Remembering the Disabled Murdered by Caregivers
Spouse or romantic partner.
Name: Georgianne Woolum.
Died: December 3, 2014.
Age at death: 90.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Keller, Texas, USA.
Disability: Stroke, congestive heart failure, colectomy.
Details:
Georgianne’s husband shot her in a murder-suicide.
Case status:
Joe Woolum (Husband), deceased.
Name: Jean Carol Adams, née Hoeldtke.
Died: November 3, 2014.
Age at death: 77.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Waco, Texas, USA.
Disability: Leukemia.
Details:
Jean was allegedly shot by her husband.
From Jean’s obituary: “She enjoyed spending time with her friends, crocheting, gardening, refinishing antique furniture and decorating her home… she was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother.”
Case status:
Alvin Ray Adams Jr. (Husband), charged with murder; died before trial.
Source:
Texas husband shot, killed 77-year-old ill wife in possible mercy killing: police
Man charged with murder for “mercy killing” of elderly wife dies
Waco Tribune obituary: Adams, Jean Carol
Name: Betty Rowland.
Died: October 31, 2014.
Age at death: 86.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Columbia, Missouri, USA.
Disability: Stroke; used a wheelchair.
Details:
Betty’s husband killed her because he “didn’t want them to be a burden on the family”.
Case status:
Donald M. Rowland (Husband); pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, sentenced to 5 years of probation and a 7-year suspended sentence.
Source:
88-year-old man gets suspended prison sentence, probation for wife’s death
88-year-old man receives probation for stabbing his wife
Name: Joann Canfield.
Died: October 26, 2014.
Age at death: 72.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Alameda, California, USA.
Disability: Dementia.
Details:
Joann’s husband took her home from her nursing home and, after a failed attempt to poison her with sleeping pills, shot her in the head.
Case status:
Jerry “J.C.” Canfield (Husband), pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, sentenced to 3 years.
Source:
He Shot His Wife and Confessed — Why Neighbors Are Coming to His Defense
3 years for Alameda man who claimed mercy in wife’s killing
Name: Debbie Holden.
Died: October 24, 2014.
Age at death: 58.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Jacksonville, North Carolina, USA.
Disability: Chronic pain.
Details:
Debbie’s fiance shot her; then he tried to claim that Debbie must have committed suicide because of her chronic pain. Police became suspicious when they couldn’t find the bullet that had killed Debbie until her fiance turned up at the hospital with a matching bullet in his thigh.
Case Status:
Tim Noble (Fiance), convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life without parole.
Sources:
Telltale Bullets, Exhumations, Staged Murders: Most Shocking ‘Accident, Suicide Or Murder’ Reveals
Man Passes Out, Urinates Himself After Being Questioned About Fiancée’s Murder
Name: Sandra Deacon.
Died: October 1, 2014.
Age at death: 59.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Budgewoi, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Brain damage due to neonatal encephalitis.
Details:
Sandra was found dead of massive head injuries, and her partner was arrested. Support workers told authorities that her partner had been dominating and isolating her, possibly forcing her to distance herself from support services.
Case Status:
Garry Weigand (Partner), charged with murder, died before trial.
Sources:
DNA needed to identify victim
Murder accused Garry Weigand dies in custody | Newcastle Herald | Newcastle, NSW
Inquest into the death of Sandra Deacon
Name: Kim Hunt.
Died: September 9, 2014.
Age at death: 41.
Disability: Traumatic brain injury (from car accident), causing hemiplegia and personality changes.
Name: Fletcher Hunt.
Age at death: 10.
Disability: ADHD.
Died: September 9, 2014.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Lockhart, New South Wales, Australia.
Other victims: Mia (8 years) and Phoebe (6 years).
Details:
Kim’s husband shot her and her three children before committing suicide.
Before her car accident, Kim had been an intensive-care nurse. Now unable to do the physical work of nursing, Kim was planning to return to work as a nursing administrator instead.
Fletcher liked Australian rules football and riding his motorbike.
Case status:
Geoff Hunt (Husband, father), deceased.
Source:
‘He may have simply just snapped’: Disability worker breaks down as she describes Kim Hunt’s violent rages after a car crash left her with brain injuries before her husband shot his family dead
Hunt family inquest findings
Name: Joan Stack.
Age at death: 82.
Disability: Terminal cancer, arthritis.
Name: Mary Stack.
Age at death: 57.
Disability: Autism.
Name: Francis “Frankie” Stack Jr.
Age at death: 48.
Disability: Autism; sciatica.
Died: August 30, 2014.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Details:
Joan Stack and her children, Mary and Francis Jr., were shot by her husband, their father, in a murder-suicide.
Joan Stack was a deeply religious Catholic homemaker known for keeping the house tidy and making dinner every night.
Frankie and Mary lived in group homes. Frankie was non-verbal, but Mary could say a few words.
Mary was a fan of action movies, and liked to look at magazines, especially magazines with photos of babies in them.
Case status:
Francis Stack Sr (Father, husband), deceased.
Source:
Autism Memorial: Mary Stack and Francis Stack Jr.
Four Dead In Elmhurst Murder-Suicide
Disabled children killed in Elmhurst murder-suicide
Elmhurst couple in murder-suicide were doting parents: neighbors
Four Bodies in Elmhurst
Name: Albert Franklin.
Died: Sometime after July 28, 2014.
Age at death: 67.
Cause of death: Sepsis and malnutrition.
Location: Flint, Michigan, USA.
Disability: Dementia.
Details:
Albert had a feeding tube because of an obstruction in his throat, but his caregivers refused to use it, so Albert starved until he weighed only 52 pounds. He was hospitalized in July 2014, in septic shock from untreated bedsores, and died there.
Case status:
Alice Bitters (Girlfriend), ruled not competent to stand trial and institutionalized.
Melissa Bardoni (Girlfriend’s niece), pleaded no contest to second-degree murder, sentenced to 15-30 years.
Source:
Bardoni v. Howard, Case No. 20-11861 | Casetext Search + Citator
Woman pleads guilty to murder in elder abuse case
2 Flint women charged with abusing emaciated man
Caregivers arrested after emaciated man found with infected bed sores in Flint
Girlfriend, niece charged with elder abuse after police find 52 pound man
Woman Pleads Guilty In Flint Elder Abuse Case, Second Woman May Have Been Involved
Woman pleads guilty to murder in elder abuse case
Name: Shirley Beck.
Died: June 26, 2014.
Age at death: 39.
Cause of death: Blunt trauma.
Location: Clarksville, Tennessee, USA.
Disability: Unspecified mental disability (received disability payments); abuse survivor.
Details:
Shirley lived in a non-traditional relationship, as a “house slave” to her BDSM mistress and their housemates. Her mistress helped her manage her finances, which she could not do on her own, but Shirley was the one who did the chores.
Typically, such relationships involve a lot of trust on both sides; crucially, the “slave” role is voluntary, and any injury is superficial. However, Shirley’s mistress betrayed her trust. Instead of pretending to hold Shirley captive, she actually imprisoned Shirley; rather than staging a “safe, sane, consensual” BDSM scene, she and her housemates inflicted a severe, hours-long beating with a metal rod. Shirley died of her injuries.
Shirley loved feeding birds.
Case status:
Cynthia Dianne Skipper (Partner), negligent homicide and kidnapping, 25 years.
Derek M. Vicchitto (Housemate), facilitation of second-degree murder and kidnapping, 25 years.
Matthew Lee Reynolds (Housemate), first-degree murder and kidnapping, 59 years to life.
Alphonso Richardson (Housemate), first-degree murder and kidnapping, life plus 25 years.
Source:
Jury to get ‘house slave’ slaying case Thursday
Defense: Slain ‘house slave’ wanted beatings
Four on trial in ‘house slave’ slaying
From wife and mother to ‘slave’ to murder victim
The Last Four Hours of Shirley Beck’s Life – Kate Kinsey (NSFW)
3 sentenced in BDSM slaying