Age: Young Adult – Page 20 – Disability Day of Mourning

Casey Axsom

Photo of Casey Axsom, a young adult with short, messy strawberry-blonde hair, wearing a white polo shirt. Casey's mouth is slightly open. Name: Casey Axsom.
Died: May 26, 2006.
Age at death: 25.
Cause of death: Malnutrition.
Location: Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
Disability: Epilepsy, cerebral palsy, possible multiple sclerosis.

Details:
Casey’s mother starved her to death. Casey died at age 25, weighing 50 pounds, covered in severe and untreated bedsores.

Case status:
Dorothy Axsom (Mother), pleaded guilty to neglect, sentenced to two years, three months in prison.

Source:
Bloomington woman charged with murder in disabled child’s 2006 death
Police: Mother Starved Disabled Daughter To Death
Bloomington Woman Pleads Guilty Of Starving Her Daughter To Death

Christopher DeGroot

No Photo Name: Christopher Aire DeGroot.
Died: May 19, 2006.
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Fire.
Location: Albany, Oregon, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Christopher’s parents locked him in his room and bolted it with a deadbolt. Then they set a fire in their home and left Christopher to burn to death.

Case status:
Nicolaas DeGroot (Father), pleaded no contest to criminally negligent homicide, sentenced to 6 months in jail.
Agnes DeGroot (Mother), pleaded no contest to criminally negligent homicide, sentenced to 6 months in jail.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Christopher DeGroot
Autistic Teen Struggled To Get Out Of Blazing Apartment
Couple Charged with Setting Fire to Kill Autistic Teen Son
Couple sentenced in fire death of autistic son

Mary Mount

Name: Mary Mount.
Died: October 19, 2005 (Body found; died around January 4, 2004).
Age at death: 28.
Cause of death: Smothered.
Location: Cape Coral, Florida, USA.
Disability: Russell Silver Syndrome.

Details:
Mary left home to stay in a hotel room with her boyfriend. Sometime during that time, she disappeared. Her boyfriend was questioned; initially, he said that she had taken her car and left, then that she had died of natural causes and he had buried her body. Years later, new evidence led to murder charges, and he admitted to smothering Mary to death.

Case Status:
Terry Daniel McDonald (Boyfriend), pleaded guilty to murder, sentenced to 25 years.

Sources:
Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for 2004 killing of Lee County woman
Terry McDonald charged with murder of Mary Mount, State Attorney’s Office says
Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for 2004 killing of Lee County woman
El Paso Police Department Voluntary Statement
Family says suspect has gotten away with murder for 14 years

Sarah Naylor

No Photo Name: Sarah Naylor.
Died: September 29, 2005.
Age at death: 27.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Springdale, Ohio, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Sarah’s mother shot her dead and then committed suicide.

Case status:
Jane Naylor (Mother), deceased.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Sarah Naylor
Mother kills autistic daughter, then herself

Tiffany Pinckney

Name: Tiffany Pinckney.
Died: April 2, 2005.
Age at death: 23.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
Disability: Autism, developmental delay.

Details:
Tiffany was locked in a basement by her sister and her sister’s husband, where she starved to death.

Teachers remember Tiffany as a girl who loved music and “was lots of fun”.

Case status:
Allison Cox (sister), convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to 9 years.
Orlando Klass (sister’s husband), pled guilty to criminal negligence, sentenced to 2 years house arrest.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Tiffany Pinckney
Trial ordered in autistic woman’s death
The life and death of Tiffany Pinckney
Autistic woman was starved to death, crown asserts
Nine years for woman’s death

Scott Olsen

No Photo Name: Scott Olsen.
Died: December 7, 2003.
Age at death: 29.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Disability: Blind and quadriplegic after brain injury.

Details:
Scott’s sister deliberately starved him to death.

Case status:
Kimberly Loebig (Sister); pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter; sentenced to 60 days, freed on time served.

Source:
Sis Charged In Brother Starve Case
GUILTY – PA – Scott Olsen, 29, quadriplegic, starved to death, Glenshaw, 7 Dec 2003

Angelica Auriemma

Name: Angelica Auriemma.
Died: December 5, 2003.
Age at death: 20.
Cause of death: Drowned.
Location: New York City, New York, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Soon after Angelica was diagnosed with autism, her mother tried to electrocute her; when that didn’t work, she drowned her in the bathtub.

Case status:
Ioanna Auriemma (Mother); convicted of manslaughter; sentenced to up to 5 years and served three years in prison.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Angelica Auriemma
Autistic Brooklyn Woman Is Drowned at Home
McGuire, A. (2016). War on autism: On the Cultural Logic of normative violence. University of Michigan Press.

Dale Bartolome

Name: Dale Voltaire Bartolome.
Died: July 29, 2002.
Age at death: 27.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Mission Viejo, California, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Dale’s father shot him and then killed himself in a murder-suicide.

Case status:
Delfin Bartolome (Father), deceased.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Dale Bartolome
Stress Pushed Man to Kill Son, Himself, Family Says
Looking at a Murder for What It Really Is
Find a Grave: Dale Voltaire Bartolome

Amber Haigh

Name: Amber Haigh.
Died: June 5, 2002 (Missing).
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Missing, presumed dead.
Location: Kingsvale, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Amber, who lived with an older couple, vanished in June 2002, leaving her six-month-old baby behind. In 2011, a coronial inquest declared her dead as a result of “homicide or other misadventure”. It took until 2020 for the couple she had been living with to be arrested and charged with her murder, but a trial ended in acquittal. Amber’s body has still not been found.

Amber’s parents remember her as a kind, loving soul who would help anyone who needed her, and as a dedicated mother who would never have voluntarily left her son behind.

Case Status:
Robert Geeves, charged with aggravated sexual assault (victim with a serious intellectual disability) and murder, acquitted.
Anne Geeves, charged with murder, acquitted.

Sources:
Amber Haigh: Couple accused of killing teen to steal baby acquitted
Geeves couple acquitted of Amber Haigh cold case
Court hears of accusation of body being fed to pigs, calls from psychics as Amber Haigh trial nears its end
Missing teen Amber Haigh was ‘removed from the equation’ after giving birth, court told
Married couple accused of murdering teenage mother in 2002 plead not guilty
Wire tap caught cold case murder accused discussing young mum’s remains, court told
Couple charged over alleged murder of NSW teen who vanished nearly 20 years ago
Couple charged with murder of disabled teenage mum
Man and woman charged over the murder of Amber Haigh
Couple charged with murder 20 years after young mum Amber Haigh vanished
Two charged with missing NSW teen’s murder

Matthew Sutton

No Photo Name: Matthew Sutton.
Died: April 22, 2001.
Age at death: 28.
Cause of death: Sedative overdose, smothered.
Location: Leonay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Trisomy 13

Details:
Matthew was given a fatal dose of sedative before he was smothered by his parents, who claimed it was “euthanasia”.

Case status:
Margaret Sutton and Raymond Sutton (Parents). Convicted of manslaughter; served no jail time.

Source:
Double death of parents who killed their son Matthew Sutton
Regina v Raymond Douglas Sutton; Regina v Margaret Ellen Sutton [2007] NSWSC 295 (4 April 2007)