Age: Young Adult – Page 5 – Disability Day of Mourning

Akram Choudhary

No Photo Name: Akram Choudhary.
Died: January 14, 2021.
Age at death: 26.
Cause of death: Stabbing.
Location: Sangli, Maharashtra, India.
Disability: Unspecified.

Details:
Akram’s mother-in-law allegedly asked her son and his friend to kill Akram because she was angry that her daughter had married a disabled man. Akram was stabbed to death.

Case Status:
Shabana Shaikh (Mother-in-law), arrested in connection with murder.
Aman Shaikh (Brother-in-law), arrested on suspicion of murder.
Ejaz Shaikh (Brother-in-law’s friend), arrested on suspicion of murder.

Source:
Mumbai: Woman arrested for provoking son to kill disabled son-in-law

Gopi

No Photo Name: Gopi.
Died: December, 22, 2020.
Age at death: 20.
Cause of death: Throat cut.
Location: Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India.
Disability: Mobility impaired after accident.

Details:
Gopi had become disabled after an accident, and his father was frustrated that he had to care for him. Gopi’s father came home drunk one day, killed his son with a machete, dumped the body in an unused septic tank, and fled.

Case Status:
Thangavel (Father), convicted of murder and concealing/destroying evidence; sentenced to life.

Sources:
Man gets life imprisonment for killing son in Tiruchi
55-year-old man gets life for killing disabled son
Murder of differently-abled son: Father gets life sentence; Trichy Court Judgment

Jonathan Lambert

No Photo Name: Jonathan Lambert.
Died: September 9, 2020.
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Malnutrition.
Location: Pearl River, Louisiana, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
When they found Jonathan unresponsive, his family members called emergency services. Responders arrived to find that he had died; he appeared “severely malnourished and neglected”. Investigating further, they found Jonathan’s adoptive father and two of his adopted siblings alive, but suffering from dehydration, starvation, and neglect. Jonathan’s adoptive mother was arrested; another caregiver, whom authorities said was equally responsible, died before trial.

Case Status:
Sharon Lambert (Adoptive mother), charged with manslaughter and three charges of cruelty to the infirm.
Dianne Hester (Caregiver), deceased.

Sources:
Slidell woman indicted, accused of neglecting disabled people
Pearl River Woman Arrested on Warrants Stemming from Son’s 2020 Death

Fat-lun Wong

No Photo Name: Fat-lun Wong.
Died: September 5, 2020.
Age at death: 21.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Hong Kong, China.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Investigators believe that Fat-lun’s mother strangled him with a plastic tablecloth.

Fat-lun was a student at Tsui Tsin Tong School, a residential care home for children with intellectual disabilities. At age 21, he had just grown too old to stay there.

Case status:
Xueping Chen (Mother), pleaded guilty to manslaughter; sentenced to 1 year, to be served in a psychiatric hospital to treat her depression.

Source:
Hong Kong mother sent to psychiatric ward for killing mentally disabled son
Hong Kong police arrest mother after son dies in suspected murder-suicide bid
Mom held at hospital over death of handicapped son
Mother charged over handicapped son’s death

Jack Crowell

Name: Jack Crowell.
Died: July 31, 2020.
Age at death: 22.
Cause of death: Drowning.
Location: Seymour, Connecticut, USA.
Disability: Special needs.

Details:
Jack Crowell’s mother put him in their car; then she drove it into the river, where they both drowned.

Jack was a Yankees fan who listened to their games on the radio. His family remembers him dancing at Wolf Park concerts.

Case Status:
Ruled homicide-suicide.
Connie Crowell (Mother), deceased.

Source:
Housatonic River fatalities of Monroe woman and son ruled a ‘homicide/suicide’
Connie Crowell: Connecticut mom drove SUV into river to kill herself and special needs son, refused help
Mom, 54, drove her SUV with special needs son, 22, into a river

Sarah Curran

Name: Sarah Curran.
Died: July 23, 2020.
Age at death: 22.
Cause of death: Choked, drowned, stabbed, and bludgeoned.
Location: Winchester, Virginia, USA.
Disability: Asperger syndrome.

Details:
Sarah’s ex-boyfriend killed her by choking, drowning, stabbing, and bludgeoning. They had recently broken up.

At ten years old, Sarah gave out Pop-Tarts to people waiting at a local bus stop. As a teen, she was a Special Olympics swimmer, bowler, and roller-skater and rode on a float in the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. She volunteered at a local food and clothing pantry. She loved animals, so she volunteered at the animal shelter. As an adult, she used to spend her Social Security check on buying people steak dinners at a restaurant.

When she moved out, her family worried that she would be taken advantage of because of her kind and trusting nature. Sarah was living in a homeless encampment when she died. She had strong political opinions, backing the Affordable Care Act on social media.

Case status:
Larry Lee Mullenax III (Ex-boyfriend), pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, sentenced to 40 years.
Clara Ann Perdue, convicted of concealment of a body, sentenced to up to 5 years in prison.

Source:
Woman gets 5 years for body concealment
Man gets 40 years for killing ex-girlfriend
Sentencing delayed for convicted killer
Autism Memorial: Sarah Curran
Man facing up to 50 years for homeless woman’s murder
BREAKING NEWS: Man enters plea deal in homeless encampment murder
Judge orders second evaluation of body concealment suspect’s mental status
Man indicted for first-degree murder in woman’s death
Woman slain in Frederick Couty; ex-boyfriend charged
Missing Winchester woman found dead, suspect charged in her murder
Homicide victim identified as missing Winchester woman
Homicide victim fondly remembered
Homicide suspect planned killing for weeks, court documents indicate

April Zavala

No Photo Name: April Heather Zavala.
Died: June 14, 2020.
Age at death: 24.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Elko, Nevada, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
April’s mother strangled her because she wanted to dress herself instead of letting her mother dress her. She said that caring for April during the COVID pandemic had become too stressful. At the time of her death, April had not seen a doctor in several years.

Case status:
Judith I. Zavala (Mother), convicted of second-degree murder, sentenced to 10-25 years in prison.

Source:
Autism Memorial: April Zavala
Elko woman convicted of 2nd degree-murder in 24-year-old daughter’s death
Mom bound over to district court in daughter’s death
Mom says stress led to daughter’s strangulation

28-year-old woman

No Photo
Name Unknown.
Died: June 3, 2020.
Age at death: 28.
Cause of death: Trauma.
Location: Smuts Ngonyama Informal Settlement, Butterworth, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
Disability: Unspecified.

Details:
While her caregiver was away, this 28-year-old woman’s brother allegedly killed her, leaving her under a blanket with “upper body injuries”. Medics were called but declared her dead at the scene.

Case status:
Her brother, age 24, charged with murder.

Source:
Disabled woman murdered in EC – brother arrested
Media Statement, South African Police Service, Office of the Provincial Commissioner Eastern Cape

Uthra

Name: Uthra (alternate spelling Uttara).
Died: May 7, 2020.
Age at death: 25.
Cause of death: Snakebite.
Location: Anchal, Kollam, Kerala, India.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Uthra’s husband, having married her for the dowry, decided to kill her. He bought a viper from a snake catcher and induced it to bite his wife. She survived the bite, though she had to spend 52 days in bed and get plastic surgery. Not long after she returned from the hospital, Uthra’s husband bought a second snake, this time a cobra. He gave her sedatives to make her sleepy, and while she was asleep, he made the snake bite Uthra, who died the next day. Police say Uthra’s in-laws were involved in planning the attacks and covering up for Uthra’s husband.

Uthra was the mother of a one-year-old son.

Case Status:
Sooraj S. Kumar (Husband), convicted of murder, sentenced to life plus 17 years.
Renuka and Surya (Sooraj’s mother and sister), charged with conspiracy, domestic violence, and destruction of evidence.
Surendran Panicker (Father-in-law), charged with destroying evidence.
Chavarukavu Suresh Kumar (Snake catcher), unspecified charges, serving as witness.

Sources:
Uthra Case : 27 Circumstances Which Proved Murder Using Live Cobra
Man who used a cobra to murder his wife is jailed for life
Uttara Snakebite Murder: Suraj Gets 17 Years Plus Two Life Terms
Snake-bite Murder : Court Finds Suraj Guilty Of Killing Wife Uttara; Quantum Sentencing on Wednesday
Kerala snakebite murder
‘He killed his wife because I gave the cobra’: Snake-catcher breaks down in Kerala court
Uthra’s relatives depose in snakebite murder case

Ellie Price

Fashion photo of a young woman with light skin and a spray-tan, heavy make-up, and bleached-blond straight hair. Name: Ellie Price.
Died: May 4, 2020.
Age at death: 26.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Disability: Borderline personality disorder.

Details:
Ellie was stabbed in the chest by her boyfriend.

Case Status:
Ricardo Barbaro (Boyfriend), convicted of murder.

Sources:
‘Never the bride’ brothel owner complained after death
Brothel owner and benefactor complained after woman’s death
Slain woman was like a little sister, says man who helped fund luxury lifestyle