Status – Page 139 – Disability Day of Mourning

Jean Adams

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

School photo of London McCabe, a little boy with fair skin, wearing a teddy-bear hat and an argyle sweater, smiling for the camera. Name: London McCabe.
Died: November 3, 2014.
Age at death: 6.
Cause of death: Drowning.
Location: Seal Rock, Oregon, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
London’s mother threw him off a bridge to his death. She tried to cover up the premeditated murder as the act of an insane woman who “snapped” because her son had autism and her husband had MS, but her Internet history revealed that she had been researching how to plead insanity and how to get away with murder for some time.

London liked big hats and playing with his iPad.

Case status:
Jillian McCabe (Mother), convicted of murder; sentenced to 25 years to life.

Source:
Autism Memorial: London McCabe
‘Everyone will hate me’: Mother sentenced to life for throwing autistic son off bridge

Patrick

No Photo Name: “Patrick” (Family name unknown).
Died: November 2014.
Age at death: 17.
Cause of death: Multiple organ failure.
Location: Bedford, England, UK.
Disability: Coffin-Lowry syndrome.

Details:
Patrick’s care was neglected by his grandmother. He was kept in a filthy room without a working light. By the time he was hospitalized, he weighed only 95 pounds, had bruises all over his body, and was in multiple organ failure. He died age 17.

Patrick was good at swimming and had just learned cycling. Despite his limited ability to speak, he had memorized all of his classmates’ names.

Case status:
His grandmother was interviewed for case review. Belford Borough Safeguarding Children Board concluded that the agency did not adequately support Patrick’s needs or ensure that his grandmother cared for him adequately.

Source:
Disabled teenager who died weighing just 6 stone was ‘invisible’ to social services
‘Neglected’ disabled Bedford teen ‘unsupported’ by social services before ‘shocking’ death
Tragic death of ‘invisible’ Bedford teen failed by system
Patrick Final Report for PUBLICATION 23.5.16

Betty Rowland

Photo: An older woman with fair skin and graying strawberry-blonde hair, wearing glasses and a lacy white blouse. 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

Esihle Mosoeu

No Photo Name: Esihle Xoliswa Mosoeu.
Died: October 31, 2014.
Age at death: 2.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Pomeroy, South Africa.
Disability: “Disabled child who could not sit or stand on her own”.

Details:
Esihle’s mother strangled her because she didn’t have enough money to feed her. She was receiving child grant money for her Esihle, but she used the money to transport her to a hospital for treatment, instead of to buy food.

Case status:
(Mother); pleaded guilty to murder, sentenced to 5 years, suspended for 5 years.

Source:
Child murder ‘was an act of despair’

Joann Canfield

No Photo 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

Debbie Holden

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

Noama Ware

Blurry photo of a white-haired old lady with pale, wrinkled skin, her mouth open as though she is about to speak. Name: Noama Ware.
Died: October 2014.
Age at death: 78.
Cause of death: Undetermined, in the setting of abuse and neglect.
Location: Shelley, Idaho, USA.
Disability: Frail elder, likely dementia/hoarding.

Details:
Noama’s husband and son both abused her. After an argument about her keeping her many cats in her bedroom, her son kicked her, injuring her severely; and then as she lay in bed, her grandson kicked her. They found her dead shortly thereafter.

Afraid that they would get in trouble because Noama was malnourished and abused, they buried her body in their duck pen, and her death went unnoticed for five years until her daughter died in a car accident and the police tried to find her to break the news.

Case status:
Harley Howell (Grandson), pleaded guilty to failure to report a death, sentenced to 3-10 years in prison.
Douglas Howell (Son), pleaded guilty to abuse and neglect of an elder, sentenced to 4 days in jail, $387.50 in fees, and 50 hours community service.

Source:
Local man sentenced to four days in jail for abuse and neglect of 78 year-old woman
Man admits to killing his grandmother and burying her in the backyard nearly 5 years ago
Shelley man sentenced after hiding grandmother’s death
Teen ‘killed bedridden grandma after row about her keeping 30 cats in her room’
Man admits to killing his grandmother and burying her in the backyard nearly 5 years ago

Bessie Looney

No Photo Name: Bessie Looney.
Died: September 29, 2014.
Age at death: 82.
Cause of death: Malnutrition, sepsis.
Location: Baton Rouge, USA.
Disability: Dementia, heart disease, wheelchair user.

Details:
Bessie’s daughter and granddaughter neglected her. She was left strapped into a wheelchair, denied her medication, and not brought to the doctor when she became very sick. She died of starvation and septic shock from untreated bedsores.

Case status:
Joleslie Looney (daughter), convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to 40 years.
Lauren Looney (granddaughter), pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Source:
Louisiana high court upholds sentence in mom’s bedsore death
Woman pleads guilty to negligent homicide in 82-year-old grandmother’s death
Granddaughter pleads guilty to negligent homicide in 82-year-old woman’s gruesome 2014 death
Death of elderly Baton Rouge woman ruled a homicide
82-year-old found dead at home surrounded by flies, trash; two arrested
Doctors say woman facing charges was sane during the time of the death of her elderly mother
Baton Rouge woman declared sane when elderly mother died amidst deplorable conditions
Baton Rouge woman to be tried Aug. 28 in death of 82-year-old mother found in deplorable conditions
Daughter faces trial in death of bedsore-ridden mother, 82
Attorney for Baton Rouge woman accused of killing her mother doesn’t want her called ‘evil,’ ‘monster’ during trial
Elderly woman’s daughter told Baton Rouge police she wasn’t aware of severity of mother’s bedsores
‘A hard-working person that struggled,’ friends say of woman accused in elderly mother’s death
Daughter swiftly convicted of manslaughter in elderly mother’s 2014 bedsore-related death
Woman’s sentencing delayed in gruesome 2014 bedsore-related death of 82-year-old mother
Woman leaves grandmother in waste-covered wheelchair until bedsores kill her
Granddaughter sentenced in 82-year-old Baton Rouge woman’s bedsore-related death
Woman denied reduced sentence in death of elderly, malnourished mother
Judge won’t reduce Baton Rouge woman’s 40-year prison term in bedsore-related death of mother
Attorney says 40 years in bedsore-related death of 82-year-old woman is excessive punishment
Louisiana court upholds woman’s prison term for mom’s bedsore death
Court upholds woman’s prison term for mom’s bedsore death
Baton Rouge woman’s conduct ‘reprehensible’ in elderly mother’s bedsore death, appeals court says

Michaelina Simonetti

Old-fashioned portrait photo of Michaelina Simonetti, a young woman with fair skin, rosy cheeks, and curly dark hair. Name: Michaelina Simonetti.
Died: September 15, 2014.
Age at death: 93.
Cause of death: Homicide by neglect.
Location: New Britain, Connecticut, USA.
Disability: Blind; disabled.

Details:
Michaelina was discharged from a nursing home into her son’s care. She was found in poor condition by emergency services; she was lying on a mattress on the floor with severe bedsores, and police believe she had not been moved from the mattress or fed properly in five months. She died after two weeks at the hospital.

Case status:
Frank Simonetti (Son), charged with first-degree manslaughter.

Source:
New Britain Man Charged With Manslaughter In 93-Year-Old Mother’s Death
New Britain man arrested in connection to mother’s death