Remembering the Disabled Murdered by Caregivers
Parents, foster parents, stepparents, parents’ significant others.
Name: Dianna Lam Phan.
Died: November 4, 1991.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA.
Disability: “Born brain-damaged”; visually impaired.
Details:
Dianna was shot by her mother in a murder-suicide.
Case status:
Stacy Phuong Phan (Mother), deceased.
Source:
Girl Died of Gunshot Before Being Hit by Car
Lam Phan (1987-1991) – Find A Grave Memorial
Name: Susan Shea.
Died: October 26, 1991.
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Lincoln Park, New Jersey, USA.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Susan and her mother, Eileen Shea, were allegedly shot by Susan’s father.
Case status:
Michael Edward Shea (Father); charged with first-degree murder.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Susan Shea
Man Held in Killings in His Home
Name: Jeni Cazares, also called Yeni Lezama, Jenny, or Yeni Cazares.
Died: May 19, 1991.
Age at death: 3 months.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Santa Ana, California, USA.
Disability: Down syndrome.
Details:
Jeny’s mother smashed her head; then her parents both helped hide her body.
Case status:
Oscar Lezama, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, sentenced to 11 years.
Rocio Cazares (Mother), pleaded guilty to being an accessory, sentenced to 5 years probation.
Source:
Mother Charged With Murdering Infant Daughter in Her Apartment
Name: Unknown; last name may be Lev.
Died: February 22, 1991.
Age at death: 16.
Cause of death: Poisoning.
Location: Jerusalem, Israel.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
This teenage boy’s mother was found guilty of poisoning him.
Case status:
Zvia Lev (Mother), found guilty of murder.
Source:
Autism Memorial: 16-year-old male, Name Unknown
Michael Rotem, “Mother found guilty of killing her autistic son,” Jerusalem Post, February 22, 1991.
Name: Julie Kirisits.
Died: October 21, 1990.
Age at death: 23.
Cause of death: Homicidal violence.
Location: Tonawanda, New York, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.
Details:
Julie was beaten, strangled, and stabbed to death by her mother.
Case status:
Patricia Kirisits (Mother); pleaded not responsible due to insanity. Four years later she was “legally discharged from supervision”.
Source:
Court Discharges Mother in Child’s Killing
MOTHER FACING MURDER CHARGE WAIVES HEARING
Name: Matthew Rosio.
Died: October 16, 1990.
Age at death: 11.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.
Details:
After seeing a television program on euthanasia, Matthew’s mother deliberately starved him to death.
Case status:
Patricia Rosio (Mother); she was given eight years of probation and ordered to serve a three-month jail sentence, but allowed out 16 hours a day.
Source:
Mother charged with starving her ailing son to death
Milwaukee Sentinel, Dec. 12, 1992, page 1A
Name: Dr. Malanie Desilva Paul.
Age at death: 48.
Disability: Arthritis, depression.
Name: Medhini Paul.
Age at death: 17.
Disability: Intellectual disability.
Name: Anthony Rajiva Paul.
Age at death: 12.
Disability: None.
Died: June 16, 1990.
Cause of death: Poisoned.
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Details:
Dr. Malanie Paul, her 17-year-old daughter Medhini, and her son Anthony Rajiva were killed by her husband, also a doctor, who sedated his family and then attached them and himself to IVs full of poison. Apparently, he had decided that there was “no alternative to death” for his disabled wife and daughter, and had killed twelve-year-old Anthony too because he feared that the boy would enter the foster care system and become “a freak”.
Case status:
Anthony R. Paul (Husband/Father), deceased.
Name: Charles Forester Jr.; also known as Chucky Sweeten.
Died: January 24, 1990.
Age at death: 39.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.
Details:
Citing years of abuse, Chucky’s mother shot her husband Tom, then shot Chucky because she “loved him and knew no one else would take care of him”.
Case status:
Dorothea Sweeten (Mother), charged with murder, died before trial.
Source:
Charles H. Forester Jr. (1950-1990) – Find A Grave
NATION : Woman Held in Family Slayings
Woman kills husband, retarded son
Woman kills husband and son
Name: Samuel Linares.
Died: April 26, 1989.
Age at death: 16 months.
Cause of death: Hypoxia; ventilator disconnected.
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Disability: PVS due to hypoxic brain damage.
Details:
Samuel had choked on a balloon and, eight months later, was still on life support in the hospital. His father went to the hospital, pulled a gun on the staff, shut off the ventilator, and held the staff at gunpoint until Samuel died.
Case status:
Rudy Linares (Father), pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon, sentenced to 1 year probation. Grand jury refused to indict for first-degree murder.
Source:
When life is a fate worse than death
Questions of Law Live On After Father Helps Son Die
FATHER IS CLEARED IN ILL BABY’s DEATH
Grand Jury Rejects Murder Count : Teary Father Not Charged in Death of Comatose Boy
GRAND JURY REFUSES TO INDICT DAD WHO PULLED PLUG ON SON
Samuel Linares (1988 – 1989)
Name: Patricia McNeely.
Died: April 14, 1989.
Age at death: 32.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Clearwater, Florida, USA.
Disability: Visually impaired.
Details:
Patricia’s father killed her and her mother Flora before committing suicide.
Case status:
Warren McNeely (Father), deceased.
Source:
Man kills ex-wife, child, himself
Slayings continue to haunt family