Pamela King

Photo: A middle-aged woman with fair skin and short, curly brown hair. She is wearing glasses and a blue flowered blouse.Name: Pamela King.
Died: October 10, 2001.
Age at death: 67.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Campbell, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Disability: Arthritis, mobility impaired.

Details:
Pamela was found dead in her home, and her husband was arrested on suspicion of having beaten her to death with an iron bar. Family told police about a long history of controlling and abusive behavior by her husband. When interviewed, her husband said he had “had an argument” with her because she wanted to leave him.

When she died, Pamela had a suitcase packed and hidden in her closet, implying she was planning to escape her abusive husband.

Case Status:
Maurice Dixon King (Husband), charged with murder. Attempted suicide; declared unfit for trial and given a hearing before a judge, who declared him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and issued a mental health order of 12 years 10 months. Died by suicide while in detention.

Sources:
R v King
Court told murderer had spoken of suicide
Daughters remember Pamela King murdered by her husband in Campbell in 2001

Eva Visco

Photo of Eva Visco's tombstone, a bronze, heart-shaped plaque decorated with a rose. It reads, "Eva Visco, January 27, 1926 to December 26, 2000. We love you."Name: Eva Visco.
Died: December 26, 2000.
Age at death: 74.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Deltona, Florida, USA.
Disability: Chronic illness; frail elder.

Details:
Eva was shot in the head by her husband.

Case status:
Leo Visco (Husband), pleaded guilty to manslaughter, sentenced to 5 years suspended and 10 years probation.

Source:
DELTONA MAN, 81, AVOIDS PRISON IN ILL WIFE’S KILLING
Florida man pleads guilty in suicide-pact slaying
Visco Describes Killing Wife
Man Enters Plea in Killing of Wife
Eva Visco (1926 – 2000)

Jenny Lerner

No PhotoName: Jenny Lerner.
Died: July 14, 2000.
Age at death: 73.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease (Early).

Details:
Soon after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Jenny was asphyxiated by her husband. He called it a mercy killing.

Case status:
Herbert Lerner (Husband), convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to five years in prison and spent only months there before he was transferred to a halfway house. Committed suicide.

Source:
History of euthanasia in Canada
Herbert Lerner accusé du meurtre de sa femme
Herbert Lerner s’est immolé par le feu sur la tombe de sa femme
Herbert Lerner aurait tué sa femme par compassion

Cora Okonski

Photo of Cora Okonski, a young woman with fair skin, blue eyes, and straight brown hair. Her expression is solemn.Name: Cora Okonski.
Died: April 16, 2000 (Last seen); body never found.
Age at death: 23.
Cause of death: Missing, presumed dead.
Location: Tama, Iowa, USA.
Disability: Bipolar disorder, ADHD.

Details:
After telling her friend that she was afraid that her fiance was going to kill her, Cora Okonski disappeared, leaving behind her two-year-old son. Seventeen years later, with Cora still missing, her fiance was charged with her murder. Her son was adopted by family.

Cora’s murder trial is proceeding even though her body was never found, but there is good evidence that she is dead. After she disappeared, her family didn’t hear from her, and her disability payments went uncollected. The case broke when Cora’s fiance, in prison for unrelated charges, bragged to another prisoner that he had “choke-slammed” Cora and buried her body.

Case status:
Tait Purk (Fiance), convicted of second-degree murder, sentenced to 35-50 years in prison.

Source:
Murder trial for Iowa woman whose body was never found begins Monday
Prosecution witnesses testify in Purk murder trial
Cora Okonski feared for her life, friend testifies at Tait Purk murder trial
Cara Okonski feared for her life, friend testifies in murder trial
UPDATE: Purk case goes to the jury
Iowa mom’s 2000 disappearance now investigated as murder
Tait Purk found guilty of fiancee’s murder
Tait Purk guilty of killing fiancée in rare murder trial with no body

Cynthia Hrisco

Photo of Cynthia Hrisco, a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair and bangs, holding a flowered parasol and wearing a flowered dress.Name: Cynthia Hrisco.
Died: February 28, 2000.
Age at death: 47.
Cause of death: Drowning.
Location: South Barrington, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Rheumatoid arthritis, wheelchair user.

Details:
Cynthia’s husband drowned her in their bathtub because she wanted to sue his cousin for shoddy workmanship and cost overruns during the building of their home.

Cynthia had a degree in nutrition and worked from her home as a nutrition counselor. She had an adopted son.

Case status:
Frank Buschauer (Husband), convicted of murder, sentenced to 25 years.

Source:
Cynthia Hrisco Murder: Where Is Frank Buschauer Now?
Happy marriage turned hostile, prosecutors say, as trial begins for man charged with murder in wife’s death in 2000
South Barrington couple’s squabbles dominate first day of husband’s murder trial
In 2000, South Barrington man told cops his wife drowned in the bathtub. Today, he goes on trial for murder.
Man Charged With Drowning Wife 13 Years Ago In South Barrington

Annette Bouwer

Photo of Annette Bouwer, a middle-aged woman with light, tanned skin and short, silver-gray hair.Name: Annette Bouwer.
Died: January 5, 2000.
Age at death: 47.
Cause of death: Sedative and insulin poisoning.
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand.
Disability: Chronic kidney disease.

Details:
Annette was poisoned with sedatives and insulin by her husband, who had just taken out a life insurance policy on her.

Case status:
Colin Bouwer (Husband), convicted of murder, sentenced to 15 years to life, paroled after sixteen years.

Source:
Colin Bouwer
Colin Bouwer remains defiant over wife’s murder
Poison murderer Colin Bouwer: ‘I’m a changed man’
Psychiatrist who poisoned wife to be with lover died after being deported

Jillian Thomas

Photo of Jillian Thomas. She is a woman with ruddy skin and short brown curly hair, wearing a white blouse and earrings.Name: Jillian Thomas.
Died: October 4, 1999.
Age at death: 45.
Cause of death: Unspecified; possibly fire.
Location: Canterbury, New Zealand.
Disability: Multiple sclerosis.

Details:
Having found a new girlfriend, Jillian’s husband killed or incapacitated her before putting her body into the family car and setting it on fire.

Jillian had a Master’s degree in English and a teaching certificate; she worked for years teaching English and French.

Case status:
Kevin Harmer (Husband), convicted of murder, out on parole after 14 years in prison.

Source:
A killer in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens
Canterbury man jailed for burning his wife to death out on parole
Injustice Trust – Jillian Faye Thomas
The farmer, the dead wife, the escort and the murder trial
Wife killer Kevin Harmer released from prison

Julie Jensen

Photo of a woman with fair skin and short, wavy brown hair styled to frame her face; she is smiling for the camera. She is wearing white pearl drop earrings and a neatly buttoned white blouse.Name: Julie Jensen.
Died: December 3, 1998.
Age at death: 40.
Cause of death: Antifreeze poisoning.
Location: Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, USA.
Disability: Depression.

Details:
Julie died from antifreeze poisoning. Before her death, she had sent a letter to a friend in which she explained that she was worried about her husband’s behavior, and to suspect him if she died. When her husband was arrested, he claimed that Julie had killed herself because of her depression. While prosecutors pointed out that Julie’s husband had discussed poisoning his wife with co-workers and fellow prisoners in jail, and had searched the Internet for information on poisoning and murdering one’s spouse, defense attorneys claimed Julie had killed herself and framed her husband.

Julie’s husband had the means to hire private lawyers, so the case has been a complex one. Though he was initially convicted and sentenced to life, the verdict was overturned after lawyers argued that the letter which Julie had written to her friend was inadmissible as evidence due to being “hearsay”. In circuit court, the verdict was reinstated; but in appeals court, that decision was reversed and the case sent back to circuit court. More than twenty years after Julie’s death, her husband is now getting a new trial on the same murder charge.

Case Status:
Mark Jensen (Husband), convicted of first degree murder, sentenced to life without parole; verdict overturned, new trial granted; convicted of murder, sentenced to life without parole.

Sources:
Wisconsin man convicted by second jury in antifreeze murder of wife
Wisconsin man again found guilty of killing wife with antifreeze at retrial
Wisconsin man’s retrial begins in wife’s antifreeze death
A ‘letter from the grave’ and a 2-decade long legal battle: 20-year-old murder case goes back to a jury
Mark Jensen Kenosha murder trial: Childhood friend of Jensen’s son takes stand
Second trial date set in Jensen murder case
Murder of Julie Jensen

Tammy Proulx

No PhotoName: Tammy Proulx.
Died: November 28, 1997.
Age at death: 34.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Franktown, Ontario, Canada.
Disability: Depression.

Details:
Tammy’s boyfriend shot her, and claimed to the judge that she had wanted to die because she had depression. In reality, he shot her and dumped her body along the side of the road.

Tammy was the mother of two girls, aged six and fourteen when she died.

Case status:
Dennis Mitchell Whalen (Boyfriend), pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Source:
Remembering the names of the women carved in stone at Ottawa’s Women’s Monument
1997 Homicide Stats – western Quebec/eastern Ontario

Dominic McCarthy

Photo of Dominic McCarthy. He is a large, middle-aged man wearing a sweater and sitting in a wheelchair. He has short brown hair, fair skin, and a mustache.Name: Dominic McCarthy.
Died: February 9, 1997.
Age at death: 34.
Cause of death: Insulin overdose.
Location: Stonely, Cambridgeshire, England, UK.
Disability: Paraplegic, from motorcycle accident.

Details:
Dominic was given a massive overdose of insulin by his wife; then when he was hospitalized in a coma, she tampered with his IV. He died without ever waking.

Case status:
Deborah Winzar (Wife), convicted of murder, sentenced to 15 years to life; released by 2017.

Source:
Nurse jailed for murdering Peterborough husband loses legal bid to overturn conviction
Life for nurse who killed disabled husband
Is this nurse a killer?
“No one else killed your husband, so you must have done” (2000)
REPORT: A marriage made in hell
Killer nurse will serve 15 years
Nurse convicted of murdering husband battles to clear her name
New evidence casts doubt on murder conviction of nurse locked up for killing husband
Nurse jailed for injecting husband with insulin could have murder conviction quashed, court hears