Age Categories – Page 187 – Disability Day of Mourning

Cory Moar

No Photo Name: Cory Clifford Moar.
Died: December 11, 1998.
Age at death: 29.
Cause of death: Pulmonary thromboembolism.
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Disability: Intellectual disability, mild hearing loss.

Details:
Cory was beaten repeatedly for years before his death, while living with his brother and sister-in-law. He eventually died from the accumulated injuries and a blood clot in his lungs.

Case status:
Eli Pruden (Half-brother), status unknown.
Linda Pruden (Sister-in-law), status unknown.
Mentions of a trial; charges unknown.

Source:
Tracy Latimer is dead because her father is a murderer
In the matter of the fatality inquiry act and in the matter of Cory Moar

Julie Jensen

Name: Julie Jensen.
Died: December 3, 1998.
Age at death: 40.
Cause of death: Antifreeze poisoning.
Location: Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, USA.
Disability: Depression.

Details:
Julie died from antifreeze poisoning. Before her death, she had sent a letter to a friend in which she explained that she was worried about her husband’s behavior, and to suspect him if she died. When her husband was arrested, he claimed that Julie had killed herself because of her depression. While prosecutors pointed out that Julie’s husband had discussed poisoning his wife with co-workers and fellow prisoners in jail, and had searched the Internet for information on poisoning and murdering one’s spouse, defense attorneys claimed Julie had killed herself and framed her husband.

Julie’s husband had the means to hire private lawyers, so the case has been a complex one. Though he was initially convicted and sentenced to life, the verdict was overturned after lawyers argued that the letter which Julie had written to her friend was inadmissible as evidence due to being “hearsay”. In circuit court, the verdict was reinstated; but in appeals court, that decision was reversed and the case sent back to circuit court. More than twenty years after Julie’s death, her husband is now getting a new trial on the same murder charge.

Case Status:
Mark Jensen (Husband), convicted of first degree murder, sentenced to life without parole; verdict overturned, new trial granted; convicted of murder, sentenced to life without parole.

Sources:
Wisconsin man convicted by second jury in antifreeze murder of wife
Wisconsin man again found guilty of killing wife with antifreeze at retrial
Wisconsin man’s retrial begins in wife’s antifreeze death
A ‘letter from the grave’ and a 2-decade long legal battle: 20-year-old murder case goes back to a jury
Mark Jensen Kenosha murder trial: Childhood friend of Jensen’s son takes stand
Second trial date set in Jensen murder case
Murder of Julie Jensen

Jim Helm

No Photo Name: Jim Helm.
Died: November 8, 1998.
Age at death: 27.
Cause of death: Unspecified; homicide.
Location: Nelson, New Zealand.
Disability: Down syndrome, Autism.

Details:
Jim’s mother killed him and herself because she was afraid of what would happen to him if she died.

Case status:
Nancy Helm (Mother), deceased.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Jim Helm
Jim Helm died at the hands of a loving mother who despaired of his future.

Shi Rui Wang

No Photo Name: Shi Rui “Serena” Wang.
Died: September 23, 1998.
Age at death: 23 months.
Cause of death: Medication overdose.
Location: Padstow, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
Serena’s parents were Chinese living in Australia, and Serena’s mother was afraid that if she committed suicide, her husband would take Serena back to a Chinese orphanage. She tried to tie up her husband to stop him from saving Serena’s life, but he fought back and she instead killed him. Then she killed Serena with a medication overdose, and attempted suicide, but was found by police.

Case status:
Joyes Hong Wang (Mother); convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to 4-6 years in prison.

Source:
Regina v Wang [2000] NSWSC 447 (23 May 2000)

Lenka Orlikova

No Photo Name: Lenka Orlikova.
Died: August 29, 1998.
Age at death: 14.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Disability: Brain damage from meningitis.

Details:
Lenka was stabbed to death by her father. He also tried to kill her mother, who survived. Her twin sister was unhurt.

Case status:
Oto Orlik (Father), convicted of murder, sentenced to life term.

Source:
ORLIK’S OTHER DAUGHTER TAKES WITNESS STAND.(Local/Wisconsin)
ORLIK GETS LIFE TERM FOR KILLING DAUGHTER RESEARCHER SANE, JURY SAYS.(Local/State)
Stabbing Death Charges
Family wants to see accused dad

Shannon Faichney

Name: Shannon John Faichney.
Died: June 6, 1998.
Age at death: 18.
Cause of death: Blunt trauma; cerebral hemorrhage.
Location: Wauchope, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Shannon was living with a couple and another teenager. The teenager beat him severely for ten days. On the last day of his life, he was beaten so severely that he fell unconscious; but, despite knowing of the situation, the adults in the house did not call for medical aid for ten hours, while Shannon slowly died.

Case Status:
BJT (Minor household member), status unknown.
Mark McDonald (Household member), sentenced to 4 years with an 18-month minimum and an additional term of 2 years 6 months.
Deborah Anne McDonald (Household member), pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence, sentenced to 5-7 years.

Sources:
R v McDonald [2001] NSWCCA 301 (2 August 2001)
Shannon John Faichney (1980-1998) – Find A Grave.

Tausha Lanham

A photo of Tausha Lanham, a toddler with pale skin and fine ginger hair. Name: Tausha Lee Lanham.
Died: April 19, 1998.
Age at death: 7.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: Burgettstown, Washington County, Pennsylvania, USA.
Disability: Prematurity, developmental delays.

Details:
Tausha’s mother kept her restrained and starved her to death. She was seven years old, but weighed less than twelve pounds, when she died.

Case status:
Michelle Tharp (Mother), first-degree murder, death sentence.

Source:
Under a rock, near some water
Michelle Tharp’s attorneys say she should not face death for starving daughter
Michelle Tharp | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Orachanee Anderson

No Photo Name: Orachanee Anderson.
Died: January 15, 1998.
Age at death: 22.
Cause of death: Long-term trauma, starvation.
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Orachanee’s stepfather and mother beat and starved her to death.

Case status:
John Hester, Sr. (Stepfather), found guilty of murder, death sentence, commuted to life in prison.
Peggy Anderson (Mother), pleaded guilty to murder, sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Source:
Father guilty in death of disabled stepchild
Death Penalty archive

Tammy Proulx

No Photo Name: Tammy Proulx.
Died: November 28, 1997.
Age at death: 34.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Franktown, Ontario, Canada.
Disability: Depression.

Details:
Tammy’s boyfriend shot her, and claimed to the judge that she had wanted to die because she had depression. In reality, he shot her and dumped her body along the side of the road.

Tammy was the mother of two girls, aged six and fourteen when she died.

Case status:
Dennis Mitchell Whalen (Boyfriend), pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Source:
Remembering the names of the women carved in stone at Ottawa’s Women’s Monument
1997 Homicide Stats – western Quebec/eastern Ontario

Thy Chan

Name: Thy Chan.
Died: August 19, 1997.
Age at death: 16.
Cause of death: Viral encephalitis.
Location: Oxford, Massachusetts, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
Thy (pronounced “tea”) came from Cambodia and lived in a foster home in the United States. Her foster parents were parents in name only; they took in children for the money, sometimes locked them in dog cages, abused and neglected them. Severely disabled children were cared for by other children rather than by their foster parents. Thy’s foster sister Jessica remembers seeing Thy horribly sick with a temperature of 106–something her foster mother, a nurse, would have recognized as serious–for two days before anyone called for an ambulance. Thy died of viral encephalitis in the hospital a few days later.

Thy’s death was put down to natural causes. However, years later when four former foster children came forward to report that they had been physically and sexually abused by their foster parents, they also testified that Thy had died from the same neglect they had all been subjected to.

Case status:
Susan Blouin (Foster mother), charged with indecent assault and battery, nursing license revoked.
Raymond Blouin (Foster father), charged with indecent assault and battery.
Philip Paquette (Susan Blouin’s ex-boyfriend), charged with statutory rape.

Source:
Man arraigned on child rape charges after foster home abuse investigation
Foster child died in troubled Oxford foster home in 1997
New charges issued in foster family abuse case
Former Oxford foster children file $40M lawsuit against couple, state over “house of horrors”