Sarah Grupstein

No PhotoName: Sarah Grupstein.
Died: September 19, 2007.
Age at death: 84.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Disability: Stroke, mobility impaired (Wheelchair user), diabetes, heart disease.

Details:
Sarah was shot by her son in a murder-suicide.

Case status:
Percy Stein (Son), deceased.

Source:
History of euthanasia in Canada
Sarah Grupstein’s Obituary on National Post
Cancer-stricken man commits murder-suicide
`We weep for their pain,’ rabbi says at murder-suicide funeral
Murder or mercy?

Elsie Crutchley

No PhotoName: Elsie Patricia Crutchley.
Died: February 5, 2007.
Age at death: 77.
Cause of death: Poisoning.
Location: Taumarunui, New Zealand.
Disability: Terminal stomach cancer.

Details:
Elsie was poisoned by her son, with an overdose of painkillers and anxiolytics. She was dead within hours.

Case status:
Ian Crutchley (Son); convicted of attempted murder, sentenced to 6 months probation and 150 hours of community service.

Source:
Man who tried to kill mother avoids jail term
Man guilty of mother’s attempted murder
Man on trial for terminally ill mother’s death

Kazimiera Hys

No PhotoName: Kazimiera Hys.
Died: May 27, 2006.
Age at death: 76.
Cause of death: Sepsis, infected bedsores.
Location: Woodridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Disability: Dementia.

Details:
Kazimiera was left in her bed without necessary care; she developed severe bedsores, and her daughter did not seek care for her. The bedsores became infected and killed her.

She was an immigrant from Poland who worked as a cleaner.

Case Status:
Agnieszka Alojza Miller (Daughter), pleaded guilty to manslaughter, sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, suspended after 12 months.

Sources:
Mum died with maggots in sores, court told
Daughter let mum ‘rot to death’
R v Miller
R v Miller [2011] QCA 160 | Supreme Court Library Queensland
Agnieszka Alojza Miller’s jail sentence for manslaughter of 76-year-old mother upheld

Evelyn Joel

Photo of Evelyn Joel. She is a middle-aged woman with pale skin and graying dark-brown hair and glasses, holding a baby.Name: Evelyn Joel.
Died: January 7, 2006.
Age at death: 59.
Cause of death: Pneumonia.
Location: Enniscorthy, Ireland.
Disability: Multiple sclerosis.

Details:
Evelyn’s health rapidly declined while she was in the care of her family. By the time she was hospitalized with multiple infected bedsores, she was too weak to recover when she caught pneumonia.

Case status:
Eleanor Joel (Daughter) and Jonathan Costen (Daughter’s husband), convicted of manslaughter; given two-year suspended sentence; sentence overturned because the health care workers involved in Evelyn’s care had not been summoned to testify at trial.

Source:
Court quashes couple’s convictions for killing Evelyn Joel
Couple will not face retrial over death of MS sufferer
Court quashes couple’s convictions for killing Evelyn Joel
Couple who left MS sufferer, Evelyn Joel, to die in her own filth receive suspended sentence
Ma neglect killer walk free from court
Appeal by couple convicted of letting MS sufferer die with ‘maggots in her infected bedsores’

Grace Parkes

No Photo
Name: Grace Winifred Parkes.
Died: January 16, 2005.
Age at death: 83.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Sydney, Australia.
Disability: Diabetes, hypertension, Paget’s disease, Bells palsy, glaucoma, goitre, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

Details:
Grace’s son bludgeoned her to death.

Case status:
Phillip Raymond Parkes (Son), pleaded guilty to murder, sentenced to 13-18 years.

Source:
Regina v Phillip Raymond Parkes [2006] NSWSC 331

Dalton Gilmer

Photo: A white marble gravestone decorated with a cross, reading "Dalton, Donald Gilmer Jr., Msgt US Army, Vietnam, August 30 1940 to July 5 2004, beloved father and brother."Name: Dalton Gilmer.
Died: July 5, 2004 (Body found).
Age at death: 63.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Fletcher, North Carolina, USA.
Disability: Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s.

Details:
Dalton lived in a psychiatric hospital. His son arranged for him to be moved to a facility closer to home, picked him up, and instead of taking him to the new facility, strangled him and dumped his body at the side of the road.

Case Status:
Vince Gilmer (Son); sentenced to life; spent 17 years in prison. Compassionate release after developing Huntington’s disease.

Sources:
Doctor, convicted of murder, released from Va. prison two years after pardon
MSGT Dalton Donald “Don” Gilmer Jr. (1940-2004)
Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde
The Unusual, Unsettling Crimes of the Other Dr. Gilmer
Hospital transfer being considered for physician serving life sentence for killing, mutilating his father

Mary Sawyer

A gravestone reading, Sawyer, Mary and Charles, together forever.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

Clothilde D’Auteuil

No PhotoName: 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

Irene Ritchie

No PhotoName: 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

Florence Simpson

No PhotoName: 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