Remembering the Disabled Murdered by Caregivers
Child by birth or adoption.
Name: Mary Esther Sawyer.
Died: June 21, 2004.
Age at death: 79.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Latrobe, Pennsylvania, USA.
Disability: Dementia.
Details:
Mary’s daughter checked her out of her nursing home, took her home, drugged her, and suffocated her with a pillow.
Case status:
Rita Ann Sawyer (Daughter), convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life in prison.
Source:
U.S. court rejects plea for new trial by midstate doctor convicted of killing mom
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
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
Name: Florence Marjorie Simpson.
Died: October 3, 2000.
Age at death: 81.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Howick, New Zealand.
Disability: Terminal cancer.
Details:
Florence’s son drugged her and strangled her with the cord to her morphine pump.
Case status:
Christopher Simpson (Son), convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to 3 years.
Source:
Doctor jailed for killing his terminally ill mother
Doctor charged with strangling mother
Strangled mum full of morphine
The New Zealand Herald
Mercy Killing
Name: Joyce May George.
Died: April 24, 2000.
Age at death: 86.
Cause of death: Pneumonia secondary to malnutrition and pressure sores.
Location: Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Osteoporosis, hyperthyroidism, atrial fibrillation, chronic constipation, depression and mild dementia.
Details:
Joyce was left in place on her bed, allowing large pressure sores to develop and become infected. By the time her son and main caregiver called medics, she was malnourished and dehydrated and her condition was too poor to survive; she died 4 days later in the hospital.
Case Status:
Phillip George (Son), found guilty of manslaughter by criminal negligence, sentenced to 2-3 years.
Sources:
R v George [2004] NSWCCA 247 (19 August 2004)
Name: Joy Martin.
Died: May 28, 1999.
Age at death: 69.
Cause of death: Morphine poisoning.
Location: Wanganui, New Zealand.
Disability: Terminal cancer.
Details:
As she lay dying of cancer, Joy’s daughter injected her with a lethal dose of morphine.
After Joy was dead, her daughter wrote a book about killing her mother and was arrested.
Joy’s portrait on this memorial comes from the cover of her daughter’s book. It includes only half her face because on the book’s cover, her daughter used photo manipulation to combine half her face with half of Joy’s. In keeping with my policy of giving the killer as little publicity as possible, the daughter’s part of that image has been cropped out. –Editor
Case status:
Lesley Martin (Daughter), convicted of attempted murder; sentenced to 15 months, released after serving half her sentence.
Name: Mary Lynn Carlson.
Died: April 21, 1997.
Age at death: 53.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Maricopa County, Arizona, USA.
Disability: Multiple Sclerosis.
Details:
Mary Lynn’s son and daughter-in-law had promised to care for her in exchange for room and board, but instead neglected her and spent her money. When Lynn moved into an assisted-living facility, they took out a life-insurance policy on her and hired two fellow lodgers to kill her. They stabbed her to death.
Case status:
Doris Ann Carlson (Daughter-in-law), convicted of murder, sentenced to death; sentence reduced to life without parole.
David Carlson (Son), conspiracy to commit murder, life sentence.
Scott Smith, second degree murder, 10 years.
John McReaken, first degree murder, life sentence.
Source:
Woman Hires Men to Brutally Kill Bedridden Mother-in-Law with Multiple Sclerosis
Darling Doris was a Deadly Daughter-in-law
Doris Carlson | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers
Name: Layton Myers.
Died: May 15, 1993.
Age at death: 67.
Cause of death: Smothered.
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Disability: Terminal cancer.
Details:
Layton Myers was killed by his daughter and her husband, who put a pillow over his face and smothered him.
Case status:
Michael Power (Daughter’s common-law husband), pled guilty to manslaughter and were given suspended sentences, three years’ probation, and 150 hours of community service.
Cheryl Myers (Daughter), pled guilty to manslaughter and were given suspended sentences, three years’ probation, and 150 hours of community service.
Source:
No jail for N.S. “mercy-killers”
Of Life and Death – Appendices D-L
Robert Latimer: Justice gone awry
Name: Diana Maureen Weiland Robles.
Died: April 18, 1993.
Age at death: 44.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Bartlett, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Mobility impaired due to polio; used crutches.
Details:
Diana’s son offered his classmate $100 to kill her and her husband Peter. Her son held her down while the other man stabbed her to death.
Case status:
Eric Robles (Son), sentenced to 1oo years.
Sean Helgesen (hired killer), sentenced to 90 years.
Source:
ROBLES SENTENCED TO LIFE
Appellate court upholds 90-year sentence for Bartlett double murder by teen
Diana M. Robles (1948-1993) – Find A Grave
People v. Helgeson, 2020 IL
Name: Louisa Maier.
Died: November 12, 1991.
Age at death: 87.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Dunkirk, New York, USA.
Disability: Elder assisted-living home resident.
Details:
Louisa’s son went to her assisted living facility on the pretense that they were going out for a day’s visit. He put her in his car and strangled her to death; then he went home and hung himself.
Case status:
Joseph A. Maier (Son), deceased.
Source:
Triple deaths stun campus in Fredonia Professor kills mother, self; another dies of heart attack
Deaths being probed as murder-suicide; Fredonia professor, mother die