Category: Relationship: Parent

Parents, foster parents, stepparents, parents’ significant others.

Jessie Pickle

Photo of a smiling boy with fair skin and short brown hair, dressed in a brown coat over a red flannel shirt, pointing toward the camera. He is smiling, mouth open.Name: Jessie Pickle.
Died: December 26, 2022.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Untreated infection.
Location: Athens, Texas, USA.
Disability: Autism, fetal alcohol syndrome.

Details:
Jessie died from an untreated infection while in the care of his stepmother. Videos provided to the police by his father, who spent long periods away at work and monitored his children with video cameras, show Jessie’s stepmother responding to his obvious illness by locking him in his room for the night; in the morning, she found Jessie dead.

Case Status:
Shonna Pickle (Stepmother), charged with injury to a child.

Sources:
Autism Memorial: Jessie Pickle
Athens woman arrested in death of 10-year-old autistic non-verbal stepson
Affidavit: Athens woman’s abuse, neglect led to death of child

14-year-old girl

No PhotoName Unknown.
Died: December 20, 2022.
Age at death: 14.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Disability: Unspecified.

Details:
This teenage girl’s body was found in her home with her mother. The girl had been strangled. Police say her mother killed her and then attempted suicide.

Case Status:
Her mother (Suspected of murder; hospitalized).

Sources:
Widow Strangles Handicapped Daughter to Death, Attempts Suicide
Bengaluru Woman Strangles Handicapped Daughter, Tries To Die By Suicide

6-year-old girl

No PhotoName Unknown.
Died: December 17, 2022.
Age at death: 6.
Cause of death: Beaten.
Location: Bau, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Disability: Unspecified.

Details:
This six-year-old was allegedly beaten to death by her mother’s boyfriend. Her body was found a few weeks later, stuffed into a sack and hidden in some bushes.

Case Status:
Her mother, arrested on suspicion of murder; now helping the prosecution.
Then Chiew Yern (Mother’s boyfriend), charged with murder.

Sources:
Man charged in Bau with murder of girlfriend’s disabled 6-year-old daughter
One child with disability murdered is one child too many
Couple remanded in connection with seven-year-old girl’s murder in Kuching
Lovebirds in remand over murder of six-year-old girl
Nancy orders protection for family of murdered Sarawak girl
Nancy instructs ministry to assist murdered disabled girl’s family in Bau
The evil that men do: Disabled girl, 6, killed, stuffed into a sack and thrown into the bushes by mother’s boyfriend

4-year-old girl

No PhotoName Unknown.
Died: December 14, 2022.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Beating.
Location: Geumjeong-gu, Busan, South Korea.
Disability: Blind.

Details:
This 4-year-old girl was taken to the hospital, dead on arrival. A doctor called the police, who suspect the girl’s mother of severely beating her when she woke her mother up asking for food.

Case Status:
Her mother, charged with murder.

Sources:
Mother apprehended over murder of blind 4-year-old daughter

Yu Hau-ching

No PhotoName: Yu Hau-ching.
Died: December 11, 2022.
Age at death: 47.
Cause of death: Bludgeoning; head injury.
Location: Wong Tai Sin, Hong Kong, China.
Disability: Chronic illness, bedridden.

Details:
Yu’s parents allegedly bludgeoned her to death with a hammer. Police say that the motive for the killing was the “unbearable pressure” of taking care of her.

Case Status:
Leung Yuet-mei (Mother), charged with murder.
Yu Ping (Father), charged with murder.

Sources:
Hong Kong elderly couple arrested over suspected murder of ill daughter, 47
Elderly couple charged with killing ill daughter with hammer
Hong Kong elderly couple charged with murdering chronically ill daughter

Josiah Green

No PhotoName: Josiah Green.
Died: December 4, 2022.
Age at death: 18.
Cause of death: Burns.
Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
When Josiah’s father called for an ambulance, medics found the teenager dead, with severe burns over 90% of his body. His father allegedly told authorities that Josiah had accidentally fallen into a bathtub full of scalding water two days before, and he had treated the boy with over-the-counter remedies instead of taking him to the hospital. Police say that the extent of the teen’s burns is not consistent with the brief exposure to hot tap water that his father reported.

Case Status:
Josiah’s death has been ruled a homicide. Police are still investigating the possibility that Josiah was accidentally burned, after which medical care was delayed for two days.

Sources:
Death of special needs Brooklyn teen found burned in apartment deemed a homicide, NYPD says
Special needs teen Josiah Green found burned to death in NYC home
Teenager with special needs found burned to death in bathtub
Brooklyn special needs teen’s death from scalding water burns a homicide, NYPD says

Edwin Colleson

No PhotoName: Edwin Colleson.
Died: December 4, 2022.
Age at death: 45.
Cause of death: Undetermined.
Location: Hitchcock, Texas, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Edwin was admitted to the hospital in critical condition, covered in scars and bedsores and with multiple injuries as well as evidence of having been tied up. He weighed 70 pounds, and died six days later. His parents claimed they had been trying to cure his disability with “holistic treatment” that, police say, amounted to torture.

Case Status:
Billie Jean Barnes (Mother), found guilty of injury to a disabled person, sentenced to 5-10 years.
Timothy Ray Ellis (Stepfather), found guilty of murder, sentenced to 30-60 years.

Sources:
HORRIFYING DETAILS: Texas man sentenced for murdering special needs stepson, left him hogtied in trailer
A 45-year-old man police say was abused by his mother and step-father died on Sunday
45-year-old with intellectual disability dies 5 days after Hitchcock police find him disfigured
Disabled man dies from injuries after subjected to torturous ‘holistic’ procedures by mother, stepfather, Hitchcock police say

Milagros Martin

No PhotoName: Milagros Nazareth Martín.
Died: November 28, 2022 (Body found).
Age at death: 5.
Cause of death: Respiratory infection.
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Disability: Prematurity, developmental delay, bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Details:
Milagros’s body was found encased in concrete, in a box her mother had been using as a nightstand. Her mother was arrested. An autopsy determined that Milagros had died from a respiratory infection, and police suspect that it was lack of proper care that caused her death.

Case Status:
Vanesa Mansilla (Mother), charged with negligent homicide.

Sources:
Argentinian Woman Arrested After Missing, Disabled Daughter Found In Cement Nightstand
Argentina mom allegedly put dead girl in concrete block
Body of girl, 5, found in concrete block used as bedside table by mother in Buenos Aires
La autopsia a la niña hallada en una caja de madera determinó que murió por una infección

Madelin Day

Photo of a pale-skinned girl with curly blond hair, lying in a big yellow head-support pillow, fists bunched up next to her face. She has strabismus in one eye. She is smiling.Name: Madelin Anika Day.
Died: November 16, 2022.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Cocaine overdose.
Location: Mattoon, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Unspecified; mobility impaired.

Details:
Madelin died from a cocaine overdose while in the care of her mother and her boyfriend. It is unknown whether she got into the cocaine on her own, or whether it was deliberately administered.

Madeline liked being outdoors, floating in the pool or soaking up the sun. She had a collection of stuffed animals, and loved her grandma’s dog Milo. Her favorite color was blue.

Case Status:
Taylor West (Mother), charged with first-degree murder and drug-induced homicide.
Maverick Bowman (Mother’s boyfriend), charged with first-degree murder and drug-induced homicide.

Sources:
Police: Disabled child dies of cocaine overdose; two individuals arrested
Two Mattoon people arrested for drug-induced homicide, murder of child
Two arrested in connection with 4-year-old’s cocaine overdose death, police say
Madelin Day Obituary (2017 – 2022)

5-year-old boy

Photo of a small boy with light-brown skin and short black hair, wearing a yellow T-shirt and striped gray and white shorts, sitting on the floor next to a colorful toddler toy.Name Unknown.
Died: November 8, 2022.
Age at death: 5.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Hat Yai, Songkhla Province, Thailand.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
This five-year-old boy was found dead in his apartment. Police believe that his mother, who had to be hospitalized after a suicide attempt, smothered him with a pillow.

Case Status:
Thitirat Kongkerd (Mother), hospitalized and under investigation.

Sources:
Teacher murders her 5 year old autistic son in southern Thailand
Teacher kills autistic son before consuming toilet cleaner