No Photo – Page 74 – Disability Day of Mourning

Jeanette Williams

No Photo Name: Jeanette Williams.
Died: March 24, 1997.
Age at death: 47.
Cause of death: Stabbing.
Location: Harris County, Texas, USA.
Disability: Paraplegic.

Details:
Jeanette lived with a couple she considered friends. They took out a life insurance policy on her and hired a man to kill her. They brought Jeanette to be ambushed by the hired killer, who stabbed Jeanette to death.

Case status:
Bruce Gillmore (Housemate), convicted of murder, sentenced to life.
Michelle Gillmore (Housemate), convicted of murder, sentenced to life.
Richard Williams (Hired killer), convicted of murder, sentenced to death, executed February 25, 2003.

Source:
Richard Head WILLIAMS

Andrea Halpin

No Photo Name: Andrea Halpin.
Died: November 21, 1996.
Age at death: 35.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Andrea liked eating out, going to the mall, and getting her hair done. She was in a job training program until her father removed her from it.

She was shot by her father in a murder-suicide.

Case status:
Bernard Halpin (Father), deceased.

Source:
Andrea Halpin Murdered by Father

Charles-Antoine Blais

No Photo Name: Charles-Antoine Blais.
Died: November 6, 1996.
Age at death: 6.
Cause of death: Drowning.
Location: Montreal, Canada.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Charles-Antoine was drowned by his mother in her bathtub.

Case status:
Danielle Blais (Mother). Pled guilty to manslaughter, given a 23-month suspended sentence and offered a job at the Autism Society of Montreal. No jail time.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Charles-Antoine Blais
Solomon, A. (2014). Far from the tree: Parents, children and the search for identity. Scribner Classics.
Blais decision brings new concern to the disabled
People with Disabilities Outraged by Murders
History of euthanasia in Canada
Tracy Latimer is dead because her father is a murderer

Gary Henderson

No Photo Name: Gary Henderson.
Died: August 28, 1996.
Age at death: 35.
Cause of death: Traumatic injury, asphyxia, possibly drowning.
Location: Lansvale, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Mobility impaired, intellectual disability.

Details:
Gary lived in a caravan with a couple who held his bank card and handled his finances; they were also intellectually disabled, but not as vulnerable as Gary. They were known to dislike him, and had been harassing him over his lack of hygiene and accusing him, sans evidence, of being a pedophile. When a friend of the family visited and beat Gary severely, no one called for help. Gary died either from the beating, from his injuries due to neglect, or from drowning when he was dumped at a boat dock.

Case Status:
Susan Hall (Household member), pleaded guilty to manslaughter, given suspended sentence.
Colin Simpson (Acquaintance), pleaded guilty to maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm, sentenced to time served.
Colin Hanslow (Household member), pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to the infliction of grievous bodily harm, released on good behavior bond.

Sources:
The Uncounted
Regina v Hall [1999] NSWSC 738 (23 July 1999)

Katie Baker

No Photo Name: Katie Lynn Baker.
Died: May 28, 1996.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: British Columbia, Canada.
Disability: Rett syndrome.

Details:
Katie’s mother deliberately starved her to death because she believed that Katie did not want to live.

Case status:
Cheryl Baker (Mother). Never charged.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Katie Lynn Baker
Crown Will Not Lay Charges in Death of Katie Lynn Baker
People with Disabilities Outraged by Murders
Remembering…
History of euthanasia in Canada Tracy Latimer is dead because her father is a murderer

Fiona Mitchell

No Photo Name: Fiona Mitchell.
Died: July 12, 1995.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Malnutrition.
Location: Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Disability: Brain injury from meningitis, causing blindness and deafness.

Details:
While her siblings lived in the rest of the house, little Fiona was shut up in a room and forgotten, denied care, medical attention, and even food and water. She died of starvation.

“…Fiona was among those whose cases were diffused by factual findings by the coroner. Though Fiona died of malnutrition, the Medical examiner attributed her death to her having had meningitis and said it was “amazing she lived as long as she did.” —Misplaced Mercy

Case status:
Mary Mitchell (Mother), pleaded no contest to criminally negligent homicide; two-year suspended sentence.

Source:
Misplaced Mercy
Girl’s Mother Indicted on Murder Charge

Regina Savage

No Photo Name: Regina Savage.
Died: 1995.
Age at death: Elder.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Valley Cottage, New York, USA.
Disability: Arthritis, curved spine, cancer.

Details:
Regina was sitting in her wheelchair when her husband came up behind her and shot her in the back with a shotgun, killing her.

Case status:
Richard Savage (Husband), pleaded guilty, sentenced to 14 days in jail plus 28 days time served.

Source:
Mercy killings: After Westchester Medical Center deaths, a look at similar deaths
What is mercy killing? Does Richard DeLucia’s murder-suicide qualify?

Ryan Wilkieson

No Photo Name: Ryan Wilkieson.
Died: December 5, 1994.
Age at death: 16.
Cause of death: Carbon monoxide poisoning.
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Disability: Cerebral palsy, deafblind.

Details:
Ryan’s mother took him to the garage and poisoned him and herself with exhaust fumes. He died only 19 days after the verdict in the Tracy Latimer murder trial.

Case status:
Cathy Wilkieson (Mother), deceased.

Source:
People with Disabilities Outraged by Murders
Remembering…
Open Season
The Latimer Case: The Reflections of People with Disabilities
History of euthanasia in Canada
Brandon Sun Newspaper Archives, Dec 7, 1994, p. 3
Tracy Latimer is dead because her father is a murderer

Cecil Brush

No Photo Name: Cecil Brush.
Died: August 18, 1994.
Age at death: 81.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease, blindness.

Details:
Cecil was stabbed to death by his wife, who called it a mercy killing and said Cecil wanted to die. There was no proof that Cecil was suicidal or that he wanted to die.

Case status:
Jean Brush (Wife), pleaded guilty to manslaughter, given a suspended sentence and 18 months of probation.

Source:
History of euthanasia in Canada
Woman Sentenced in Mercy Killing
Of Life and Death – Appendices D-L
Regina v. Brush: March 2, 1995

Sophie Préfaut

No Photo Name: Sophie Préfaut.
Died: August 7, 1994.
Age at death: 23.
Cause of death: Smothered.
Location: Montpellier, France.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Sophie’s mother drugged her, then smothered her to death. She said that she had done it because Sophie did not want to go back to the hospital, where she had been subjected to neuroleptics and electroshock.

Sophie was an intelligent young woman with a good sense of humor, who could solve cube roots in her head.

Case Status:
Jeanne-Marie Préfaut (Mother), convicted of premeditated voluntary homicide, sentenced to 5 years; sentence suspended.

Sources:
Sanction de principe pour la mère meurtrière de sa fille autiste. Les jurés de la cour d’assises de l’Héraut ont condamné hier Jeanne-Marie Préfaut, 51 ans, à cinq ans de prison avec sursis pour avoir tué le 7 août 1994 sa fille Sophie, 23 ans, autiste, à qui elle avait promis qu’elle ne serait plus jamais hospitalisée. Elle encourait une peine de prison à perpétuité.