Memorial Wall

July 22nd:
Janusz Korczak
born on July 22nd, 1878

Janusz Korczak was a Polish-Jewish educator, children's author, and pediatrician, who ran an orphanage in Warsaw called "Dom Sierot". When Dom Sierot was sent from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp during WWII, Korczak refused freedom and stayed with the kids. Him, his staff, and 200 children (aged between 2 and 13yo) were killed in gas chambers on August 7, 1942, immediately upon arrival to the camp.

A pioneer of children's rights, Janusz Korczak, was the first to put into words the necessity to respect children as fully-fledged human beings. The Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations in 1989 drew on Korczak’s work. Some of his best known books are: How To Love A Child, King Matt The First, Child Of The Drawing Room, When I'm Little Again, and The Child's Right To Respect.

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July 23rd:
Laura Perez
died on July 23rd, 2014

25yo police officer Laura Perez was killed by her husband because he thought she was cheating on him. "She was a monster," he said in court. "She was detestable for what she did to me." He shot her and set their house on fire, so that their 5yo daughter wouldn't know what happened, according to him.

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July 24th:
Riley Ann Sawyers
died on July 24th, 2007

Riley Ann was a 2yo girl from Ohio, USA, whose parents were teenagers. They stayed with Riley's grandma, her dad's mom, until he moved out, pressing domestic violence charges against Riley's mom. She moved out half a year later as well, and married another man, in Texas. That man believed in discipline and expected 2yo Riley to address adults as "Sir" and "M'am". When she failed to do so, the couple beat her with belts, threw her across the room, and held her head underwater in a bathtub. Just two months later Riley died during one such "discipline session" - she couldn't stand up when told to.

Riley is also known as "Baby Grace" because her mom and stepdad dumped her body in the ocean, and when fishermen found it and the police investigation began, her real name wasn't known yet.

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Robert Manwill
died on July 24th, 2009

Robert was an 8yo boy from Idaho, USA, who was killed by his mom's boyfriend. It was a part of an overall pattern of domestic violence in the house. The boy was beaten for weeks, sometimes with wooden planks, the man "dropped a knee" on his chest, causing internal bleeding (the family referred to this form of "discipline" as "dead bugging"), and made to sit in a closet when DHS visited the house (so that DHS wouldn't see his bruises). On July 23rd the man broke the apartment wall with Robert's head. The next day Robert complained of headache and other pains, and had trouble keeping balance. Mom just went to work. When she found him dead, she and her boyfriend dropped Robert's body in an irrigation canal nearby and reported him missing.

Robert had a father and grandparents. They would have taken him if his mom called them. She said she didn't protect Robert from her violent boyfriend or ask for help because she was scared that both Robert and his younger brother would be taken from her, if DHS found out Robert was being abused. The jury convicted both her and her boyfriend of murder.

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July 25th:
Jonathan James
died on July 25th, 2011

Twin brothers Jonathan and Joseph from Texas, USA, were having a court-ordered visit with their father and stepmother. The boys' grandma described Jonathan as a friendly, cheerful child who never held a grudge. "Jonathan could forgive you no matter what you did," she said. "You could ground him and he would say, 'I love you, Mimi.'" Prior to the visit with his father, Jonathan asked grandma, "Can I come to your house instead? I know I’m going to be in trouble while I’m there because I always am." During the visit, the boy wet his bed, and was punished by not being allowed water or any other liquid for five days. He was forced to stand on a spot marked with an "X" on the kitchen floor, and hold a sack of potatoes over his head. The kitchen had no air conditioning. The stepmother explained the situation as follows, "He always said he was thirsty. He was in time out, and every two minutes he would say, ‘I need a drink…I need to go to the bathroom." His brother Joseph explained that Jonathan tried to get to the bathroom to drink water from the faucet. Jonathan died of dehydration.

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July 28th:
Ravinder Kaur
died on July 28th, 2011

24yo Ravinder was born and raised in India, and moved to Canada to marry her old classmate. Ravinder worked as a sub-editor, volunteered helping new immigrants settle in Canada, and taught Indian folk dances to the community. Her husband didn't like how popular she was, and they split up. Soon after Ravinder moved out, he came to her workplace and hacked her to death. "Life sentence is OK, but there should be death penalty," said her father. "We still regret that marriage, as there were several well-to-do families approaching us for our daughter. We married her to death in Canada. The murder still hounds us, makes us sleepless."

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July 29th:
Megan Kanka
died on July 29th, 1994

Megan was a 7yo girl from New Jersey, USA, who was raped and murdered by her neighbor Jesse Timmendequas. Timmendequas had two prior convictions for aggravated sexual assaults on young girls. The murder attracted national attention and subsequently led to the introduction of "Megan's Law", which requires law enforcement to disclose details relating to the location of registered sex offenders.

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July 30th:
World Day against Trafficking in Persons
July 30th, 2013

Human trafficking is a crime that exploits women, children and men for numerous purposes including forced labour and sex. The International Labour Organization estimates that 21 million people are victims of forced labour globally. This estimate also includes victims of human trafficking for labour and sexual exploitation. While it is not known how many of these victims were trafficked, the estimate implies that currently, there are millions of trafficking in persons victims in the world.

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July 31st:
Alex Hill
died on July 31st, 2013

2yo Alex from Texas, USA, was removed from her parents home because her dad used to smoke pot at night. The girl was placed with a foster family that also had issues with pot - as well as crack cocaine and other problems, over a 100 violations total. Biological parents were going to get Alex back, but four months prior to that she was killed by her foster mom. According to her, Alex got up too early that morning, which frustrated the woman, and then they played a game, at the end of which Alex's head was slammed into the floor. Alex had bruising all over her body.

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August 2nd:
Paige Linsmeyer
died on August 2nd, 2015

27yo Paige from Wisconsin, USA, worked at a paper mill and enjoyed softball, volleyball, darts, fishing, golfing and traveling. Paige was killed by her 51yo boyfriend who then committed suicide. Their neighbor said, "It makes me sad because I know her and I grew up with her. I knew her dad and family, and I know how devastated she must be."

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August 3rd:
Katelynn Sampson
died on August 3rd, 2008

Katelynn was a 7yo girl from Toronto, Canada, whose mom was a drug addict. She gave Katelynn to another drug addict, hoping her daughter would have a better life with them. All three (the mother and the couple who cared for Katelynn) had a long history with Child Protective Services, and there were multiple reports from school and neighbors, with concerns about Katelynn's welfare. Those reports weren't followed up. Katelynn died of septic shock from over 70 wounds. Police found her blood in every room of the apartment, and a note written by her, that said 62 times "I am A awful girl that’s why know one wants me."

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Nia Marie Glassie
died on August 3rd, 2007

Nia was a 3yo Maori girl abused and eventually killed by her family in Rotorua, New Zealand. She was the youngest of six children her mom had. Mom was 34yo, and frequently left Nia with her 16yo boyfriend, his brother, and the brother's girlfriend. The three have been abusing Nia for months, in front of her older siblings.

Nia had been kicked, beaten, slapped, jumped on, held over a burning fire, had wrestling moves copied from a computer game practiced on her, spit on, placed into a clothes dryer spinning at top heat for up to 30 minutes, folded into a sofa and sat on, shoved into piles of rubbish, dragged through a sandpit half-naked, flung against a wall, dropped from a height onto the floor, and whirled rapidly on an outdoor rotary clothes line until thrown off.

When Nia lapsed into coma, her family didn't take her to hospital for 36hrs (they were having a party, and continued it while she was in hospital). During the trial, a doctor told the court that if Nia had been taken to hospital as soon as she was unconscious, she would have likely survived.

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August 4th:
Sandra Coke
died on August 4th, 2013

Mrs Coke was a federal investigator of death row inmates in California, USA, working to overturn wrongful convictions and improve inmates' quality of life. She was murdered by a violent sex offender whom she dated briefly 20 years prior, and with whom she reconnected after he was released from prison about a year before her death. Here's a quote from Federal Defender Press Release: "Sandra was a compassionate, intelligent, thorough investigator. A devoted single mother and friend to her coworkers, she dedicated her work and her life to looking for the best in people, to give some explanation to why people do what they do - even the most heinous of acts, all based upon the belief that no person should be judged only by the worst act he or she committed."

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August 5th:
Mason Rhinehart
died on August 5th, 2014

6yo Mason from Florida, USA, lived with his mom, dad, and 8yo brother Aden. "They were two peas in a pod, they were best friends, they were inseparable," his godmother said. "When you saw Mason, you saw Aden." Mason was on the honor roll in school, loved swimming and playing Minecraft with his brother, started weightlifting with his dad, and played for a youth football team.

The boys' parents worked full time, and grandma babysat the kids twice a week. One Tuesday, two days before Mason's 7th birthday, the parents were at work, the boys were playing computer games, and grandma told them she had a surprise for them. She took Mason to the bathroom, locked the door, and stabbed him to death. 8yo Aden heard his brother cry and say, "I don't want to die, please don't kill me." Aden tried to get into the bathroom but couldnt, so he called his dad and hid. He wasn't physically injured, but, before leaving the house, grandma told him she had a surprise for him too.

The grandma eventually pled no contest to murder charges, explained that she did it because she was "fed up" with her daughter-in-law, and was sentenced to life without parole. "I feel really sorry for him because not only did he lose a son, he lost a mother," Mason's godmother said about his dad. "He says he's done with her and never wants to see her again."

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Chaitanya Balpande
died on August 5th, 2015

13yo Chaitanya from Pune, India, was born disabled. His parents loved him very much, he enjoyed bird watching and playing cricket with them. Things went downhill when he was around ten; parents split up, and mom didn't let his dad and paternal grandma to see him anymore. Three years later Chaitanya's mom beat him to death with a cricket bat.

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August 7th:
Jenise Wright
died on August 7th, 2014

6yo Jenise from Washington state, USA, loved playing at the park with her friends and family, baking pies with her Grandma, taking pictures with her ipad and going out for ice-cream cones. She was raped and murdered, and the police arrested a 17yo neighbor, friend of Jenise's older siblings, who used to hang out in the house and whom Jenise's dad taught how to chop firewood for extra income. "It’s devastating. It almost would have been easier if it was a stranger," the father said.

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August 12th:
Viola Herms Drath
died on August 12th, 2011

Mrs Drath was born in 1920 in Germany, and moved to USA after the WWII. She had a strong influence on German-American relations for over thirty years, and was active in various ways: as a journalist, a playwright, an editor, a foreign policy adviser, author of university textbooks, and a member of diplomatic missions to various countries.

When Mrs Drath was 70yo, she married a much younger intern from Germany, who soon became physically abusive. They were together for 21 year, until her murdered her. Mrs Drath wrote a memoir titled "A Thoroughly Muddled Marriage: Report of an Inmate" which hasn't been published.

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August 13th:
David Edwards
died on August 13th, 2015

Mr Edwards, 51yo lawyer from UK, had the misfortune of falling in love with an abusive woman. Mr Edwards told his friends that she hit "rather hard" and could "knock him out with one punch," but he covered up his injuries and didn't complain to the police. She stabbed him to death during a domestic dispute, less than two months after their wedding. Here's what Mr Edwards' work acquaintance wrote about him: "Over the years we have come to know David well. He was a very engaging person with a wry grin. He was always proud of his reputation and integrity as an officer of the court. His tragic death has affected every member of the Chorley bench, and I am sure the wider legal fraternity, very deeply. David was held in extremely high regard by every member of the Chorley bench."

The Mrs Edwards was sentenced to life in prison. Here's what the prosecutor said after the trial: "This domestic abuse was one of violence by a woman against a man. It had all the dreadful hallmarks of this type of offending. Sharon Edwards behaved in a domineering and possessive way with her husband. She seemed to resent any of his past or even present friends, family and colleagues. She behaved as though she expected him to devote his entire attention and time to her and made an overbearing nuisance of herself at his work. She had been violent to Mr Edwards early on in the relationship but it escalated as time went on. There is no evidence that he ever retaliated physically to her assaults. He submitted to his wife's demands to cover up her behaviour and continued to say that he loved her. Her final claims that he had walked into the knife which killed him have clearly been rejected by the jury. Domestic abuse can come in all sorts of guises and this case is another in the sad catalogue of violent repressive relationships that seem to rob the victim of their power or ability to stop the violence."

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August 15th:
Alycia Mesiti
died on August 15th, 2006

14yo Alycia from California, USA, loved Shakira, horses, and her pet chihuahua. She had a younger brother and mom and dad in the middle of a divorce/custody battle. Dad was violent and drank too much. Mom was depressed, hit Alycia's younger brother, and couldn't support the children. The judge felt there were "no good options" in this case, and Alycia and her brother went to live with their dad, who at least had the financial means to support them, after he completed an anger management class. The kids had a court appointed lawyer, who wrote in her report, "I am deeply concerned about both minors, especially Alycia," because the children were often hungry, subject to abuse, and unable to contact their mom despite her court-ordered visitation and contact rights.

14yo Alycia disappeared in August of 2006. Her dad said she had run away and that he was receiving phone calls from her, so the police wasn't searching for her, despite her mom's alarm. They said, "She'll come home, she'll come home." Two and a half years later they finally sent cadaver dogs to the house where Alycia disappeared from, and discovered her remains. The girl was molested and murdered. Her father is held on bail, still pending trial as of 2016, ten years after Alycia's death. "I couldn't even pick up her personal effects," Alycia's mother said. "There was nothing. There's just nothing left of her."

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August 16th:
Mason Scott
died on August 16th, 2008

Mason was a 6yo mildly autistic boy from Alabama, USA, who died in a house fire the day. His mom exited the house unharmed and fully dressed, removed jewelry and some expensive paintings from the house beforehand, and has taken out several life insurance policies on Mason, one only the day before the fire. Mom was convicted of capital murder and is currently on death row, but that doesn't bring Mason back...

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August 17th:
Breonna Nichole Loftin
died on August 17th, 2011

Breonna was 4 years old when she died of blunt force trauma. She had bruises, burn marks, broken ribs and other signs of physical and sexual abuse on her body, according to authorities. Witnesses said the child was spanked, kicked, thrown across a room and forced to stand barefoot on water bottle caps. Both parents are facing trial for capital murder.

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August 19th:
Birthday of Bill Clinton
born on August 19th, 1946

William Jefferson Clinton 42nd President of the United States of America. Clinton's father died before he was born and his mother married Roger Clinton when he was 8yo. His stepfather was a gambler and alcoholic and throughout Clinton's childhood incidences of domestic violence were common. In his autobiography "My Life" he writes candidly about the pain he and his family suffered because of this ,and campaigns still via The Clinton Global Initiative with an aim to stop violence against women.

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August 20th:
Birthday of Demi Lovato
born on August 20th, 1992

Demi Lovato American singer and actress. Demi is a spokesperson for the anti -bullying organisation PACER,an Honorary Ambassadorf Education for Eosinophilia Disorder,and in June 2013 announced the creation of Lovato Treatment Scholarship Program to help pay the treatment of menatlly ill patients. She has spoken widely on being bullied at school and of her battle with depression,self harm and eating disorders.She has also stated she has been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. She has received many awards and accolades throughout her career in music and acting.

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Naziat Khan
died on August 20th, 2001

Mrs Naziat Khan from UK had three daugthers, a son, and a husband of 16 years whom she didn't love because it was an arranged marriage. He didn't contribute to the household financially, so she filed for divorce. The husband decided that his honour was slighted, sent their son away for a few days, and strangled Mrs Khan in front of their three daughters, threatening to do the same to them if they speak up about what they saw. Then he dropped them off with a friend and fled the country. When their son returned home from his trip, he found his mother's body.

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This page was last updated on May 28th, 2017
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