Relationship: Parent – Page 53 – Disability Day of Mourning

Leon Jayet-Cole

Name: Leon Jayet-Cole.
Died: May 28, 2015.
Age at death: 5.
Cause of death: Head injury due to blunt-force trauma.
Location: Papanui, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Leon was a “beautiful, happy-spirited kid” who made his family laugh with the quirky things he said. He had learned to speak and learned to read when he was four, and at five years old was enrolled in school. His obituary calls him the “chief mischief maker of his brothers and sisters Lucas, Nadia, Anabelle, Fabian, and Liam; Giane, Daniel and James.” He loved pillow-fighting and riding his tricycle. He had to have his toast cut just right, or he wouldn’t eat it. His favorite movie was Frozen.

He hadn’t spoken until he was four, but then he started speaking, reading, and doing math all at once. Leon was a bookworm who would start reading the moment he woke. When they saw how fast he was learning, his family began calling him “Superman”. He loved school, which he attended for half-days, and Dr. Seuss was his favorite author. He had a brother who was also autistic.

Leon’s stepfather allegedly beat him to the point that he suffered a severe head injury; despite the head injury, no one sought medical care for him right away. Leon survived on life support in the hospital for two days before he died. His organs were transplanted and have saved the lives of five people.

Leon may have been abused regularly for some time; he and his older brother had both been treated for head injuries at the hospital, but they had all been written off as accidental.

Case Status:
James Stedman Roberts (Stepfather), charged with murder, died by suicide while out on bail.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Leon Jayet-Cole
Coroner: Agencies missed red flags before autistic Christchurch boy Leon Jayet-Cole’s death
Stepfather hit 5-year-old ‘four times a week’, but mum saw nothing
Police could have done more to stop violent stepfather
Christchurch schoolboy Leon Jayet-Cole hospitalised with head injury months before death
Concerns raised with CYF before Leon Jayet-Cole’s death
File shows tragedy of Leon Jayet-Cole unfolding
Funeral for man accused of killing autistic boy
Leon Jayet-Cole, the little New Zealand boy whose gravestone has his murderer’s name on it
Man accused of killing child found dead
Man accused of murdering autistic boy found dead
Warning signs in CYF reports before Leon Jayet-Cole’s alleged murder
Inquest into death of Leon Jayet-Cole, 5, hears from step-dad who died awaiting murder trial
Mother accepts dead husband killed autistic son

Thenmozhi, Vasanthi, and Vasantha Kumar

No Photo Name: Thenmozhi.
Age at death: 18.
Disability: Malaikan (night blindness).

Name: Vasanthi.
Age at death: 16.
Disability: Mental illness; unspecified physical disability.

Name: Vasantha Kumar.
Age at death: 14.
Disability: Unspecified physical disability.

Died: May 27, 2015.
Cause of death: Poisoning.
Location: Markandeyapuram, Dindigul, India.

Details:
Sisters Thenmozhi and Vasanthi, and their brother Vasantha, were poisoned by their parents in a murder-suicide.

Case status:
Murugesan (Father), deceased.
Krishnaveni (Mother), deceased.

Source:
Dejected Couple Kill 3 Disabled Wards, Commit Suicide
Couple kill 3 children, hang themselves
Upset Couple Poisons 3 Ailing Kids to Death, Hang Selves
Couple poison to death 3 children, end lives

Fardeen Khan

Name: Fardeen Khan.
Died: May 17, 2015.
Age at death: 8.
Cause of death: Blunt trauma.
Location: Chandni Mahal, central Delhi, India.
Disability: Unspecified.

Details:
Fardeen’s mother came home to find him gone, and her husband would not tell him where he was. She called police, who say Fardeen’s father confessed to bludgeoning him to death.

Fardeen’s disability is unknown, but it may be cerebral palsy, from a fall to the floor as a baby.

Case status:
Nazar Khan (Father), charged with murder.

Source:
Man kills disabled son

Malachi Golden

Name: Malachi De’Andre Golden.
Died: May 11, 2015.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Malnutrition.
Location: High Shoals, North Carolina, USA.
Disability: Chromosomal disorder, epilepsy, developmental delays.

Details:
Malachi was physically abused by his stepfather and mother over an extended period of time. He was also starved and neglected, his seizure medication was withheld, and he was denied medical care. His mother kept him in a small closet, without food and water. Malachi died from starvation, weighing 19 pounds; his mother also said that his stepfather had strangled him.

Two years after Malachi died, courthouse staff took up a collection to get Malachi a proper headstone.

Case status:
Thomas Cheeks (Stepfather), convicted of first-degree murder and child abuse; sentenced to life without parole.
Tiffany Cheeks (Mother), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and child abuse, sentenced to 19 years.

Source:
North Carolina Supreme Court upholds murder charge in starvation death of 4-year-old child
New report: Child strangled to death
Stepdad offered plea deal in boy’s death
Abuse charges for accused child killer
Court clerks raise money to buy grave marker for boy who starved to death
Mother served murder papers in disabled boy’s death
Gaston County mother could get life in prison for 4-year-old son’s death
GASTON CO. MOM CHARGED IN SON’S MURDER: 19 more years in prison for Gaston County mother in 4-year-old son’s death

Emily Janzen

Photo of a young woman with pale skin and long, wavy brown hair, wearing a blue dress. She is smiling. Name: Emily Janzen.
Died: May 7, 2015.
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Rosedale, British Columbia, Canada.
Disability: Migraines, depression.

Details:
Emily and her family were shot by her father, who said he could not “watch his little girl hurt for one more second” before he killed Emily, then killed her mother Laurel and aunt to spare them the pain of hearing that Emily was dead, and then killed himself.

Emily was a music student who aspired to be an opera singer.

Case status:
Randy Janzen (Father), deceased.

Source:
Emily Janzen Remembered As ‘Amazing’ Singer After B.C. Triple Murder, Suicide

Brooke MacBeth

Photo of a young woman with fair skin and brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a scarf over a beige sweater. Name: Brooke MacBeth.
Died: Unknown. Body found May 3, 2015, six months to a year after death.
Age at death: 28.
Cause of death: Unknown.
Location: Lakeside, California, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
What happened to Brooke is unknown. All we know is that she was found dead, weighing only forty pounds, stuffed into a suitcase in her mother’s apartment, with amphetamine, marijuana, and oxycodone in her system. An autopsy did not find evidence of trauma, but most such evidence would no longer have been detectable because Brooke had been in the suitcase for several months.

Brooke’s teachers remember her strong voice, engaging smile, and long ponytail.

Case status:
Bonnie MacBeth (mother), no charges.

Source:
Teachers Remember Former Student Found Dead in Suitcase
Officials Make Disturbing Discovery While Serving Eviction Notice
Officials: Body found in trunk was woman’s daughter
Loved ones remember life of disabled woman found in suitcase
Disabled Woman’s Body Found in Suitcase at Mom’s San Diego-Area Home Weighed Just 40 Pounds: Autopsy
Body Found in Suitcase Identified
Woman in suitcase likely died of natural causes: ME

Aidan Fenton

Portrait photo of a seated toddler boy with dark straight hair and fair skin, wearing a dark vest over a white dress shirt. Name: Aidan Fenton.
Died: April 27, 2015.
Age at death: 7.
Cause of death: Insulin deprivation.
Location: Hurstville, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Juvenile diabetes.

Details:
Aidan died after a “slapping therapy” workshop, a treatment that included several days of fasting and repeated, hard slaps meant to cause bruising and “release toxins”. He may also have been taken off insulin by his parents.

Case status:
Hong Chi Xiao (Healer), found guilty of manslaughter, sentenced to 7-10 years in prison.
Aidan’s parents Lily and Geoff Fenton were not charged and are suing the medical practice.

Source:
Aidan Fenton, 7, was made to fast before ‘slapping therapy’, then he vomited and died
Couple sue medical practice over the death of their son
Chinese ‘slapping therapy’ healer jailed over Australian diabetic boy’s death

Mr. Lin

No Photo Name: Mr. Lin (Surname; given name unknown).
Died: April 22, 2015.
Age at death: 8.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Disability: Cerebral palsy, epilepsy.

Details:
Young Lin’s father was annoyed that his neighbors kept parking their motorcycles outside his house, blocking the wheelchair ramp. One day, drunk and enraged at the neighbors, young Lin’s father went inside, grabbed him in his wheelchair, and, to demonstrate his point that the motorcycles were hazardous, rammed the boy into one of the parked motorcycles. The motorcycle toppled, the wheelchair tipped over, and young Lin suffocated. His father made no attempt to help him.

Case status:
His father, also surnamed Lin; convicted of causing the death of a child, sentenced to 7-and-a-half years.

Source:
The Father Who Pushed His Own Handicapped Son into Oncoming Traffic, Causing His Death is Sentenced
Jail for man who caused death of disabled son

Ashley Lovett

Photo of Ashley Lovett. She is a young woman with light skin, brown hair pulled back, sitting in a hospital bed and feeding a newborn in her arms. Name: Ashley Lovett.
Died: October 2014; body found April 10, 2015.
Age at death: 27.
Cause of death: Unknown.
Location: Millen, Georgia, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Ashley was the mother of a baby which was taken away from her and placed with family members.

Ashley’s stepmother and half-brother, whom she lived with, did not report her death and collected her disability checks for several months after she died. When asked where Ashley was, they lied to investigators.

How Ashley died cannot be determined because her body was burned and buried more than a year before it was found; at that point only fragments were left to be identified by their DNA match to Ashley’s child, now two or three years old and living with family.

Case status:
Susan Lovett (stepmother), pleaded guilty to concealing the death of a relative, sentenced to 10 years prison and 10 years probation.
Christopher Eugene Lovett (half-brother), pleaded guilty to concealing the death of a relative, sentenced to 10 years prison and 10 years probation.

Source:
2 deny concealing death of relative
2 plead guilty in concealment of Jenkins death
EXCLUSIVE ON 6: Ashley Lovett’s Family Member Speaks out About Possible Abuse in the Home
Test results inconclusive on remains believed to belong to missing Millen woman

Elhassan and Abdelkarim Elmezayen

No Photo Name: Elhassan Elmezayen.
Age at death: 13.
Died: April 9, 2015.

Name: Abdelkarim Elmezayen.
Age at death: 8.
Died: April 10, 2015.

Cause of death: Drowning.
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Elhassan and Abdelkarim’s father took out life insurance policies on them; then he put them and his wife in the car and drove off a bridge. Their father easily swam to safety through a window he had left open for the purpose; their mother was rescued by a fisherman. But the boys, who could not swim and were strapped into their child seats, went down with the car. Elhassan died shortly after being transported to the hospital; Abdelkarim died the next day.

The family were immigrants from Egypt. A third brother, also autistic, was not in the car that day and survived.

Case status:
Ali Elmezayen (Father), convicted of murder, mail and wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering; sentenced to 212 years in prison.

Source:
California Man Sentenced To 212 Years In Prison For ‘Premeditated Murder’ Of Two Autistic Sons To Claim Life Insurance
Man convicted of intentionally drowning his 2 autistic children to collect insurance money
Man Found Guilty of Killing His Disabled Sons by Driving Off Port of L.A. Dock to Collect Life Insurance
Dad Accused of Drowning His 2 Boys With Severe Autism for Insurance Money Cries in Court
Man charged with fraud after driving off pier, killing sons
Autism Memorial: Elhassan and Abdelkarim Elmezayen
A man drove his severely autistic kids off a pier to their death. Prosecutors say he did it for the insurance money.
Father ‘drowned autistic sons to claim insurance money’
‘Dad’ took hefty life insurance policy on two autistic children before allegedly driving them to their drowning deaths: Prosecutors
Man Charged Alleging Scheme to Collect Insurance Proceeds by Intentionally Killing His Two Autistic Children
1 dead, 3 injured after car plunges into water at Port of Los Angeles