Location: USA – Page 121 – Disability Day of Mourning

Dorothy and Janet Cunningham

No Photo Name: Janet Cunningham.
Disability: Head injury from car accident.
Age at death: 43.

Name: Dorothy Cunningham.
Disability: Osteoporosis.
Age at death: 62.

Died: September 8, 1992.
Cause of death: Traumatic injury.
Location: Farmingham, Utah, USA.

Details:
Dorothy and Janet were hacked to death with a hatchet.

Dorothy, a homemaker, taught piano lessons. Janet loved skiing and was a former member of the National Ski Patrol.

Case status:
Ronald Cunningham (Janet’s father and Dorothy’s husband). Incompetent to stand trial; charges dropped.

Source:
Davis to drop murder counts against man in mental facility
MURDER SUSPECT TO REMAIN IN HOSPITAL

Ed Dossett

Name: Ed Dossett.
Died: August 12, 1992.
Age at death: 44.
Cause of death: Murder.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Disability: Terminal cancer.

Details:
Ed was drugged with an overdose of morphine; then he was placed in a cattle pen, where he was trampled. The incident was initially written off as an agricultural accident until his wife, charged with killing her second husband, David Leath, came under suspicion for Ed’s death as well.

Ed Dossett served as the Knox County District Attorney General.

Case status:
Raynella Leath (Wife), charged with murder, convicted; conviction overturned, judge declared insufficient evidence to re-try the case.

Source:
Raynella Leath
Tennessee Woman Accused in a Trail of Death
Widow indicted in death once ruled a farm accident
Raynella Dossett Leath
Jury selection in accused black widow case underway
Testimony begins for woman accused of killing both of her husbands
Knox medical examiner calls death ‘homicide’ in accused black widow trial

Mark Dowell

Gravestone for Mark Lee Dowell, April 2 1956 to January 27 1992. The stone is a granite plaque engraved with flowers. Name: Mark Lee Dowell.
Died: January 27, 1992.
Age at death: 35.
Cause of death: Drug overdose.
Location: San Diego, California, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Mark’s mother allegedly poisoned him with a drug overdose.

Case status:
Josephine Dowell (Mother), status unknown.

Source:
(Untitled newspaper article)
Mark Lee Dowell: Find A Grave

Carrie Day

No Photo Name: Carrie Day.
Died: January 9, 1992.
Age at death: 22.
Cause of death: Pneumonia.
Location: Ironwood, Michigan, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Carrie’s mother starved her, often punishing her by forcing her to watch the family eat while Carrie went hungry. She died of pneumonia, her 65-pound body unable to fight the infection.

Case status:
Urselyne Day (Adoptive mother), charged with involuntary manslaughter. Died Jan. 17, 2014 in a nursing home, of pneumonia; outcome of case unknown.

Source:
Woman accused of starving mentally retarded daughter to death

Brandon Sims

Name: Brandon Lamarr Sims.
Died: 1992 (Body never found).
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Missing, presumed dead.
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
Disability: Gonadotropin-independent precocious puberty.

Details:
Brandon was beaten to death by his mother, who said she “did not want to raise a freak”.

Case status:
Michelle Jones (Mother), convicted of murder, sentenced to 50 years; released after 20 years.

Source:
We Need to Forgive the College-Bound Mother Who Killed Her Child
From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones
Michelle Jones v. State

Noah Simpson

Name: Noah Simpson.
Died: December 10, 1991.
Age at death: 2.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Eastlake, Ohio, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
Noah’s mother suffocated him by placing him face-down on a waterbed.

Case status:
Elayna Simpson (Mother); convicted of murder, sentenced to 15 years to life.

Source:
State of Ohio vs. Elayna Simpson. Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eleventh Appellate District, Lake County. 30 Sept. 1994. LexisNexus. Web. 30 May 2015.

Louisa Maier

No Photo Name: Louisa Maier.
Died: November 12, 1991.
Age at death: 87.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Dunkirk, New York, USA.
Disability: Elder assisted-living home resident.

Details:
Louisa’s son went to her assisted living facility on the pretense that they were going out for a day’s visit. He put her in his car and strangled her to death; then he went home and hung himself.

Case status:
Joseph A. Maier (Son), deceased.

Source:
Triple deaths stun campus in Fredonia Professor kills mother, self; another dies of heart attack
Deaths being probed as murder-suicide; Fredonia professor, mother die

Dianna Phan

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

Susan Shea

No Photo 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

Jeni Cazares

No Photo 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