Type: Homicide – Page 27 – Disability Day of Mourning

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

“Sophie”

No Photo Name: Sophie (Pseudonym).
Died: May 7, 2020.
Age at death: 3.
Cause of death: Drugged and suffocated.
Location: Hägglingen, Aargau, Switzerland.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
Sophie’s parents drugged her with ecstasy, then suffocated her. They had repeatedly refused support and assistance in caring for her.

Case Status:
Her father was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 8 years in prison. He was also found guilty of attempted murder for putting sleeping pills in her bottle in October 2019.
Her mother was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Her grandmother was acquitted of complicity.

Sources:
Eight years for parents who killed disabled daughter in Switzerland
Bremgarten: 8 years for parents after killing disabled daughter
Bremgarten AG: Eltern sollen behindertes Kind getötet haben – Prozess im Aargau
Eltern des dreijährigen Mädchens zu acht Jahren Haft verurteilt.
Prozessstart: Warum nur wurde die 3-Jährige in Hägglingen AG getötet?
Hägglingen: Eltern sollen behindertes Kind (†3) getötet haben – heute stehen sie vor Gericht
Ecstasy im Brei: Paar tötet Kind – Mutter würde es wieder tun
Deutsches Paar in der Schweiz vor Gericht: Behinderte Tochter erstickt

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

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′

Isabel Rosin

Name: Isabel Rosin.
Died: April 28, 2020.
Age at death: 26.
Cause of death: Smothered.
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Schizoaffective disorder.

Details:
Isabel’s husband allegedly smothered her. He said he was trying to restrain her during a drug-induced psychotic episode, but at autopsy, she tested negative for drugs.

Isabel was an avid reader.

Case status:
Brian D. Rosin (Husband), charged with first-degree murder; died before trial.

Source:
Uptown man accused of smothering wife is found dead
Uptown man accused of smothering wife who had bad trip on magic mushrooms
Update: Woman injured in “domestic altercation” has died, authorities say
Isabel Gudanowski Rosin – View Obituary & Service Information

Damian Scott

No Photo Name: Damian B. Scott.
Died: April 26, 2020.
Age at death: 43.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Bloomingdale, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Blind, unable to walk, unspecified mental disability.

Details:
Scott’s uncle strangled him to death. An autopsy found that Scott had survived at least one previous strangulation attempt.

Case status:
Dominick Taylor (Uncle), convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to 50 years and must serve all of his sentence.

Source:
Man sentenced to 50 years for killing disabled nephew
Bloomingdale man accused of killing disabled nephew back in Illinois
Bond Set At $2M For Bloomingdale Man Charged With First Degree Murder

Ramdas Dahikar

No Photo Name: Ramdas Ishwar Dahikar.
Died: April 21, 2020.
Age at death: 47.
Cause of death: Poisoning.
Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India.
Disability: Unspecified.

Details:
Ramdas’s wife and her boyfriend reported his death as a natural one, but police say that when they were questioned, the two admitted to poisoning him.

Case status:
Kanchan (Wife), charged with murder.
Ajay Shankar Chitalwar, charged with murder.

Source:
Disabled man murdered, wife & her paramour held

Sirshendu Mallick

No Photo Name: Sirshendu Mallick.
Died: April 18, 2020.
Age at death: 45.
Cause of death: Strangulation.
Location: Kolkata, India.
Disability: Physical disability.

Details:
Sirshendu’s father went to the police station and reported that he had strangled Sirshendu because he would not put on a face mask when he left the house.

Case status:
Banshidhar Mallick (Father), charged with murder.

Source:
Kolkata: Man strangulates son with disability for ‘not wearing mask’ while stepping out

Ruth Brown

Name: Ruth Brown.
Died: April 11, 2020.
Age at death: 52.
Cause of death: Bludgeoned.
Location: Bognor, England, UK.
Disability: COPD, chronic back pain.

Details:
Ruth died after being bludgeoned with a plastic tray. Her partner sent a text message to his brother reading, in part, “…I’ve killed Ruth,” and told police that he didn’t remember killing her because he had been drunk, but that he must have killed her, because “nobody else could have done it.”

Ruth was “the centre of [her] family”, an outgoing woman who could talk on the phone for hours. She volunteered for MIND and other mental health charities. Her family is raising money for a memorial plaque.

Case Status:
Wayne Morris (Partner), convicted of murder, sentenced to 17 years to life.

Source:
Man given life imprisonment for murder of Ruth Brown in Bognor
‘S***, what have I done, I panicked’ claims man accused over lockdown murder
‘Man bludgeoned partner to death with plastic tray after lockdown row’
Man accused claims he ‘panicked’ when he found partner’s body
Scots woman ‘killed by partner’ as he ‘couldn’t storm out house’ due to lockdown
Memorial plaque fundraiser launched for much-loved mother killed in Bognor Regis
Memorial garden for my mum, organized by Lauren Brown

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