Category: Status

Baby Girl

No PhotoName Unknown.
Died: November 18, 2010.
Age at death: 6 months.
Cause of death: Drowned.
Location: Sydney, Australia.
Disability: None; mother believed she had dwarfism.

Details:
This baby girl was born without any congenital conditions, but because she had skin tags on her ears, her mother believed her daughter had a disability. She had doctors test her over and over, each time with negative results, but became fixed on the idea that the baby had dwarfism. When a friend told her to stop worrying because it wasn’t cancer, she replied that it would be “better to deal with a terminal illness than to spend a lifetime with a dwarf”.

Her mother drowned the six-month-old girl in the bathtub.

Case status:
Her mother, sentenced to up to 20 years in a mental health institution; found fit to stand trial in August 2016, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Source:
Australian mother sentenced to 20 years jail for drowning 6-month-old child
Mother who killed baby believing she was a dwarf should not be jailed, court told
Mother who drowned her baby after worrying she had dwarfism sentenced to 20 years
NSW mother to face baby’s murder trial
Sydney mother who drowned her baby in the bath found guilty of murder
Sydney woman who drowned her daughter convicted of murder
Mother accused of drowning her baby in a bath
Mother found guilty of murdering baby she believed had a genetic defect
Mother fit to stand trial over baby death
Mother drowned her girl because she thought she had dwarfism

Ila Gandhi

No PhotoName: Ila Harjivandas Gandhi.
Died: November 15, 2010.
Age at death: 62.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Disability: Schizophrenia.

Details:
Ila’s servant attacked her and her mother. Her mother survived the attack, but Ila died from stab wounds. The servant claimed that he had been paid by their daughter-in-law to commit the crime, but she was acquitted.

Case status:
Ramchandra Ganpat Gomane (Servant), charged with murder.
Rupal Gandhi (Daughter-in-law; caregiver), charged with murder, acquitted.

Source:
Rupal Gandhi: HC hauls up police for wrong arrest in murder
Sister-in-law gave supari to murder 62-yr-old in Mumbai
Senior citizen found murdered in Gamdevi

Cynthia Cline

Cynthia Cline's gravestone, an oval stone carved with an image of Jesus and the words "In God's Care".Name: Cynthia Lynn Cline.
Died: November 14, 2010.
Age at death: 51.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: East Liverpool, Ohio, USA.
Disability: “Mentally disabled”.

Details:
Cynthia’s boyfriend allegedly stabbed her to death.

Case status:
Clyde Harris (Boyfriend), charged with felonious assault.

Source:
Details emerge in death investigation
Record of the Dead for November 2010
Cynthia Lynn Cline

Allan Heath

No PhotoName: Allan Heath.
Died: November 3, 2010.
Age at death: 47.
Cause of death: Stabbing.
Location: Langford, Western Australia, Australia.
Disability: Mobility impaired.

Details:
Allan had a tenant who lived in a shed in his backyard, and who functioned as a caregiver for him. However, his tenant sold drugs; and though Allan used drugs himself, he was growing tired of having his caregiver do drug deals on the property. Three days after Allan gave the man an ultimatum and told him to move out, the man returned to the house and stabbed him in the stomach, perforating a large vein and killing him.

Case Status:
Christopher John Elliott (Friend, live-in caregiver), convicted of murder, sentenced to 14 years to life.

Sources:
Drug-user jailed for life for stabbing friend
Fatal stab victim was ‘white as a ghost’
Murder accused: ‘I stabbed the dog’
Accused murderer spoke of stabbing man
Tenant living in shed jailed for owner’s murder
Life sentence for stabbing murder

Karandeep Arora

No PhotoName: Karandeep Arora.
Died: October 25, 2010.
Age at death: 18.
Cause of death: Homicide.
Location: New Delhi, India.
Disability: Visual and mobility impairment.

Details:
Karandeep’s parents either smothered or poisoned him, and then both of them committed suicide.

Case status:
Saminder Singh Arora and Mini Arora (Parents), deceased.

Source:
Couple kill disabled son, commit suicide

Kyle Potts

Photo of Kyle Potts, a young boy with short dark hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin, wearing a white tank top. His wide smile reveals a gap between his front teeth.Name: Kyle Joseph Potts.
Died: October 18, 2010.
Age at death: 9.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Crestline, California, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Kyle’s grandmother shot him and herself in a murder-suicide.

Case status:
Denise Snyder (Grandmother), deceased.

Source:
Crestline woman fatally shoots grandson, self
Crestline woman kills herself and 9-year-old grandson, authorities say
Crestline Murder-Suicide
Kyle Joseph Potts
Autism Memorial: Kyle Potts

Chase Ogden

Portrait photos of two adolescents. One is Chase Ogden, a boy with an awkward smile and a mop of black hair; the other is Olivia Ogden, a girl with shoulder-length brown hair. Both siblings have fair skin.Name: Chase Ogden.
Died: October 4, 2010.
Age at death: 13.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Chase and his twin sister Olivia were killed by their mother, who then shot herself.

Case status:
Rene Ogden (Mother), deceased.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Chase Ogden
Rene Ogden killed twins Chase and Olivia, then committed suicide, says El Paso County coroner
Colo. Police Probe Deaths of Mother, Twin Children
Essex Lane deaths apparent murder-suicide
Coroner: Mother, twins shot in head

Wieslawa Pytlinski

No PhotoName: Wieslawa Zofia Pytlinski.
Died: October 4, 2010
Age at death: 57.
Cause of death: Multiple blunt force trauma to the upper body.
Location: Knox County, Tennessee, USA.
Disability: Unspecified; confidential.

Details:
Wieslawa was allegedly beaten to death by her boyfriend.

Case status:
Michael Dunn (Boyfriend), charged with second-degree murder.

Source:
Man indicted on murder charge in girlfriend’s death

Shah Amin Shariffudin

No PhotoName: Shah Amin Shariffudin.
Died: September 26, 2010.
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Marsiling, Singapore.
Disability: Global developmental delay, mobility impaired (wore leg braces).

Details:
Shah was strangled by his father, who then killed himself. Reportedly, his father had gone into debt and did not want to “burden” the family with Shah’s care.

Case status:
Shariffudin Abdul Kader (Father), deceased.

Source:
Death at Marsiling leads police to second body at hotel
Man kills himself, leaves note confessing to son’s murder
$1m debts led to two deaths

Zahra Baker

Photo of Zahra Baker, a girl with straight brown hair and freckles, smiling at something to the left of the viewer.Name: Zahra Baker.
Died: September 24, 2010.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Homicide, undetermined.
Location: Hickory, North Carolina, USA.
Disability: Leg amputee, hearing impairment, cancer survivor.

Details:
Zahra was born in Wagga-Wagga, Australia, and at five years old she survived bone cancer, though her leg had to be amputated. When she was eight, her father married an American woman and moved to North Carolina.

In the nine months before Zahra was reported missing, multiple reports of abuse came in to child protective services. Her mother took her out of school to “home-school” her.

More than a month after she went missing, Zahra’s body was found. It could not be determined how she died, but her stepmother admitted to killing her.

Case status:
Elisa Baker (Stepmother); pled guilty to murder; sentenced to 18 years. Sentence extended for 10 years on drug charges.

Source:
Murder of Zahra Baker