Name: Zoe Whitford.
Died: February 10, 2018.
Age at death: 3.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Dublin, Ireland.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
When Zoe attended a Montessori school, the principal noticed that her behavior was different and told her mother that she ought to have an assessment. At the assessment, she was given a diagnosis of borderline-to-mild autism, but her mother was convinced that she had severe autism with pathological demand avoidance. She thought Zoe would never get the right services and it would ruin her other child’s life.
Her mother suffocated her with a Minnie Mouse pillow; she died three days later in the hospital.
Case status:
Her mother, charged with murder, found not guilty by reason of insanity, committed to mental hospital.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Zoe Whitford
Irish mum charged with murder of her three-year-old daughter
Mother who smothered autistic daughter committed to Central Mental Hospital after bed made available
Woman who smothered her daughter was suffering from severe depression with psychotic features, court hears
Woman found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity
Mother smothered girl (3) after autism diagnosis, court told
Mother smothered toddler daughter with Minnie Mouse pillow as she called out for her father, court told
Mother accused of child’s murder was ‘overwhelmed’
Mother who admits suffocating her three-year-old daughter was ‘obsessed’ over autism, court hears
Mother not guilty of murder by reason of insanity
Mother who admits suffocating girl (3) ‘obsessed’ over autism, court told
Mother accused of child’s murder ‘obsessed’ over autism
Name: Omar Omran.
Name: Evelyn Joel.