.

Klara liked computer games and Bingo.

Case status:
Joseph Bailly Wright (Husband), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, sentenced to 10 years 8 months.

Source:
80-year-old man sentenced for killing his wife in Winona County
Dakota man faces 2nd Degree murder charge
Dakota man charged with wife’s murder could “not watch her suffer,” complaint reveals
Dakota man accused of wife’s murder extradited back to Winona County
Criminal Complaint: Dakota man facing 40 years in prison for reportedly killing wife with dementia
Klara E. Wright Obituary, August 6, 1947 – July 10, 2020

Pauline Brown

Name: Pauline Brown.
Died: July 8, 2020.
Age at death: 73.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Monk Bretton, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, UK.
Disability: Dementia.

Details:
Pauline’s husband strangled her, then killed himself. Police say that he had told family members that there was “only one cure–murder and suicide.”

Case Status:
Malcolm Brown (Husband), deceased.

Sources:
Retired barber, 74, took his own life after suffocating wife, 73, to death because she was suffering hallucinations due to dementia, inquest hears
Barnsley dementia patient killed before husband took own life

Sherrell Martin

Name: Sherrell “Bud” Martin.
Died: June 13, 2020.
Age at death: 71.
Cause of death: Trauma.
Location: Wilmington, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Unspecified; used walker.

Details:
According to police, Bud and his ex-sister-law had been arguing for a few days–an argument she ended by beating him around the head with his own walker. Before he died a few hours later, Bud told police who had beaten him.

He was a retired machinist who liked fishing and playing cards.

Case status:
Donna Reynolds (Ex-sister-in-law), convicted of aggravated battery; sentenced to 3 years; released on parole after 1 year 3 months in custody.

Source:
Wilmington Woman Charged With Attacking Disabled Ex-Brother-In-Law Who Later Died
Disabled Man Dies After Attack, Wilmington Woman Arrested: WPD

Billy Hopson

No Photo Name: Billy R. Hopson.
Died: June 7, 2020.
Age at death: 94.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Lewiston, Idaho, USA.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease.

Details:
Police say Billy’s son suffocated him because he “had no dignity left and he couldn’t watch him any longer.” Billy fought hard to survive, biting his son on the hand and making it impossible for the killer to pretend he had died in his sleep. The killer, hand bleeding and unnerved by Billy’s determination to survive, immediately confessed to his sister and was arrested.

Case status:
Mark L. Hopson (Son), pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and failure to report a death, sentenced to 7 1/2 to 25 years.

Source:
Lewiston man gets 7½ years in prison
Lewiston man pleads guilty in death of his father
Hopson told sister he smothered father
Lewiston man accused of killing his father will stand trial Feb. 1

Unknown Elder Woman

No Photo Name Unknown.
Died: May 26, 2020.
Age at death: Elder.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Gold River, California, USA.
Disability: Elder nursing home resident.

Details:
This woman’s husband came to the nursing home where she lived, shot her, and then shot himself.

Case status:
Her husband, suspect, deceased.

Source:
Apparent murder-suicide under investigation at Gold River senior home
Deputies investigating murder-suicide shooting at Eskaton facility in Gold River
Retirement Home Murder-Suicide

76-year-old woman

No Photo Name Unknown.
Died: May 21, 2020.
Age at death: 76.
Cause of death: Gunshot
Location: Wilmot Township, Michigan, USA.
Disability: Dementia.

Details:
This 76-year-old woman was shot by her husband in a murder-suicide.

Case status:
Her husband, age 79; suspect deceased.

Source:
Michigan man, 79, called to report murder-suicide before he killed himself, police say
Man kills wife suffering dementia before turning gun on himself, police say
Michigan Murder-Suicide: 79-Year-Old Man Kills Wife Suffering From Dementia, Then Calls 911 Before Killing Self

Carolyn Walker

Name: Carolyn Moseley Walker.
Died: May 4, 2020.
Age at death: 86.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Madison, North Carolina, USA.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease.

Details:
Carolyn’s husband shot her in a murder-suicide.

Before her retirement, she worked as head of human resources for ExxonMobil. She had no children of her own, so she became a second grandmother to her great-nieces and great-nephew. Every Christmas she would go to visit her extended family, bringing gifts, teaching them card games, and making cheese crackers and homemade fudge.

Case status:
J. William “Bill” Walker (Husband), deceased.

Source:
Prominent Madison dentist kills ailing wife, self in small town’s first murder-suicide
Before murder-suicide, Walker had planned to seek assisted living facility

Kathy Erbelding

No Photo Name: Kathy Erbelding.
Died: April 30, 2020.
Age at death: 63.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA.
Disability: Legally blind.

Details:
Kathy’s daughter and an unrelated man allegedly stole $700 from her bank account, which they used to buy the gun with which they murdered her.

Kathy liked books on tape, her dog Opie, and crochet. She was a camper and then a counselor at her beloved Camp Onseyawa, a summer camp for children with disabilities.

Case status:
Jacob Lugmayer (Housemate), pleaded guilty to complicity to commit murder, complicity to commit first-degree robbery and abuse of a corpse, sentenced to life.
Krystal A. Erbelding (Daughter), charged with murder, robbery, and abuse of a corpse.

Source:
Plea deal offered to woman for role in mother’s murder
One of two charged in 2020 homicide pleads guilty
Obituary of Kathy J. (Blackburn) Erbelding | Cheney Funeral Home
Amazon’s Alexa may be key witness in clearing Kentucky woman of her mother’s murder, attorneys say
Kentucky police: Man, woman charged with killing blind mother
Hardin County man, woman charged with killing blind mother
Police: Man, woman charged with killing blind mother
Pair charged with murder could face death penalty
Couple charged after ‘shooting woman’s blind mom in the head and taking $700′

James and Janet Samuels and Lachesta Childs

Photo of an older African American man wearing a gray tuxedo and glasses. He is smiling for the camera. His hair is a short fringe on the sides of his head. — James Samuels

Name: James Samuels.
Age at death: 69.
Disability: Leg amputee.

Name: Janet Samuels.
Age at death: 67.
Disability: Unspecified disability.

Name: Lachesta “Shasta” Childs.
Age at death: 47.
Disability: Autism.

Janet Samuels

Died: March 31, 2020.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Macon, Georgia, USA.

Details:
After Janet’s sister’s boyfriend assaulted her sister and Janet tried to intervene, James, Janet, and Shasta were shot by the boyfriend of Janet’s sister, who then proceeded to kidnap his two-year-old son. Janet’s sister escaped to safety; the toddler was rescued unhurt after a police standoff ended in the killer’s arrest.

Janet leaves behind a twin sister; her sister remembers that the two were inseparable until Janet’s death.

Case Status:
Caesar Crockett (Sister’s boyfriend), convicted of three counts of murder and kidnapping, sentenced to life without parole.

Sources:
‘You need to die in the penitentiary’: Macon man convicted of triple murder and kidnapping
Autism Memorial: Lachesta Childs

Princess Chapman

Sepia portrait photo of a middle-aged African-American woman with a perm, wearing a suit jacket and scarf. Name: Princess “PC” Richards Chapman.
Died: March 27, 2020.
Age at death: 86.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Newport News, Virginia, USA.
Disability: Unspecified; wheelchair user.

Details:
Princess, nicknamed PC, was shot by her husband.

She was an ordained minister, and worked as a dental assistant.

Case status:
Brian Keith Patterson (Husband), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony; set to be released in 2039.

Source:
York County man pleads guilty to fatal domestic-related shooting
Virginia man jailed in killing of wheelchair-bound wife
Princess Chapman’s Obituary