Killer Dads: Fathers who ended their children's lives in situations involving child custody, visitation, and/or child support
NEW YORK
Bronx County
Father: ANTHONY MIKELL
Victim(s): Kevin Mikell (2 years)
Date of Death: February 1996
Father granted custody while mother was being “probed” for child abuse. Father had previously been arrested for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest. Child beaten to death. Father charged with depraved-indifference murder. Trial outcome not clear.
Columbia County
Father: FRANKLIN HANKERSON
Victim(s): Khliff Taylor Hankerson (5 years)
Date of Death: April 2010
Father killed son in murder-suicide during visitation.
Erie County
Father: JAMES E. KENT
Victim(s); Joshua Kent (3 years)
Date of Death: March 2005
Sole custody father beat son to death. Legal outcome not reported.
Genesee County
Father: JEFFREY DEATS
Victim: 6-month-old son
Date of Death: December 2014
Father charged with 2nd-degree manslaughter in death of son. Son's death occurred during father's first overnight visitation.
Father: UNNAMED FATHER
Victim(s); Marcus Peters (6 years)
Date of Death: October 2009
Child died during weekend visitation with father, but authorities say death not "suspicious."
Kings County
Father: JASON MARCELLE
Victim(s): Tkai Marcelle (3 years)
Date of Death: December 2007
Custodial father charged with 2nd-degree murder in daughter’s death. Father has criminal record, history of domestic violence, previous child welfare complaints. In April 2009, father sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Father: CHRISTOPHER WILLIS
Victim(s): Datwan Murray (2 ½ years)
Date of Death: June 1993
Mother had legal custody, but father had refused to return child after visitation. Father appeared to be a major drug dealer with drug arsenal. Father was charged with murder, but unable to determine legal outcome.
Monroe County
*Father: MARK RESCH
Victim(s): Hunter Resch (7 years)
Date of Death: February 2010
Child shot to death in murder-suicide during court-ordered visitation. Father had history of domestic violence; mother had filed for two orders of protection.
New York County
*Father: DMITRY KANARIKOV
Victim(s): Kirill Kanarikov (3 years)
Date of Death: December 21, 2013
Father had history of domestic violence, suicidal threats, yet was granted unsupervised visitation.
During first visit, father threw son off high rise building in murder-suicide.
Oneida County
Father: JEVON WAMELING
Victim(s): Levon Wameling (9 months)
Date of Death: May 2013
Father with temporary custody neglects to report infant son as missing for two weeks after "disappearance." In December 2013, finally pleads guilty to manslaughter after baby's body found. Sentenced to 15 years in prison in January 2014.
Onondaga County
Father: GLENN COLLINS
Victim(s): Gabriella (6 years)
Date of Death: October 2014
Father had court-ordered visitation despite prison history, history of drug abuse, allegations of child neglect/abuse. Daughter died of carbon monoxide poisoning after being left home alone while father went to casino with girlfriend.
Father: MARCELL WASHINGTON
Victim(s): Ameen Washington (3 years)
Date of Death: November 2011
Father had “shared custody”—despite criminal record—and was supposed to be caring for son on weekends. Dad charged with 2nd-degree murder in son’s drowning death. As of November 2012, father still in jail awaiting trial. Because of delays in the psychiatric evaluation, father not indicted on 2nd-degree murder charges until February 2014.
Orange County
Father: PATRICK FITZGERALD
Victim(s): Leanne Fitzgerald (wife, 38 years), Ashley Fitzgerald (7 years), Shane Fitzgerald (4 years)
Date of Death: September 1998
Parents had not separated at time of murders. But father had history of domestic violence, and filing for orders of protections and child custody in Orange County Family Court. Family killed in murder-suicide.
*Father: CHRISTOPHER RHODES
Victim(s): Jerica Rhodes (7 years)
Date of Death: January 2005
Sole custody father convicted in daughter's stabbing death. Father had extensive history of domestic violence.
Queens County
Father: BOUJEKE KENMOE
Victim(s): Jerry (8 years)
Date of Death: June 2014
Father awarded custody after parents divorced in 2010. Strangled son to death in what appeared to be a botched murder-suicide.
Richmond County
Father: DARRELL TAYLOR
Victim(s): Josiah Taylor (2 years)
Date of Death: November 2010
Boy killed during visitation with father. Babysitting girlfriend, father each blaming the other. In May 2012, girlfriend sentenced to five years of probation.
Steuben County
Father: BRIAN ASHLINE
Victim(s): Xavier Ashline (3 months), Trieste Clayton, baby’s mother
Date of Death: June 2010
Dad with extensive history of domestic violence charged in stabbing deaths of infant son, infant's mother. Murders took place during Father’s Day visitation. Dad allegedly didn’t want mother to have the baby if he couldn’t. He also claimed she objected to him taking the baby back home, and that’s what caused the “fight.” In December 2011, father convicted of two counts of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Warren County
Father: ADAM PARCELLS
Victim(s): Noel Parcells (10 years), Mia Parcells (3 years)
Date of Death: September 2011
Because of previous child abuse, father limited to supervised visitation with older daughter. Abducted girls during scheduled visit in Rochester, New York, and shot them to death in murder-suicide at a Lake George campground. Rochester police refused to issue immediate Amber Alert because they considered it just a custody matter. Father still had joint custody/weekend visitation with younger daughter. In September 2012, one of the mothers filed a law suit against the Rochester Police Department.
Father: GARY WAITE
Victim(s): Jesse James Smith (15 months)
Date of Death: February 2012
Never married father with joint custody charged with 2nd-degree murder. Father had history of assault, sexual abuse. Father's trial scheduled for October 2013. Convicted in December 2013.
Westchester County
Father: SAM FRIEDLANDER
Victim(s): Molly Friedlander (10 years), Gregory Friedlander (8 years), mother Amy Friedlander
Date of Death: October 2011
Parents said to be in “nasty, bitter divorce” and “bitter custody battle.” Father beat mother to death, then shot kids to death in their beds in murder-suicide.