Location: USA – Page 124 – Disability Day of Mourning

John Muir

No Photo Name: John Muir.
Died: November 6, 1985.
Age at death: 65.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Aptos, California, USA.
Disability: Partial paralysis from polio.

Details:
John was stabbed to death. His wife, who had married him only three months before, most likely paid two men to kill him. She had been the caregiver for his deceased first wife, and the two had recently separated.

John was a retired IBM executive.

Case status:
Richard Vance Richardson (hired killer), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, sentenced to 15 years to life.
Clinton Lee Burns, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Charlene Richardson (Stepdaughter), charged with accessory to murder, sentenced to 6 months in jail.
Barbara Muir (Wife), charged with accessory to murder, sentenced to 6 months in jail.

Source:
Man who killed IBM executive in Aptos in 1985 denied parole

Tara Kelly

No Photo Name: Tara Kelly.
Died: September 15, 1985.
Age at death: 9.
Cause of death: Homicidal violence.
Location: Rochester, New York, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
While her mother’s boyfriend was babysitting Tara, he killed her by hitting, kicking, and suffocating her.

Case status:
Thomas Osburn (Mother’s boyfriend), second-degree murder, 20 years to life.

Source:
Man Sentenced in Death of Retarded Girl

Cory Watts

No Photo Name: Cory Watts.
Died: July 10, 1985.
Age at death: 22.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
Disability: Head injury from motorcycle accident.

Details:
After Cory’s mother lost a $10-million lawsuit against the company that made the helmet Cory had been wearing during his motorcycle accident, she went home, shot Cory to death, and killed herself.

Case status:
Cordelia Watts (Mother), deceased.

Source:
Lawsuit Lost, Mother Kills Son

Emily Gilbert

No Photo Name: Emily Gilbert.
Died: March 4, 1985.
Age at death: 73.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis.

Details:
Emily’s husband killed her by shooting her in the head.

She loved tailored clothes and traveling, and was the mother of one daughter.

Case status:
Roswell Gilbert (Husband), convicted of murder, sentenced to 25 years; granted clemency and released after 5 years. Received $50,000 for the rights to his story.

Source:
‘They adored each other’: Should court free caregiver who killed wife with dementia?
Shots in 1994 Fort Lauderdale death started mercy killing crusade
Roswell Gilbert, 85, Who Killed His Ill Wife and Went to Prison
Gilbert v. State
The Agony Did Not End for Roswell Gilbert, Who Killed His Wife to Give Her Peace – Vol. 27 No. 2

John Robles

No Photo Name: John Robles.
Died: January 19, 1985.
Age at death: 6.
Cause of death: Smothered.
Location: El Cajon, California, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
John had spent time in foster care, but was returned to his mother. In the end, he was smothered by his mother, who had gotten away with killing his brother Matthew five years before. John’s death was thought to be natural until his mother went to the police and confessed to both murders.

Case status:
Debra Sue Robles (Mother); confessed to murder; sentenced to 30 years to life.

Source:
An American Tragedy: Mother Kills 2 Children as System Fails
Woman Held in Deaths of Her Disabled Sons

Paula Riffe

A gravestone reading, Little one. Paula Eloise Riffe. September 4, 1942 to December 17, 1984. Name: Paula Eloise Riffe.
Died: December 17, 1984.
Age at death: 42.
Cause of death: Homicide.
Location: Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, USA.
Disability: Unspecified.

Details:
Paula’s father killed her in a murder-suicide because he didn’t know what would happen to her after he died.

Case status:
Paul Riffe (Father), deceased.

Source:
Paula Eloise Riffe
Misplaced Mercy

(Baby) McKay

No Photo Name: Baby McKay (Never named).
Died: June 18, 1983.
Age at death: Newborn.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Harvey, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Trisomy 13 (Possibly).

Details:
When Baby McKay’s father saw his son’s cleft palate and webbed fingers and had it explained that the baby might have Trisomy 13, he bashed the infant’s head against the delivery room floor, killing him.

Case status:
Daniel McKay (Father). Charged with murder. Case dismissed after two hung juries.

Source:
Case Dismissed in Slaying of Deformed Baby

Katonya Jackson

Name: Katonya Jackson.
Died: 1983.
Age at death: 3.
Cause of death: Untreated epilepsy.
Location: Micanopy, Florida, USA.
Disability: Epilepsy.

Details:
Katonya’s mother was in a cult called the House of Prayer, and gave her and her brother to the pastor of the church to care for.

Katonya had seizures, which the pastor took to mean that she had the devil in her. Katonya’s family says she starved and beat Katonya and refused to give her her epilepsy medication.

Katonya died, covered in bruises, from untreated epilepsy. Her death was ruled “preventable”.

Case status:
Lea Vera Jackson (Mother), arrested and released without charges.
Anna Young (House of Prayer pastor), convicted of child abuse in the case of Nikki Nickelson; served six months; convicted of manslaughter, in the case of Katonya Jackson, sentenced to 15 years; convicted of first-degree murder of Eamon “Moses” Harper, sentenced to 30 years concurrent with the manslaughter sentence.

Source:
Cult leader’s daughter gives an inside look at the House of Prayer
Anna Young gets 30 years in toddler’s death
Death, abuse and questions — life in an Alachua County cult
House of Prayer residents say torture, abuse was common
Survivors ask: Why did cult misdeeds go by ‘wayside’?
Mother Anna: The Cult Leader Suspected of Torture and Murder

Michelle and Scott Sandor

No Photo Name: Michelle Sandor.
Age at death: 14.

Name: Scott Sandor.
Age at death: 11.

Died: September 3, 1982.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.
Disability: Marfan syndrome.

Details:
Scott and Michelle Sandor were shot by their mother, who then shot herself. Their mother also had Marfan syndrome.

Case status:
Linda V. Sandor, deceased.

Source:
3 IN GREENWICH ARE FOUND SLAIN AT THEIR HOME

Stephen Hughes

Photo of Stephen Hughes, a small boy with a large head, wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt; he has straight brown hair and fair skin. Name: Steven Paul Hughes.
Died: June 1, 1982.
Age at death: 2.
Cause of death: Pneumonia.
Location: Boise, Idaho, USA.
Disability: Spina bifida.

Details:
Steven was born with spina bifida, but his parents didn’t take him to see a doctor because they didn’t believe in doctors. He didn’t get a wheelchair and had to drag himself around on his forearms instead.

Steven died of untreated pneumonia shortly before his third birthday.

Case status:
William Hughes (Father) and his mother, no crime because denying children medical treatment on religious grounds is legal in Idaho.

Source:
These Coffins Represent Kids Who Died Because Their Parents Were Faith-Healers
Idahoans protest faith healing exemptions in Boise
183 Coffins For Idaho Children Killed By Faith Healing Parents
Hundreds March for Repeal of Idaho’s Faith Healing Exemptions
Steven Paul Hughes (1979-1982) – Find A Grave
In Idaho, medical-care exemptions for faith healing come under fire