Category: Type: Homicide

Death due to the actions of another human being.

Kirk Hammersley-Baker

Photo of a small boy wearing large wire-framed glasses and a school uniform with a white collar under a red sweatshirt. He has pale skin and curly blond hair. Mild bruises are visible on his lower lip. He is smiling for the camera.Name: Kirk Hammersley-Baker.
Died: March 22, 1999.
Age at death: 7.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Stoke-on-Trent, England, UK.
Disability: Epilepsy.

Details:
Kirk’s neglectful father and unstable home life was relieved by his attendance at school, which served as his safe haven. He was a loving boy who had a big smile and liked hugs.

Involved in a custody battle and afraid he had lost custody, Kirk’s father drugged him, strangled him with a scarf, wrapped him in a blanket, and dumped his body in an outhouse.

His school opened a new play area in his memory, which was revamped in his honor for the 20th anniversary of his death.

Case status:
Karl Hammersley-Baker (Father), convicted of murder, sentenced to life.

Source:
Tragedy of ‘little boy lost’ strangled to death by own dad
The chilling murder of Stoke-on-Trent boy, 7, strangled to death by his own dad
Murdered Kirk, 7, to be remembered with play area revamp 20 years on
Tragedy of ‘little boy lost’ who wanted love and affection.
Father in custody row killed son, 7
Life for man who strangled son

Louise Papeman

Photo of Louise Papeman, an elderly woman in a pink sweater, with short gray hair, smiling at the camera and holding on to someone's hands off-frame.Name: Louise Papeman.
Died: February 21, 1999.
Age at death: 88.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Pearl River, New York, USA.
Disability: Kidney disease, depression.

Details:
On her 88th birthday, Louise’s husband shot her with a rifle.

Case status:
Walter Papeman (Husband), sentenced to 1 year.

Source:
Mercy killings: After Westchester Medical Center deaths, a look at similar deaths
MAN, 86, KILLS SICK WIFE, 88: COPS
METRO NEWS BRIEFS: NEW YORK; Retired Plumber Held In Killing of His Wife
Police: Man Kills Ailing Wife On Her 88th Birthday
What is mercy killing? Does Richard DeLucia’s murder-suicide qualify?

Pierre Pasquiou

No PhotoName: Pierre Pasquiou.
Died: December 28, 1998.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Drowning.
Location: Saint-Brieuc, France.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Pierre was drowned by his mother; she pushed him off a pier into the Atlantic Ocean.

Case status:
Annie Pasquiou (Mother). Given a three year suspended sentence; served no time.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Pierre Pasquiou
Solomon, A. (2014). Far from the tree: Parents, children and the search for identity. Scribner Classics.
Life with Aspergers: Murdering Disabled People

Julie Jensen

Photo of a woman with fair skin and short, wavy brown hair styled to frame her face; she is smiling for the camera. She is wearing white pearl drop earrings and a neatly buttoned white blouse.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

Lenka Orlikova

No PhotoName: 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

Tammy Proulx

No PhotoName: 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

Dominic McCarthy

Photo of Dominic McCarthy. He is a large, middle-aged man wearing a sweater and sitting in a wheelchair. He has short brown hair, fair skin, and a mustache.Name: Dominic McCarthy.
Died: February 9, 1997.
Age at death: 34.
Cause of death: Insulin overdose.
Location: Stonely, Cambridgeshire, England, UK.
Disability: Paraplegic, from motorcycle accident.

Details:
Dominic was given a massive overdose of insulin by his wife; then when he was hospitalized in a coma, she tampered with his IV. He died without ever waking.

Case status:
Deborah Winzar (Wife), convicted of murder, sentenced to 15 years to life; released by 2017.

Source:
Nurse jailed for murdering Peterborough husband loses legal bid to overturn conviction
Life for nurse who killed disabled husband
Is this nurse a killer?
“No one else killed your husband, so you must have done” (2000)
REPORT: A marriage made in hell
Killer nurse will serve 15 years
Nurse convicted of murdering husband battles to clear her name
New evidence casts doubt on murder conviction of nurse locked up for killing husband
Nurse jailed for injecting husband with insulin could have murder conviction quashed, court hears

Casey Albury

Black and white photo of a teenage girl with fair skin and shaggy hair cut into bangs; her expression looks puzzled.Name: Casey Janine Huinui Albury.
Died: 1997.
Age at death: 17.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Feilding, New Zealand.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Casey was killed by her mother, who initially took her to a bridge in the hopes that Casey would climb onto it and fall off. When Casey refused, she took her daughter into an alley and strangled her.

Casey liked painting and composing music.

Case status:
Janine Albury-Thomson (Mother), convicted of manslaughter; sentenced to four years; served 15 months.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Casey Albury
Tragic end to life of beauty and misery
Woman who killed autistic daughter jailed for church fire

Charles-Antoine Blais

No PhotoName: Charles-Antoine Blais.
Died: November 6, 1996.
Age at death: 6.
Cause of death: Drowning.
Location: Montreal, Canada.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Charles-Antoine was drowned by his mother in her bathtub.

Case status:
Danielle Blais (Mother). Pled guilty to manslaughter, given a 23-month suspended sentence and offered a job at the Autism Society of Montreal. No jail time.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Charles-Antoine Blais
Solomon, A. (2014). Far from the tree: Parents, children and the search for identity. Scribner Classics.
Blais decision brings new concern to the disabled
People with Disabilities Outraged by Murders
History of euthanasia in Canada
Tracy Latimer is dead because her father is a murderer

Gary Henderson

No PhotoName: Gary Henderson.
Died: August 28, 1996.
Age at death: 35.
Cause of death: Traumatic injury, asphyxia, possibly drowning.
Location: Lansvale, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Mobility impaired, intellectual disability.

Details:
Gary lived in a caravan with a couple who held his bank card and handled his finances; they were also intellectually disabled, but not as vulnerable as Gary. They were known to dislike him, and had been harassing him over his lack of hygiene and accusing him, sans evidence, of being a pedophile. When a friend of the family visited and beat Gary severely, no one called for help. Gary died either from the beating, from his injuries due to neglect, or from drowning when he was dumped at a boat dock.

Case Status:
Susan Hall (Household member), pleaded guilty to manslaughter, given suspended sentence.
Colin Simpson (Acquaintance), pleaded guilty to maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm, sentenced to time served.
Colin Hanslow (Household member), pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to the infliction of grievous bodily harm, released on good behavior bond.

Sources:
The Uncounted
Regina v Hall [1999] NSWSC 738 (23 July 1999)