Age Categories – Page 134 – Disability Day of Mourning

Betty Rowland

Photo: An older woman with fair skin and graying strawberry-blonde hair, wearing glasses and a lacy white blouse. Name: Betty Rowland.
Died: October 31, 2014.
Age at death: 86.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Columbia, Missouri, USA.
Disability: Stroke; used a wheelchair.

Details:
Betty’s husband killed her because he “didn’t want them to be a burden on the family”.

Case status:
Donald M. Rowland (Husband); pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, sentenced to 5 years of probation and a 7-year suspended sentence.

Source:
88-year-old man gets suspended prison sentence, probation for wife’s death
88-year-old man receives probation for stabbing his wife

Esihle Mosoeu

No Photo Name: Esihle Xoliswa Mosoeu.
Died: October 31, 2014.
Age at death: 2.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Pomeroy, South Africa.
Disability: “Disabled child who could not sit or stand on her own”.

Details:
Esihle’s mother strangled her because she didn’t have enough money to feed her. She was receiving child grant money for her Esihle, but she used the money to transport her to a hospital for treatment, instead of to buy food.

Case status:
(Mother); pleaded guilty to murder, sentenced to 5 years, suspended for 5 years.

Source:
Child murder ‘was an act of despair’

Joann Canfield

No Photo Name: Joann Canfield.
Died: October 26, 2014.
Age at death: 72.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Alameda, California, USA.
Disability: Dementia.

Details:
Joann’s husband took her home from her nursing home and, after a failed attempt to poison her with sleeping pills, shot her in the head.

Case status:
Jerry “J.C.” Canfield (Husband), pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, sentenced to 3 years.

Source:
He Shot His Wife and Confessed — Why Neighbors Are Coming to His Defense
3 years for Alameda man who claimed mercy in wife’s killing

Debbie Holden

Name: Debbie Holden.
Died: October 24, 2014.
Age at death: 58.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Jacksonville, North Carolina, USA.
Disability: Chronic pain.

Details:
Debbie’s fiance shot her; then he tried to claim that Debbie must have committed suicide because of her chronic pain. Police became suspicious when they couldn’t find the bullet that had killed Debbie until her fiance turned up at the hospital with a matching bullet in his thigh.

Case Status:
Tim Noble (Fiance), convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life without parole.

Sources:
Telltale Bullets, Exhumations, Staged Murders: Most Shocking ‘Accident, Suicide Or Murder’ Reveals
Man Passes Out, Urinates Himself After Being Questioned About Fiancée’s Murder

Noama Ware

Blurry photo of a white-haired old lady with pale, wrinkled skin, her mouth open as though she is about to speak. Name: Noama Ware.
Died: October 2014.
Age at death: 78.
Cause of death: Undetermined, in the setting of abuse and neglect.
Location: Shelley, Idaho, USA.
Disability: Frail elder, likely dementia/hoarding.

Details:
Noama’s husband and son both abused her. After an argument about her keeping her many cats in her bedroom, her son kicked her, injuring her severely; and then as she lay in bed, her grandson kicked her. They found her dead shortly thereafter.

Afraid that they would get in trouble because Noama was malnourished and abused, they buried her body in their duck pen, and her death went unnoticed for five years until her daughter died in a car accident and the police tried to find her to break the news.

Case status:
Harley Howell (Grandson), pleaded guilty to failure to report a death, sentenced to 3-10 years in prison.
Douglas Howell (Son), pleaded guilty to abuse and neglect of an elder, sentenced to 4 days in jail, $387.50 in fees, and 50 hours community service.

Source:
Local man sentenced to four days in jail for abuse and neglect of 78 year-old woman
Man admits to killing his grandmother and burying her in the backyard nearly 5 years ago
Shelley man sentenced after hiding grandmother’s death
Teen ‘killed bedridden grandma after row about her keeping 30 cats in her room’
Man admits to killing his grandmother and burying her in the backyard nearly 5 years ago

Sandra Deacon

No Photo Name: Sandra Deacon.
Died: October 1, 2014.
Age at death: 59.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Budgewoi, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Brain damage due to neonatal encephalitis.

Details:
Sandra was found dead of massive head injuries, and her partner was arrested. Support workers told authorities that her partner had been dominating and isolating her, possibly forcing her to distance herself from support services.

Case Status:
Garry Weigand (Partner), charged with murder, died before trial.

Sources:
DNA needed to identify victim
Murder accused Garry Weigand dies in custody | Newcastle Herald | Newcastle, NSW
Inquest into the death of Sandra Deacon

Bessie Looney

No Photo Name: Bessie Looney.
Died: September 29, 2014.
Age at death: 82.
Cause of death: Malnutrition, sepsis.
Location: Baton Rouge, USA.
Disability: Dementia, heart disease, wheelchair user.

Details:
Bessie’s daughter and granddaughter neglected her. She was left strapped into a wheelchair, denied her medication, and not brought to the doctor when she became very sick. She died of starvation and septic shock from untreated bedsores.

Case status:
Joleslie Looney (daughter), convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to 40 years.
Lauren Looney (granddaughter), pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Source:
Louisiana high court upholds sentence in mom’s bedsore death
Woman pleads guilty to negligent homicide in 82-year-old grandmother’s death
Granddaughter pleads guilty to negligent homicide in 82-year-old woman’s gruesome 2014 death
Death of elderly Baton Rouge woman ruled a homicide
82-year-old found dead at home surrounded by flies, trash; two arrested
Doctors say woman facing charges was sane during the time of the death of her elderly mother
Baton Rouge woman declared sane when elderly mother died amidst deplorable conditions
Baton Rouge woman to be tried Aug. 28 in death of 82-year-old mother found in deplorable conditions
Daughter faces trial in death of bedsore-ridden mother, 82
Attorney for Baton Rouge woman accused of killing her mother doesn’t want her called ‘evil,’ ‘monster’ during trial
Elderly woman’s daughter told Baton Rouge police she wasn’t aware of severity of mother’s bedsores
‘A hard-working person that struggled,’ friends say of woman accused in elderly mother’s death
Daughter swiftly convicted of manslaughter in elderly mother’s 2014 bedsore-related death
Woman’s sentencing delayed in gruesome 2014 bedsore-related death of 82-year-old mother
Woman leaves grandmother in waste-covered wheelchair until bedsores kill her
Granddaughter sentenced in 82-year-old Baton Rouge woman’s bedsore-related death
Woman denied reduced sentence in death of elderly, malnourished mother
Judge won’t reduce Baton Rouge woman’s 40-year prison term in bedsore-related death of mother
Attorney says 40 years in bedsore-related death of 82-year-old woman is excessive punishment
Louisiana court upholds woman’s prison term for mom’s bedsore death
Court upholds woman’s prison term for mom’s bedsore death
Baton Rouge woman’s conduct ‘reprehensible’ in elderly mother’s bedsore death, appeals court says

Michaelina Simonetti

Old-fashioned portrait photo of Michaelina Simonetti, a young woman with fair skin, rosy cheeks, and curly dark hair. Name: Michaelina Simonetti.
Died: September 15, 2014.
Age at death: 93.
Cause of death: Homicide by neglect.
Location: New Britain, Connecticut, USA.
Disability: Blind; disabled.

Details:
Michaelina was discharged from a nursing home into her son’s care. She was found in poor condition by emergency services; she was lying on a mattress on the floor with severe bedsores, and police believe she had not been moved from the mattress or fed properly in five months. She died after two weeks at the hospital.

Case status:
Frank Simonetti (Son), charged with first-degree manslaughter.

Source:
New Britain Man Charged With Manslaughter In 93-Year-Old Mother’s Death
New Britain man arrested in connection to mother’s death

Mr. Zhang

Photo of a young Asian boy with tan skin and black hair, wearing a sports jersey, his hands to his neck, looking puzzled. Name: Zhang (First name unknown).
Died: September 13, 2014.
Age at death: 7.
Cause of death: Fall injury.
Location: Singapore.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
This 7-year-old boy was found dead on the ground outside a high-rise apartment building after being pushed out the 9th-story window by his mother.

Case status:
Koh Sook Hoon (Mother); pleaded guilty to culpable homicide, sentenced to 5 years.

Source:
Woman who threw her son from 9th storey flat jailed 5 years
Autism Memorial: Zhang (7-year-old male)
Seven-year-old boy found dead at the foot of a Tampines HDB block; police investigating
Mother of boy found dead at Tampines to face murder charge
Mother of seven-year-old boy found dead in Tampines arrested for alleged murder
Singaporean mother charged with killing autistic 7-year-old son
Mentally-ill mother gets five years’ jail for death of son
Jailed for pushing autistic son out of window

Kim and Fletcher Hunt

Sepia-tone portrait photo of a woman and three children, a boy and two girls. They are smiling at the camera.

Name: Kim Hunt.
Died: September 9, 2014.
Age at death: 41.
Disability: Traumatic brain injury (from car accident), causing hemiplegia and personality changes.

Name: Fletcher Hunt.
Age at death: 10.
Disability: ADHD.

Died: September 9, 2014.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Lockhart, New South Wales, Australia.

Other victims: Mia (8 years) and Phoebe (6 years).

Details:
Kim’s husband shot her and her three children before committing suicide.

Before her car accident, Kim had been an intensive-care nurse. Now unable to do the physical work of nursing, Kim was planning to return to work as a nursing administrator instead.

Fletcher liked Australian rules football and riding his motorbike.

Case status:
Geoff Hunt (Husband, father), deceased.

Source:
‘He may have simply just snapped’: Disability worker breaks down as she describes Kim Hunt’s violent rages after a car crash left her with brain injuries before her husband shot his family dead
Hunt family inquest findings