Category: Relationship: Partner

Spouse or romantic partner.

Charlene Norris

Photo of Charlene Norris. She is a middle-aged woman with short permed blond hair and fair skin, wearing a black and white track suit.Name: Charlene Norris.
Died: June 9, 2016.
Age at death: 79.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
Disability: Dementia, rectal cancer, chronic pain due to hip replacement.

Details:
Charlene was shot by her husband.

She was a retired special education teacher.

Case status:
Jim Norris (Husband), charged with murder; diagnosed with dementia while awaiting trial, declared incompetent to stand trial.

Source:
84-year-old North Carolina man cleared in wife’s death
Two suicide notes, one body. Now an elderly Charlotte man is charged with murder.
They had a suicide pact, he said. But he wasn’t ready to die. He murdered her, prosecutors say

Noemi Villarreal

Photo of Noemi Villarreal. She is a woman with pale skin and straight blond hair; she is wearing a yellow shirt, jewelry, and make-up.Name: Noemi Villarreal.
Died: June 8, 2016.
Age at death: 45.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.
Disability: Depression, epilepsy.

Details:
Noemi had epilepsy and could not drive, so her boyfriend drove when she needed to go somewhere. Unfortunately, her boyfriend was abusive, leaving her dependent on her abuser for her transportation. He would engage the child lock on the car, trapping her inside so that he could hit her. On one occasion she broke the car window to get away from him.

After one assault in which he beat and choked her, Noemi tried to escape by reporting her boyfriend to the authorities. Six days after she did so, her boyfriend strangled her, burned her body, and dumped it into a trash can.

Case status:
Lance Taylor (Boyfriend), convicted of murder, sentenced to 30 years to life.

Source:
Lance Taylor sentenced to life in killing of Noemi Villarreal
Six days after reporting domestic violence, Noemi Villarreal was dead
Sister grieves loss of her ‘Wonder Woman’
Corpus Christi man strangled girlfriend, burned body in trash can because she reported abuse, police say

Venkatesh

No PhotoName: Venkatesh.
Died: May 22, 2016.
Age at death: 45.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
Disability: Leg amputee, alcoholism.

Details:
Venkatesh worked as a stone-cutter until he suffered a leg injury, which got infected so badly that he had to have the leg amputated.

During a domestic dispute, his wife allegedly became so angry that she hit him over the head with a metal rod, killing him.

Case status:
Suguna (Wife), also called Sugunamma, charged with murder.

Source:
Wife smashes husband’s head for selling mobile phone to buy toddy
Drunk housewife kills handicapped husband in frustration
Hyderabad: Drunk wife murders handicapped husband
Pregnant woman killed in accident

Henry Sochalski

Black and white photo of Henry Sochalski. He has dark hair and fair skin, and is wearing a policeman's uniform and glasses. He has a bushy mustache.Name: Henry A. “Butch” Sochalski.
Died: May 19, 2016.
Age at death: 64.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida, USA.
Disability: Recent hypoxic brain injury; back problems.

Details:
Henry went to the hospital for elective surgery to help with his back problems, but the surgery went badly and Henry went into cardiac arrest. He was resuscitated, but his brain had been injured from lack of oxygen.

Henry’s wife, who had worked as a nurse for forty years, first tried to kill him by getting the nurses to give him a medication that would have depressed his breathing, but they refused. Then she pressed the button on his patient-administered pain medication over and over, trying to poison him, but the device automatically limited itself to a safe dose. In the end she allegedly lay across his chest, pinched his nose, and suffocated him.

Henry Sochalski was a retired police officer. He loved riding his motorcycle.

Case status:
Jan Sochalski (Wife), charged with second-degree murder, died before trial.

Sources:
Murder defendant found dead in her Palm Coast home
Sochalski Obituary
A man was suffocated to death in the hospital. The suspect? His wife, a retired nurse.
Florida woman accused of killing husband in hospital bed
Florida woman allegedly murdered husband by plugging his nose
Henry & Jan Sochalski: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Palm Coast wife accused of killing husband at Florida Hospital held on $250,000 bail
Wife charged with killing former N.J. cop in Fla.

Carolyn Hager

Portrait photo of Carolyn Hager, an elderly woman with pale blond hair.Name: Carolyn Hager.
Died: May 16, 2016.
Age at death: 78.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA.
Disability: Arthritis, lung cancer, chronic illness.

Details:
Carolyn’s husband shot her in the head.

Carolyn’s neighbors remember her as an artistic woman who maintained a beautiful garden and could often be seen outside tending her plants.

Case status:
William J. Hager (Husband), pleaded no contest to manslaughter, sentenced to nine years.

Source:
Port St. Lucie man who killed ailing wife in ‘act of love’ gets 9 years
Police: Man killed wife because he couldn’t afford medications
Florida Man Says He Killed Sick Wife Because He Couldn’t Afford Her Medicine, Sheriff Says
Port St. Lucie man accused of shooting wife because she was in pain & he couldn’t afford medications
Port St. Lucie man charged with murder in wife’s killing
Police: Man kills wife, blames high medication prices
Man says he killed sick wife because he couldn’t afford her medication

Leslie Denn

No PhotoName: Leslie John Denn.
Died: May 9, 2016.
Age at death: Adult.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Borrowdale, Zimbabwe.
Disability: Depression.

Details:
Leslie was shot in the back of the head. His fiance claimed he had been suicidal, and he had indeed been under treatment for depression, but police ruled it a murder. Leslie’s fiance was charged with murder, having been with him when he died, having burned the mattress on which he was lying, and having reported his death as a suicide; however, she was acquitted at trial due to an inability of the prosecution to bring sufficient evidence to convict her.

Leslie was a businessman who had been the board chairman of CMED and managing director of Nemchen.

Case status:
Pilary Ashton (Fiance), acquitted of murder. The judge’s statement in the case berated the police, prosecution, and forensics department for failure to follow protocol, including failure to analyze crucial gunshot residue samples, which may have led to a “serious miscarriage of justice”.

Source:
CMED Boss Found Dead, Girlfriend Accused Of Murdering Him Set Free As Judge Yet Again Blasts The Police And NPA For A Shoddy Job
‘CMED boss murdered’
Zimbabwe: Fiancee in the Line of Fire… Inquest Into Cmed Boss’ Death Opens
Zimbabwe: CMED Chairman Commits Suicide
Zimbabwe: CMED Boss Was ‘Suffering From Depression’
Leslie John Denn CMED boss shot dead not suicide
Shock twist to death of CMED Official who allegedly committed suicide
CMED boss commits suicide

Marie Stempinski

Portrait photo of Marie Stempinski. She is a woman with pale skin and gray hair, wearing business attire and chunky red earrings.Name: Marie Stempinski.
Died: April 29, 2016.
Age at death: 72.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.
Disability: Mobility impairment from hip injury.

Details:
Before she retired, Marie had worked as a TV news reporter, then as a public relations consultant. When she suffered a hip injury, she started using a wheelchair.

Marie’s husband shot her and then killed himself.

Case status:
Gerard Stempinski (Husband), deceased.

Source:
St. Petersburg, Florida: Man shoots wheelchair-bound wife and then kills himself
Ex-cop Gerard Stempinski kills wife Marie then himself in murder-suicide in Florida

Patricia Gordon

No PhotoName: Patricia Gordon.
Died: April 28, 2016.
Age at death: 63.
Cause of death: Smothered.
Location: Troon, Scotland, UK.
Disability: Health anxiety, depression, lung cancer.

Details:
Patricia hated doctors and didn’t want to go to see one, but was worried that she had lung cancer. One day when she was in pain, instead of taking her to a doctor, her husband smothered her to death with a pillow.

Although he admitted to killing her, the murder charge was dropped after a family member explained to the court how sick Patricia had been and how hard it had been for her husband to care for her.

Case status:
Ian Gordon (Husband), convicted of culpable homicide, sentenced to 3 years, 4 months; sentence overturned, released.

Source:
Pensioner cleared of murder after smothering his wife
Husband who smothered wife to death with pillow cleared of murder
Troon pillow killer Ian Gordon jailed for three years
Judges overturn sentence for man who killed his wife
Husband jailed for culpable homicide over ‘mercy killing’ of terminally wife admonished following appeal

Laraine Rayner

Photo of Laraine Rayner. She is a middle-aged woman with short strawberry-blonde hair. She is wearing hoop earrings and a red sweater.Name: Laraine Rayner.
Died: Two weeks before April 24, 2016 (Body found).
Age at death: 52.
Cause of death: Sharp trauma.
Location: Wisbech, UK.
Disability: Mental and physical health problems; OCD; mobility impaired.

Details:
Laraine was stabbed to death by her boyfriend.

Case status:
Steven Stocks (Boyfriend), convicted of murder, sentenced to 20 years to life.

Source:
Laraine Rayner murder: Disabled woman’s partner jailed for life
Man left dying stabbed partner to rot in shrine, court hears
Wisbech carer ‘stabbed girlfriend to death, then wrote letter apologising for mess’, court hears
Man ‘fatally stabbed his disabled partner and left her body under makeshift shrine for two weeks’

Barbara Kavanaugh

No PhotoName: Barbara Kavanaugh.
Died: April 19, 2016.
Age at death: 88.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Port Charlotte, Florida, USA.
Disability: Dementia.

Details:
Barbara’s husband went to the nursing home where she was staying, shot her to death, and committed suicide.

Case status:
Frank Kavanaugh (Husband), deceased.

Sources:
Port Charlotte murder-suicide shakes nursing home, friends
Florida right-to-die advocate, wife dead in murder-suicide at nursing home