Status: Arrested/Charged – Page 47 – Disability Day of Mourning

Lakesha Victor

Photo of Lakesha Victor, a girl with a gap-toothed smile. Her head leans against a headrest. Name: Lakesha Victor.
Died: August 20, 2006.
Age at death: 10.
Cause of death: Starvation.
Location: Hinckley, Minnesota, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy.

Details:
Lakesha, who was supposed to be given formula through her feeding tube, was not fed often enough. She lost weight rapidly and soon starved to death.

Case status:
Ludusky Sue Hotchkiss (Mother), pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, sentenced to 32 months.
Ti-Heim Darrien Coston (Caregiver, mother’s boyfriend), charged with neglect, theft, and failure to report.

Source:
Arrest in girl’s starving death
“I didn’t notice. I wish I had.” Hotchkiss pleads guilty to manslaughter in daughter’s death
MN: Lakesha Victor – Disabled, Abused, Neglected, Dead
Autism Memorial: Lakeisha Victor
Mom Starved Disabled Daughter to Death, Say Cops

Donna Spadea

No Photo Name: Donna Spadea.
Died: June 26, 2005.
Age at death: 59.
Cause of death: Poisoning.
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Along with several other intellectually disabled adults, Donna was imprisoned, starved, drugged, and beaten by Linda Weston, who acted as her Social Security payee so that she could steal Donna’s money. Donna died after two months of captivity while she was imprisoned in a tiny laundry room, and toxicology testing revealed that she had been poisoned with the drugs Linda had regularly mixed into her food.

Case status:
Linda Weston (Caretaker), multiple charges, life sentence + 80 years.
Gregory Thomas, charged with hate crimes.
Jean McIntosh, pleaded guilty, sentenced to 40 years.
Eddie Wright, pleaded guilty, sentenced to 27 years.
Nicklaus Woodard, pleaded guilty to several charges, including conspiracy, kidnapping and using a firearm in an act of violence, sentenced to 27 years.

Source:
‘Tacony dungeon’ woman who imprisoned disabled adults gets life sentence + 80 years
Daughter of Tacony dungeon ‘mastermind’ gets 40 years – Metro Philadelphia
Tacony ‘dungeon’ case ends with admission of hate crimes against disabled
Seven years after rescue, ‘Tacony dungeon’ victims confront tormentor sentenced to 40 years
‘Pastor Wright,’ codefendant in Tacony dungeon case, gets 27 years in prison
“Basement of horrors” indictment brings light to 2008 Norfolk death
‘Tacony dungeon’ woman who imprisoned disabled adults gets life sentence + 80 years

Karen Dreager

No Photo Name: Karen Elizabeth Dreager.
Died: August 31, 2004.
Age at death: 35.
Cause of death: Malnutrition.
Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
Karen was neglected by her family. She died of starvation, weighing 50 pounds, down from 200 pounds, covered in severe and untreated bedsores.

Case status:
Debra McMahon (Adoptive sister), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, sentenced to 15 years.
Paul McMahon (Brother-in-law), sentenced to 6 years.
Kimberly McMahon (Niece), charged with first-degree murder.

Source:
History of euthanasia in Canada
The Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities:
Murder charges for family in Oak Ridge starvation case
Family charged in starvation of kin
Woman Starved to Death
Family Charged in Starving Disabled Woman

Maggie Caraballo

No Photo Name: Maggie Caraballo.
Died: August 20, 2003.
Age at death: 38.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Maggie was allegedly beaten to death by her sister, who abused her and eventually caused a fatal head injury.

Case status:
Her sister, arrested.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Maggie Caraballo
City woman’s death ruled a homicide

Deetrick Brown

Photo of Deetrick Brown. It is a photo of a TV screen, showing an African-American toddler with a solemn expression. Faint text along the bottom says, "Christmas. December 25." The rest of the text is indistinct. Name: Deetrick Brown.
Died: January 16, 2003.
Age at death: 2.
Cause of death: Head trauma.
Location: La Quinta, California, USA.
Disability: Parents claimed “drug baby”, intellectual disability, autism. Seizures, possibly due to abuse.

Details:
Deetrick died of head trauma that caused repeated seizures in the months before his death. His parents argued that, rather than being abused, Deetrick was a “drug baby” who had an intellectual disability. When Deetrick died, a judge ruled there wasn’t enough evidence for the case to go to trial. But ten years later, the case was re-opened and reexamined, and his father and stepmother were arrested.

Case status:
Patricia Brown (Stepmother), convicted of second-degree murder, conviction overturned, retrial underway on charges of murder and assault.
Derrick Brown (Father), charges dropped.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Deetrick Brown
Prosecutors Drop Appeal Of Decision To Overturn Murder Conviction
Closing Arguments Scheduled in Trial of La Quinta Woman Accused in Toddler’s Murder
Husband acquitted, testimony continues for wife in toddler murder trial
New Trial Sought For La Quinta Woman Convicted In Toddler’s Death 13 Years After It Happened
New Trial Sought For RivCo Woman Convicted in Toddler’s Death 13 Years After It Happened

Amber Haigh

Name: Amber Haigh.
Died: June 5, 2002 (Missing).
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Missing, presumed dead.
Location: Kingsvale, New South Wales, Australia.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Amber, who lived with an older couple, vanished in June 2002, leaving her six-month-old baby behind. In 2011, a coronial inquest declared her dead as a result of “homicide or other misadventure”. It took until 2020 for the couple she had been living with to be arrested and charged with her murder.

Amber’s parents remember her as a kind, loving soul who would help anyone who needed her, and as a dedicated mother who would never have voluntarily left her son behind.

Case Status:
Robert Geeves, charged with aggravated sexual assault (victim with a serious intellectual disability) and murder.
Anne Geeves, charged with murder.

Sources:
Married couple accused of murdering teenage mother in 2002 plead not guilty
Wire tap caught cold case murder accused discussing young mum’s remains, court told
Couple charged over alleged murder of NSW teen who vanished nearly 20 years ago
Couple charged with murder of disabled teenage mum
Man and woman charged over the murder of Amber Haigh
Couple charged with murder 20 years after young mum Amber Haigh vanished
Two charged with missing NSW teen’s murder

Thy Chan

Name: Thy Chan.
Died: August 19, 1997.
Age at death: 16.
Cause of death: Viral encephalitis.
Location: Oxford, Massachusetts, USA.
Disability: Cerebral palsy.

Details:
Thy (pronounced “tea”) came from Cambodia and lived in a foster home in the United States. Her foster parents were parents in name only; they took in children for the money, sometimes locked them in dog cages, abused and neglected them. Severely disabled children were cared for by other children rather than by their foster parents. Thy’s foster sister Jessica remembers seeing Thy horribly sick with a temperature of 106–something her foster mother, a nurse, would have recognized as serious–for two days before anyone called for an ambulance. Thy died of viral encephalitis in the hospital a few days later.

Thy’s death was put down to natural causes. However, years later when four former foster children came forward to report that they had been physically and sexually abused by their foster parents, they also testified that Thy had died from the same neglect they had all been subjected to.

Case status:
Susan Blouin (Foster mother), charged with indecent assault and battery, nursing license revoked.
Raymond Blouin (Foster father), charged with indecent assault and battery.
Philip Paquette (Susan Blouin’s ex-boyfriend), charged with statutory rape.

Source:
Man arraigned on child rape charges after foster home abuse investigation
Foster child died in troubled Oxford foster home in 1997
New charges issued in foster family abuse case
Former Oxford foster children file $40M lawsuit against couple, state over “house of horrors”

Carrie Day

No Photo Name: Carrie Day.
Died: January 9, 1992.
Age at death: 22.
Cause of death: Pneumonia.
Location: Ironwood, Michigan, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Carrie’s mother starved her, often punishing her by forcing her to watch the family eat while Carrie went hungry. She died of pneumonia, her 65-pound body unable to fight the infection.

Case status:
Urselyne Day (Adoptive mother), charged with involuntary manslaughter. Died Jan. 17, 2014 in a nursing home, of pneumonia; outcome of case unknown.

Source:
Woman accused of starving mentally retarded daughter to death

Susan Shea

No Photo Name: Susan Shea.
Died: October 26, 1991.
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Lincoln Park, New Jersey, USA.
Disability: Autism.

Details:
Susan and her mother, Eileen Shea, were allegedly shot by Susan’s father.

Case status:
Michael Edward Shea (Father); charged with first-degree murder.

Source:
Autism Memorial: Susan Shea
Man Held in Killings in His Home

Chucky Sweeten

Name: Charles Forester Jr.; also known as Chucky Sweeten.
Died: January 24, 1990.
Age at death: 39.
Cause of death: Gunshot.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Citing years of abuse, Chucky’s mother shot her husband Tom, then shot Chucky because she “loved him and knew no one else would take care of him”.

Case status:
Dorothea Sweeten (Mother), charged with murder, died before trial.

Source:
Charles H. Forester Jr. (1950-1990) – Find A Grave
NATION : Woman Held in Family Slayings
Woman kills husband, retarded son
Woman kills husband and son