Memorial Wall
Liam Fee
died on March 22nd, 2014
2yo Liam from UK was murdered by his mom and mom's girlfriend, who initially blamed his death on another boy. Liam suffered more than 30 injuries, including a broken leg, a broken arm, and a fatal blow to his abdomen that ruptured his heart. Two other children in the household were abused as well: one boy was forced to sleep in a cage, and another - in a room with rats and snakes which he was told "ate little boys."
Det Insp Rory Hamilton, of Police Scotland, said: "During joint interviews with specially-trained detectives and officials from Fife Council, the evidence began to build towards a picture of horrendous abuse which directly contributed to the version of events being put forward by the two accused being utterly discredited. This was a complex, challenging and sensitive investigation which involved interviewing two young children to establish the level of abuse and neglect both they and Liam Fee had been subjected to. It was because of their courage that detectives were able to identify Rachel and Nyomi Fee as being responsible for a wide range of serious offences against three children."
Shaylyn Ammerman
died on March 23rd, 2016
1yo Shaylyn from Indiana, USA, was raped and murdered by a friend of her dad. He came over for a night of drinking, took Shaylyn from her bed, and drove to a rural area where he assaulted and killed her. A medical examiner called the trauma to Shaylyn's body the "worst case of sexual trauma" she had seen in her career. "When I heard all the horrible things he did to my precious girl I wanted to die too," said Shaylyn's dad.
Shamir Hudson
died on March 24th, 1998
8yo Shamir from Maryland, USA, lived with his 7yo brother, 6yo sister, and their 58yo adoptive mom. She was approved for adoption in 1995, after fostering them for about a year. Things turned bad when the children were transferred to Faith Deliverance Academy, an unaccredited private school. "These children were slowly tortured," said the kids' old kindergarten teacher. "Every time we tried to intervene, the Department of Social Services said our reports were unfounded."
Shamir was beaten to death. An autopsy determined that he died of wounds of every "size, age and direction," including a broken rib, a lacerated liver and hemorrhaging from his head. According to police reports, a burn on the child's arm and two open wounds on his legs were covered with duct tape.
"Obviously, we have looked again at all those referrals from the school and there just wasn't enough evidence to warrant a court order to remove them from the home," county social services director said. "We did receive multiple complaints about the children, but only two about the child who died." In Worcester County, with a population of about 35,000, four protective services case workers handle as many as 250 cases of suspected child abuse a year, officials said. "This has to be the saddest and most brutal case I have witnessed in my years on the bench," the judge said before imposing the 30-year sentence.
Camryn Jakeb Wilson
died on March 25th, 2008
4-month-old Camryn from Ohio, USA, died of shaken baby syndrome. His mom and dad, both recovering alcoholics, had an argument that involved a lot of yelling and throwing wedding rings at each other. In the end Camryn's mom left for an AA meeting, and dad stayed home with Camryn. When mom returned, she found Camryn unwell, rushed him to the hospital, but it was too late. Doctors discovered severe bleeding of his brain, extensive hemorrhages in both eyes, and Craig R. Wilson. Camryn's dad was sentenced to life in prison.
Michele Davis
died on March 26th, 2015
35yo Michelle from Arizona, USA, had seven children (ages 3 to 15) and an abusive husband who has been arrested at least four times for domestic violence and child abuse. She took care of the kids, was going to school to become a nurse, and was active at online support groups for abused women. "She was very compassionate," her dad said. "And she was very much a people person that wanted to be there for people."
On March 25th the whole family was at home, the father got upset with one of the kids for playing video games, and struck him on the face. The boy complained to mom, Michelle confronted her husband, and soon 911 received two phone calls at the same time: one from the children, pleading for help, and one from the father, crying hysterically and apologizing for killing his wife. Michelle was found with 13 stab wounds, and died in a hospital the next day. The man is held on murder charges, the kids are with their grandma, Michelle's mom.
"There's times when you're going throughout your day trying to get done what needs to get done, and then it all of a sudden dawns on you that she's really gone, and then quickly comes into my mind those kids and what some of them saw," her family says.
Sandra Cantu
died on March 27th, 2009
Sandra was an 8yo girl who lived with her mom, grandparents, and three older siblings in a Mobile Home park in California. She was raped and murdered by her mentally ill neighbor, Melissa Huckaby, a Sunday school teacher and a mother of Sadra's playmate.
Mark Hudson
died on March 28th, 2015
26yo Mark from Pennsylvania, USA, was a police officer shot to death by his girlfriend in his house. They had a history of abuse: six months prior to the shooting, she threatened Mark with a knife and said she wanted to kill him. He locked himself in a bedroom, called police, and later secured a protection from abuse order. The woman gave a few different explanations of what happened on March 28th, including that Mark's dog shot him by holding the gun in its mouth, and that she shot him in self defense. When sentencing the woman to 18-36 years of prison, the judge told her, "You could have easily walked away from that situation and you chose not to do that, and therefore this sentence was brought on by you and by no one else."
Mark's best friend said he never saw Mark angry or confrontational about his relationship with his girlfriend and described the victim as "an extinguisher" who strove to defuse conflict. "His love for his friends, his family, his mom, his brother was unconditional," he said. Mark's boss, Darby Police Chief Robert Smythe said Mark had a bright and promising career ahead of him in law enforcement and likely could have been chief one day. "He had a vibrant personality. He would meet people and just connect with them, because that's the way he was. He's just a person that shouldn't have been taken from us so soon."
Oksana Makar
died on March 29th, 2012
Oksana was a girl from Ukraine whose both parents were convicted of various felonies, including drug-related ones. When Oksana was little, her mom was incarcerated for armed robbery, and Oksana went to live with her grandparents. When she was in third grade, grandparents sent her to an orphanage. She tried to run away multiple times, but was caught. When Oksana was 10, her mom was released from prison, and took the girl home. Mom's boyfriend molested Oksana, mom moved to another town, and the girl was practically homeless. She only completed 6th grade, and there was a police report about her engaging in prostitution.
On March 8th (International Women's Day in Ukraine), 18yo Oksana was at a local bar. Her drink was spiked, three guys took her to their place, raped and strangled her, set her on fire, and left her for dead. She was found the next morning, taken to a hospital, and died three weeks later of burns, gangrene, pneumonia, sepsis, multiple organ failure, brain edema, and undernourishment.
Isabella Nardoni
died on March 29th, 2008
Isabella was a 5yo girl from Brazil who was abused and killed by her dad and stepmom. Her biological mom got pregnant with Isabella at 17, but broke up with her dad while still pregnant. Isabella lived with mom, but visited dad on weekends. She complained of being beaten there, kept asking to not go, or to leave early, and the whole family was concerned that the stepmother might hurt the child. On March 29th Isabella was thrown out of a window of her dad's apartment (sixth floor) and died in an ambulance on her way to hospital. She had injuries unrelated to the fall, and her blood was found in the apartment and in her dad's car. Stepmother said it was all Isabella's fault.
Corinne Gump
died on March 30th, 2015
10yo Corinne and her grandparents from Ohio, USA, died in a housefire hours before she was going to testify against her mom's boyfriend, because she said he was molesting her for five years. He was out on bail at the time of fire. "We woke up and heard an explosion," said the grandparents' neighbor. "We looked out and saw flames in every room of the house. Not just the basement. Not just the living room. Everything was on fire. Windows were blown out, doors ripped off hinges. Even if they were awake, they couldn't have made it out." Days after the fire, the man tried to bribe his ex-wife, so that she would testify that Corinne made up the story of sexual abuse. She refused, and the trial proceeded. Here's what Corinne's relatives and neighbors said about her:
"She was a beautiful child with a soft heart and her mommy's smarts. She was daddy's princess, and she always slept with her daddy's gray tank tops. She had a quirky attitude and touched many people's lives in her 10 short years. She was a night owl and enjoyed playing games, riding four-wheelers and bikes, swimming and playing outside with her friends." "That little girl was the pride and joy of her grandparents. She listened to whatever they said. She and her grandparents got along so well. That family really will be missed."
Salwa Haydar
died on March 31st, 2015
58yo Salwa Haydar was a mother of four, stabbed to death by her husband. Their 18yo daughter Ola tried to protect her mom, but received a serious hand injury. Mrs Haydar worked for a welfare office, assisting victims of domestic violence, after the family immigrated from Lebanon to Australia to avoid the bombings (Mrs Haydar's mother was killed in one).
Aaron Bacon
died on March 31st, 1994
Aaron was a 16yo boy from South California who asked his parents to transfer him to a public school because he felt his private school "wasn't providing enough socioeconomic diversity." He was a bright kid, wrote poetry, but soon after the school transfer he was caught smoking pot and was suspected of affiliating with a school gang (though he vehemently denied it). Parents panicked, took out a second mortgage, and sent Aaron to a North Star wilderness therapy program, costing $13,900 for a 63-day course, plus another $775 to have Aaron surprised at 1Am by being dragged out of his bed barefoot and forcibly "escorted" to location (something North Star strongly recommended).
Out of 20 days on the trail, Aaron had been forced to go without a sleeping bag for 14 days, without a blanket for 4 days (three of which were marked by below-freezing temperatures), and without food for 11 days, plus four days on which he had only meal, and one day on which his only food was a lizard and a scorpion. Aaron soiled himself uncontrollably, was unable to walk, see, or hear, and other kids in the group said that he looked "like he was from Auschwitz or Ethiopia," yet the camp counselors felt he was faking it till he died.
Here's one of Aaron's poems:
Dreaming with a heart full of wonder
And a mind full of knowledge
Our thirst for life and love
Does not set with the sun behind us.
