Pa. family: 'Friends' torture, kill disabled woman
it's been quite a long time since I posted one of these, and this one is profoundly disturbing. there's no part of this article that I can excerpt without explicitly mentioning violence, so consider yourself warned for triggers.
GREENSBURG, Pa. -- Jennifer Daugherty's mom and stepdad didn't press for details when she mentioned she had made some new friends. The 30-year-old had the mental abilities of an adolescent but wasn't the kind to get in trouble, and she was even thinking about getting her own place soon.
Police found her body Thursday stuffed into a garbage can in a school parking lot; they say she had been forced to consume detergent and urine - and to write a fake suicide note - before she was fatally stabbed by attackers who also shaved her head and painted her face with nail polish. Six suspects have been charged, including her new "friends."
....Daugherty's stepfather said she often traveled on her own by bus from her home in Mount Pleasant to Greensburg, about 10 miles away, for dental or counseling appointments. After she hopped onto a bus Monday, she called her folks later in the day seeking permission to spend the night at "Peggy's" house.
It was the last time she would talk to them.
Daugherty went willingly to the apartment where she was killed about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, according to police, who wouldn't discuss a motive or details on how the visit turned deadly.
She was beaten with a towel rack, vacuum cleaner hose and a crutch, and her body was bound with Christmas decorations, an affidavit said. Police said she was fed vegetable oil, medications and spices in addition to soap and urine.
....Murphy said he was the last family member to see Daugherty alive, on Monday, when he took her to get on the bus to Greensburg. He was not sure with whom Daugherty had an appointment, but said that later that day, she called home and asked about going to her friend Peggy's. Murphy said his stepdaughter planned to return home Tuesday.
Daugherty had become involved in a community center in Greensburg where she met several people whose names she mentioned as friends, Murphy said - including several whose first names share those of some of the defendants.
"I don't know them personally, but Jennifer mentioned some of their names as being her friends - but evidently not," he said.
And those who think that women are oppressed and therefore do not commit violence (most people don't say this, but I have seen it on occasion), permit me to point you to the names of the accused: Robert Loren Masters Jr., 36, Ricky Smyrnes, 23, Melvin Knight, 20, Amber Meidinger, 20, and Angela Marinucci, 17, all of Greensburg; and Peggy Darlene Miller, 27, of Mount Pleasant Township.
Oppression and violence are not "at the root" about men-over-women (or white-over-POC, or rich-over-poor, or nondisabled-over-disabled, or any other "original" type of oppression.) They are about those who fancy themselves strong over those they fear or loathe most, and there can be any reason behind that fear. There is no one ultimate root from which all violences like this come.
GREENSBURG, Pa. -- Jennifer Daugherty's mom and stepdad didn't press for details when she mentioned she had made some new friends. The 30-year-old had the mental abilities of an adolescent but wasn't the kind to get in trouble, and she was even thinking about getting her own place soon.
Police found her body Thursday stuffed into a garbage can in a school parking lot; they say she had been forced to consume detergent and urine - and to write a fake suicide note - before she was fatally stabbed by attackers who also shaved her head and painted her face with nail polish. Six suspects have been charged, including her new "friends."
....Daugherty's stepfather said she often traveled on her own by bus from her home in Mount Pleasant to Greensburg, about 10 miles away, for dental or counseling appointments. After she hopped onto a bus Monday, she called her folks later in the day seeking permission to spend the night at "Peggy's" house.
It was the last time she would talk to them.
Daugherty went willingly to the apartment where she was killed about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh, according to police, who wouldn't discuss a motive or details on how the visit turned deadly.
She was beaten with a towel rack, vacuum cleaner hose and a crutch, and her body was bound with Christmas decorations, an affidavit said. Police said she was fed vegetable oil, medications and spices in addition to soap and urine.
....Murphy said he was the last family member to see Daugherty alive, on Monday, when he took her to get on the bus to Greensburg. He was not sure with whom Daugherty had an appointment, but said that later that day, she called home and asked about going to her friend Peggy's. Murphy said his stepdaughter planned to return home Tuesday.
Daugherty had become involved in a community center in Greensburg where she met several people whose names she mentioned as friends, Murphy said - including several whose first names share those of some of the defendants.
"I don't know them personally, but Jennifer mentioned some of their names as being her friends - but evidently not," he said.
And those who think that women are oppressed and therefore do not commit violence (most people don't say this, but I have seen it on occasion), permit me to point you to the names of the accused: Robert Loren Masters Jr., 36, Ricky Smyrnes, 23, Melvin Knight, 20, Amber Meidinger, 20, and Angela Marinucci, 17, all of Greensburg; and Peggy Darlene Miller, 27, of Mount Pleasant Township.
Oppression and violence are not "at the root" about men-over-women (or white-over-POC, or rich-over-poor, or nondisabled-over-disabled, or any other "original" type of oppression.) They are about those who fancy themselves strong over those they fear or loathe most, and there can be any reason behind that fear. There is no one ultimate root from which all violences like this come.