Relationship: Parent – Page 55 – Disability Day of Mourning

Baby Boy

No Photo Name Unknown.
Died: April 9, 2014.
Age at death: 5 months.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Connsbrook Avenue, East Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
Disability: None.

Details:
There was no objective evidence that this little boy was disabled, but his mother thought he would be disabled because her older son’s autism meant she had “passed on bad genes”. Sure that the baby boy would grow up to be disabled, she suffocated him.

Case status:
His mother was sentenced to three years of probation.

Source:
Mum who killed baby son freed on probation
Belfast Crown Court told details of mother’s admission to killing her child
Tears in court as details emerge of how Belfast mother killed five-month-old son
Belfast mum cries as she reveals why she killed her baby son
Woman who killed her baby son is freed on probation
Police still questioning mum about bid to smother baby
Autism Memorial: 5-month-old boy

Marvell Patterson

No Photo Name: Marvell Patterson.
Died: April 6, 2014.
Age at death: 11 months.
Cause of death: Probable drowning (Body not found).
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Disability: Perceived disability.

Details:
Marvell’s mother killed him by drowning him in the bathtub. She told police that she didn’t think her son was normal because he refused to sit up and wasn’t walking, and that she couldn’t feel a connection to him.

His mother threw Marvell’s body into the trash; though police searched the landfill, it was never found.

Case status:
Joelle Briana Gaines, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter, sentenced to 4-10 years.

Source:
Woman pleads guilty in death of son whose body was never found
Las Vegas woman charged with killing her baby

Robert Robinson

Photo of a young man with light skin and curly brown hair, a thin beard and mustache, and brown eyes. He is wearing a black jacket over a white T-shirt. Trees can be seen in the background. Name: Robert Robinson.
Died: April 3, 2014.
Age at death: 16.
Cause of death: Tranquilizer poisoning.
Location: Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Robert was poisoned by his mother, who also took her own life.

Robbie and his mother liked to hike a trail by the ocean.

Case status:
Angie Robinson (Mother), deceased.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Robert Robinson
Prince Rupert RCMP confirm murder-suicide in Ebert Street deaths
Social services for families with autistic children called into question following murder-suicide involving mother and son
Murder-suicide of B.C. autistic teen by his mother reignites debate over caregiver support
Prince Rupert mom left murder-suicide note saying she could no longer care for severely autistic son

Daniel and Luke Schlemmer

Photo of Daniel Schlemmer, a young boy wearing glasses and a navy T-shirt with a name tag on it. He has short blond hair and fair skin. — Daniel Schlemmer

Name: Daniel Schlemmer.
Died: April 5, 2014.
Age at death: 6.

Name: Luke Schlemmer.
Died: April 1, 2014.
Age at death: 3.

Cause of death: Drowning.
Location: McCandless, Pennsylvania, USA.
Disability: None; mother believed they were autistic.

Photo of Luke Schlemmer, a toddler boy with fair skin and blond hair. He is sticking his tongue out and smiling. — Luke Schlemmer

Details:
Brothers Daniel and Luke were drowned in the bathtub by their mother, because she was convinced they were autistic and would be “better off in heaven”. Luke died right away; Daniel lingered on life support for a few days.

A year before, she had tried to kill them by tying them up with twine and running over them with her car several times trying to “end their suffering”. They were hospitalized with broken bones, but their mother claimed it had been an accident and no action was taken. A year later, the boys were dead.

Case status:
Laurel Michelle Schlemmer (Mother), plead guilty to third-degree murder, sentenced to 30-80 years.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Daniel and Luke Schlemmer
Psychiatrists say mom knew she was drowning kids
Tub-drowning suspect said she drove over her sons repeatedly a year earlier
Ability to premeditate argued with McCandless mom who drowned sons
Psychiatrists say McCandless mom is mentally ill, but knew she was killing her kids
Psychiatrists say mom understood she was killing kids in tub
Pressure drove ‘ideal, Christian’ mom to drown kids: witness
Psychiatrists testify in McCandless woman’s drowning trial
Husband: Tub drowning suspect said she drove over their sons
Laurel Schlemmer, Pa. mom, found guilty but mentally ill in child bathtub drownings
McCandless mother found guilty of drowning her two sons
North Hills mom found guilty of murdering 2 young sons
A mother’s belief her sons had disabilities led to their drowning deaths
Mother gets 30 to 80 years in sons’ bathtub drownings
Monster mum hearing ‘crazy voices’ drowned her two sons in the bath because she wrongly believed they had autism… now she’s jailed for 80 years
Monster mum drowned sons aged 3 and 6 in bathtub wrongly believing they had autism
McCandless woman who drowned two sons sentenced to 30 to 80 years in prison
Mom Sentenced For Drowning 2 Young Sons In Bathtub To Be A Better Mother To Other Son

Hannah Hoag

No Photo Name: Hannah Hoag.
Died: March 26, 2014.
Age at death: 18 months.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Disability: Tumor in her trachea.

Details:
Because Hannah had a tumor in her trachea, she had a tube to keep her airway open, and had monitoring equipment to alert family if the tube became dislodged.

Hannah’s mother put her in her crib and turned off the monitoring equipment. The tube was pulled out–either by Hannah or by her mother–and Hannah suffocated.

Case status:
Rebecca Cotes (Adoptive mother), convicted of involuntary manslaughter, sentenced to 4 1/2 months in jail.

Source:
Mom accused of manslaughter in toddler’s asphyxiation death wants test of medical equipment
Jury: Wyoming mother guilty in toddler’s death
Woman gets leniency for accidental death of child

Liam Fee

Name: Liam Fee, a.k.a. Liam Johnson.
Died: March 22, 2014.
Age at death: 2.
Cause of death: Traumatic injury to heart.
Location: Thornton, Fife, Scotland, UK.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Liam was beaten so badly by his mother and stepmother that his heart burst. They tried to blame his death on his seven-year-old brother, but were later charged with murder. It turned out that they had also abused Liam’s two older brothers, and probably intimidated one of them into falsely confessing to murder.

Case status:
Rachel Fee (Mother), convicted of murder, child abuse and neglect, sentenced to 23-and-a-half years to life.
Nyomi Fee (Stepmother), convicted of murder, child abuse and neglect, sentenced to 24 years.

Source:
Rachel Fee and Nyomi Fee jailed for life for the murder of tragic tot Liam Fee
Autism Memorial: Liam Fee
Mother and partner deny murdering Fife toddler Liam Fee
Lesbian partners found GUILTY of murdering 2-year-old boy subjected to ‘heartless cruelty’ before he died
Gateshead murder accused took toddler out of nursery after concerns raised by social services
New evidence of Liam Fee social work visit weeks before murder

Tyron Honeywood

Photo of Tyron Honeywood, a young man with brown hair and light skin sitting cross-legged in a wheelchair and smoking a cigarette. He is wearing sunglasses, gloves, and black athletic pants and hoodie. Name: Tyron Paul Honeywood.
Died: March 21, 2014.
Age at death: 25.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Disability: Paraplegic.

Details:
Tyron was shot dead by his father.

Case status:
Brian Robert Honeywood (Father), pleaded guilty to murder, committed suicide just before sentencing.

Source:
Perth father charged with murder of paraplegic son
Brian Honeywood pleads guilty to murdering paraplegic son Tyron in their Midland home
Father, 60, in court on murder charge over disabled son, Tyron Paul Honeywood’s death
Midland man s death a homicide: police
Tyron HONEYWOOD Obituary

Anayah Williams

Name: Anayah Navaeh Williams.
Died: March 15, 2014.
Age at death: 1.
Cause of death: Internal injuries.
Location: Frederick, Maryland, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
Anayah was badly injured from one of her father’s beatings, and her mother did not call for help because her father said Child Protective Services would get involved. Anayah died from her injuries.

There is some evidence that Anayah’s cerebral palsy was actually caused by her father, who hit her when she was an infant, causing a skull fracture. The Maryland legislature later passed “Anayah’s Law”, meant to help prevent children from being returned to abusive parents.

Case status:
Frankie Williams (Father), pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse, sentenced to 60 years to life in prison.
Stephanie Ramirez Williams (Mother), pled no contest to first-degree child abuse resulting in death; sentenced to 20 years.

Source:
Mother faces 20 years after entering plea in Anayah Williams’ death
Man pleads guilty in high-profile toddler death case
Man gets life for fatally abusing his disabled daughter

Alexa-Marie Quinn

Photo: A fair-skinned, brown-haired girl wearing a pink shirt with a yellow flower, smiling. Name: Alexa-Marie Quinn.
Died: March 12, 2014.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Extreme blunt-force trauma.
Location: Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK.
Disability: Fetal alcohol syndrome.

Details:
Alexa-Marie’s father beat her to death.

Case status:
Carl Wheatley (Father), convicted of murder, sentenced to 21 years to life.

Source:
Alexa-Marie Quinn murder: Councils failed to understand risks
Carl Wheatley denies murder of daughter Alexa-Marie Quinn
Girl, 4, beaten to death by her dad was ‘let down’ by social services

Lucas Braman

Name: Lucas Braman.
Died: February 13, 2014.
Age at death: 23 months.
Cause of death: Unknown; possibly restraint-related.
Location: West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, USA.
Disability: “Autistic-like behaviors”; born addicted to narcotics.

Details:
Lucas was found dead wearing a helmet and wrapped in a weighted blanket much too heavy for him; the autopsy was inconclusive. His caretaker had been abusive in the past.

Case status:
Sheryl Erb (Caregiver), no charges.
Elizabeth Cavallini (Caregiver); charged with child rape, assault and battery on a child, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and intimidation of a witness, juror, police, or court official.

Source:
Barnstable grand jury indicts woman, 29, on child rape and assault charges
Autism Memorial: Lucas Braman
How did Lucas Braman die?
Report details pattern of abuse in toddler’s death
Lucas: Two families, two portrayals of Yarmouth toddler
Grieving mother of tot under DCF watch: ‘I want to know how he died’
More questions than answers in death of 2-year-old on Cape Cod
No resolution in Yarmouth child’s death