Type: Homicide – Page 85 – Disability Day of Mourning

Nadine Richards

Name: Nadine Dolores Richards.
Died: January 9, 2003.
Age at death: 46.
Cause of death: Burns.
Location: Sonora, California, USA.
Disability: Physical disability, unspecified.

Details:
Nadine’s brother poured a can of gasoline on his sister and set it on fire. Nadine died in the fire; the family dog also died, and the family’s home was destroyed.

Case Status:
Steven Richards (Brother), convicted of first-degree murder and arson, sentenced to 8 years plus 25 years to life in prison. Diagnosed with schizophrenia but found legally sane, having planned to kill his sister while his father was not home.

Sources:
Former Sonora Man Convicted Of Setting Sister On Fire, Denied Parole
Parole denied for former Tuolumne County man who burned sister alive in 2003
Nadine Dolores Richards (1956-2003)

Clothilde D’Auteuil

No Photo Name: Clothilde D’Auteuil.
Died: July 21, 2002.
Age at death: 78.
Cause of death: Murder.
Location: Rimouski, Quebec, Canada.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease.

Details:
Clothilde lived at a nursing home and her son visited her. When the nursing home told him that he needed to stop visiting her because she became agitated when he visited, he went to the nursing home, strangled her to death, and beat up several aides with a metal bar.

She was the widow of a doctor who had died two years before, and had three sons and three grandsons.

Case status:
Alain Quimper (Son), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, sentenced to 14 years to life.

Source:
History of euthanasia in Canada
Supreme Court of Canada Bulletin of Proceedings
Alfred QUIMPER
Condamné pour le meurtre de sa mère malade – Quimper veut un nouveau procès
Un homme de 46 ans est accusé du meurtre de sa mère

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.

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.
Anne Geeves, charged with murder.

Sources:
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

Mitchell Dickson

No Photo Name: Mitchell Dickson.
Died: June 4, 2002.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Blood loss.
Location: Seymour, Texas, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Mitchell’s mother slashed him to death with razor blades and then tried to disguise it as a car accident.

Case status:
Melanie Rochelle Dickson (Mother); pled guilty to murder; sentenced to 15-30 years.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Mitchell Dickson
Mom Gets 30 Years In Prison For Son’s Murder

Unknown Man

No Photo Name Unknown.
Died: March 12, 2002.
Age at death: 50s.
Cause of death: Blunt trauma.
Location: New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Intellectual disability, fronto-temporal dementia.

Details:
This man, whose name was not released, had a life-long intellectual disability, but began needing full-time care in his fifties, so he moved in with his father, his niece, and her baby son. His dementia had become quite severe, resulting in behavioral disinhibition, when he became confused and masturbated in the presence of his niece’s baby. She reacted by beating and kicking him to death.

He was a Vietnam veteran who worked stocking shelves before the dementia forced him to retire.

Case Status:
KMB (Niece), sentenced to 3-7 years.

Sources:
R v KMB [2005] NSWCCA 185 (6 May 2005)

Olga Law

No Photo Name: Olga Law.
Died: March 6, 2002.
Age at death: 73.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Thames, New Zealand.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease.

Details:
Olga’s husband drugged her with sleeping pills, bludgeoned her with a hammer, and then smothered her.

Case status:
Rex Arthur Law (Husband), pleaded guilty to murder, sentenced to 18 months in prison, with the possibility of applying for home confinement.

Source:
Wife killer sealed his deed with a kiss
The Queen v Rex Arthur Law
‘Honourable man’ faces 9 months’ jail

Lilian Gill

Photo of Lilian Gill, a toddler girl with light skin and dark hair. Name: Lilian Leilani Gill.
Died: March 1, 2002.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Homicide.
Location: San Bernardino, California, USA.
Disability: Mother claimed she was autistic.

Details:
Lillian was killed by her mother, who then claimed that Lilian had been sent to a special school to be treated for her autism. Lilian was later found buried in the backyard.

Case status:
Sharon Michelle Gill (Adoptive mother), pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, sentenced to “almost 14” years in prison and 5 years probation.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Lilian Leilani Gill
Lillian Leilani Gill
Woman gets prison for child’s killing in 2002
Remains found of missing girl

Irene Ritchie

No Photo Name: Irene Agnes Ritchie.
Died: February 14, 2002.
Age at death: 87.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Mount Ousley, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Heart disease, blindness; frail elder.

Details:
Irene was smothered by her son, who initially hid her body and reported her missing. Once arrested by suspicious authorities, he confessed to the crime and told them where to find her body.

At trial, the judge commented that he did not believe the murder had been a mercy killing, and that Irene’s son simply “did not like living with an elderly woman in constant pain”.

Case Status:
Geoffrey Robert Ritchie (Adopted son), convicted of murder, sentenced to 11 years 9 months to 15 years.

Sources:
R v Ritchie [2003] NSWSC 864 (19 September 2003)
15 years jail for son who suffocated terminally ill mother

Michael Snyder

Name: Michael James “Mike” Snyder.
Died: January 11, 2002.
Age at death: 43.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Disability: Multiple sclerosis.

Details:
Mike was shot by his wife during an argument; he was unarmed. His body, buried under a concrete slab in his backyard, was not found for eight years.

Case Status:
Ellen Snyder (Wife), pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a firearm, tax fraud, and tampering with evidence, sentenced to 11 years and released on parole after 8 years. Could not be charged with second-degree murder since the statute of limitations had run out.

Sources:
Mike Snyder Murder: Where is Ellen Snyder Now?

Shirley Harrison

No Photo Name: Shirley Harrison.
Died: December 31, 2001.
Age at death: 74.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Stroke.

Details:
Shirley was hospitalized after a recent stroke; her husband shot her as she lay in the hospital bed.

Case status:
Thomas Harrison (Husband), pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, sentenced to 20 years.

Source:
From ‘mercy killing’ to ‘domestic violence’: Shirley Harrison, the Chicago Media and Not Dead Yet
Man, 77, sentenced for killing his wife