Remembering the Disabled Murdered by Caregivers
Name: Eric Bland.
Died: February 24, 2003.
Age at death: 38.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: Rialto, California, USA.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Eric’s sister and her boyfriend starved him to death.
Case status:
Delores Johnson (Sister); sentenced to 15 years to life.
Willie Brown (Sister’s boyfriend); sentenced to 18 years.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Eric Bland
Rialto woman sentenced in kin’s death
Varying Degrees of Disgust
Life with Aspergers: Murdering Disabled People
Name: Clothilde D’Auteuil.
Died: July 21, 2002.
Age at death: 78.
Cause of death: Murder.
Location: Rimouski, Quebec, Canada.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease.
Details:
Clothilde lived at a nursing home and her son visited her. When the nursing home told him that he needed to stop visiting her because she became agitated when he visited, he went to the nursing home, strangled her to death, and beat up several aides with a metal bar.
She was the widow of a doctor who had died two years before, and had three sons and three grandsons.
Case status:
Alain Quimper (Son), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, sentenced to 14 years to life.
Source:
History of euthanasia in Canada
Supreme Court of Canada Bulletin of Proceedings
Alfred QUIMPER
Condamné pour le meurtre de sa mère malade – Quimper veut un nouveau procès
Un homme de 46 ans est accusé du meurtre de sa mère
Name: Mitchell Dickson.
Died: June 4, 2002.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Blood loss.
Location: Seymour, Texas, USA.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Mitchell’s mother slashed him to death with razor blades and then tried to disguise it as a car accident.
Case status:
Melanie Rochelle Dickson (Mother); pled guilty to murder; sentenced to 15-30 years. Reported to have died in prison.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Mitchell Dickson
Mom Gets 30 Years In Prison For Son’s Murder
Name Unknown.
Died: March 12, 2002.
Age at death: 50s.
Cause of death: Blunt trauma.
Location: New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Intellectual disability, fronto-temporal dementia.
Details:
This man, whose name was not released, had a life-long intellectual disability, but began needing full-time care in his fifties, so he moved in with his father, his niece, and her baby son. His dementia had become quite severe, resulting in behavioral disinhibition, when he became confused and masturbated in the presence of his niece’s baby. She reacted by beating and kicking him to death.
He was a Vietnam veteran who worked stocking shelves before the dementia forced him to retire.
Case Status:
KMB (Niece), sentenced to 3-7 years.
Name: Olga Emily Law.
Died: March 6, 2002.
Age at death: 73.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Thames, New Zealand.
Disability: Alzheimer’s disease.
Details:
Olga’s husband drugged her with sleeping pills, bludgeoned her with a hammer, and then smothered her.
Case status:
Rex Arthur Law (Husband), pleaded guilty to murder, sentenced to 18 months in prison, with the possibility of applying for home confinement.
Source:
Wife killer sealed his deed with a kiss
The Queen v Rex Arthur Law
‘Honourable man’ faces 9 months’ jail
Name: Irene Agnes Ritchie.
Died: February 14, 2002.
Age at death: 87.
Cause of death: Suffocation.
Location: Mount Ousley, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Heart disease, blindness; frail elder.
Details:
Irene was smothered by her son, who initially hid her body and reported her missing. Once arrested by suspicious authorities, he confessed to the crime and told them where to find her body.
At trial, the judge commented that he did not believe the murder had been a mercy killing, and that Irene’s son simply “did not like living with an elderly woman in constant pain”.
Case Status:
Geoffrey Robert Ritchie (Adopted son), convicted of murder, sentenced to 11 years 9 months to 15 years.
Sources:
R v Ritchie [2003] NSWSC 864 (19 September 2003)
15 years jail for son who suffocated terminally ill mother
Name: Shirley Harrison.
Died: December 31, 2001.
Age at death: 74.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Stroke.
Details:
Shirley was hospitalized after a recent stroke; her husband shot her as she lay in the hospital bed.
Case status:
Thomas Harrison (Husband), pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, sentenced to 20 years.
Source:
From ‘mercy killing’ to ‘domestic violence’: Shirley Harrison, the Chicago Media and Not Dead Yet
Man, 77, sentenced for killing his wife
Name: Brahim Dukes.
Died: December 29, 2001.
Age at death: 18.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
When Brahim’s father was jailed for unpaid traffic tickets, he was left with his stepmother, under whose care Brahim starved to death.
Case status:
Audrey McDaniels (Stepmother); convicted of third degree murder; conviction was later reversed due to violation of double jeopardy rule, and she was released.
Source:
COM. v. McDANIELS | 886 A.2d 682 (2005) | a2d68231489
Autism Memorial: Brahim Dukes
Audrey McDaniels v. Winstead, et al.
Name: Johnny Churchi.
Died: October 10, 2001.
Age at death: 13.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Johnny’s mother strangled him.
Case status:
Jadwiga Miskiewicz (Mother); charged with first-degree murder; sentenced to time in a psychiatric hospital.
Source:
Autism memorial: Johnny Churchi
School Struggles To Come To Grips With Johnny’s Death
Name: Sean Hurtt.
Died: June 13, 2001.
Age at death: 14.
Cause of death: Bludgeoned.
Location: Garfield, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Disability: Autism.
Details:
Sean and his mother, Kathy Hairston, were both bludgeoned to death with a hammer by Sean’s stepfather. His stepfather was facing imprisonment for rape, and claimed that he had killed them because no one could take care of them the way he could.
Case status:
Kenneth Hairston (Stepfather). Sentenced to death.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Sean Hurtt
Husband killed wife, son to spare them ordeal of his trial for rape, detective says
Kenneth Hairston Pennsylvania Death Row | My Crime Library
COMMONWEALTH v. HAIRSTON