Gendercide (Femicide)

Submitted To

Dr. Anila Afzal

Submitted By
Saima Noureen
(09-arid-1425)
(Soc evening)

FACULTY OF SCIENCES

PIR MEHER ALI SHAH

ARID AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY
RAWALPINDI
1
 p and above anything else, all praises to ALLAHH ALMIGTY
alone, the omnipotent, the most merciful and compassionate. The
words are bound, knowledge is limited and time is short to
express his dignity. He bestowed me with the potential and ability to
complete the learning program in time and make a material contribution
towards the deep oceans of knowledge existing.

God never spoils anyone efforts. Every piece of work is rewarded to the
nature of devotion for it.

All respect with humblest and sincerest words to HOLY PROPHET

HAZRAT MUHAMMAD PEACH BE UPON HIM enlighten our
conscience which essence of faith on ALLAH ALMIGHTY or verging all
his kindness and mercy upon us. Who is forever source of guidance, a light
house for the humanity as a whole.

May ALLAH succeed us! Ameen.

Regards

Saima Noureen
M.Sc Sociology

2
 DEDICATED TO

MY PARENTS

MY SIBLINGS

MY TEACHERS

& ALL OF MY COLLEAGUES

WHO ARE KEEN TO SEE US GROWING AND CONTRIBUTING

TOWARDS THE GROWTH OF NATION AND MUSLIM
COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE.
Best Regards,

Saima Noureen

3
4
 GENDERCIDE

CONTENTES

 Gendercide and its forms

 Femicide

 Examples of femicide

 Evolution of the term femicide

 Debates about femicide

 1996 femicide report of minnesota in 1996

 Women and children murdered

 Women murdered while being used in prostitution

 Pakistan, case study

 Bibliography

5
 Gendercide (Femicide)
Gendercide
Gendercide is a neologism that refers to the systematic killing of members of a specific
sex. Gendercide is gender-selective mass killing. The term was first used by Mary Anne
Warren in her 1985 book, Gendercide: The Implications of Sex Selection. Warren drew
"an analogy between the concept of genocide" and what she called "gendercide." Citing
the Oxford English Dictionary definition of genocide as "the deliberate extermination of
a race of people," Warren wrote:

By analogy, gendercide would be the deliberate extermination of persons of a particular

sex (or gender). Other terms, such as "gynocide" and "femicide," have been used to refer
to the wrongful killing of girls and women. But "gendercide" is a sex-neutral term, in that
the victims may be either male or female. There is a need for such a sex-neutral term,
since sexually discriminatory killing is just as wrong when the victims happen to be male.
The term also calls attention to the fact that gender roles have often had lethal
consequences, and that these are in important respects analogous to the lethal
consequences of racial, religious, and class prejudice.

Warren explored the deliberate extermination of women through analysis of such subjects
as female infanticide, maternal death, witch-hunts in early modern Europe, and other
atrocities and abuses against women.

Femicide
Femicide is defined as the systematic killing of women for various reasons, usually
cultural. The word is attested from the 1820s.
The most widespread form of femicide is in the form of sex-selective infanticide in
cultures with strong preferences for male offspring.
Femicide is, in a general sense, the killing of women specifically because they are
women. This term can have a number of different applications, however, and a single
meaning is not necessarily all-inclusive. It can describe a mass murder of women, similar
to a genocide, only directed toward a gender rather than a similar cultural or ethnic
background. Femicide can also refer to other forms of murder that are perpetrated
specifically toward women, such as the killing of women by their partners or husbands
and “honor killings” of female family members and wives.
In general, femicide is seen as a hate crime that specifically targets women due to
misogyny or sexism felt by the perpetrator of the crime against the victim. The term was
first coined in the early 19th Century and was initially used as a general term to refer to
the murder of a female victim; it has since been refined to have more specific meanings.
It is typically easiest to differentiate any murders with female victims from femicides by

6
considering the gender of the victim and attitudes of the killer. If the victim was killed
because she was a woman, then it typically qualifies as femicide.
The term “femicide” generally has two major applications: one is on a large scale, and the
other is narrower in focus. As a large-scale term, it is typically used in a way similar to
“genocide,” in reference to mass murders of women or females simply because they are
female. This can be used in a situation such as the targeted murders of women in some
countries, especially lesbians or poor women. It can also refer to practices in countries in
which male babies are more highly regarded than female babies, and females may be left
to starve or otherwise die. A passive femicide of this sort is just as destructive as more
active crimes and still qualifies in the sense that it is conducted specifically against
women.

Femicide, defined as the misogynous killing of women by men (Russell and Radford,
1992), has its roots in the larger feminist discourse, which emphasises the patriarchal
nature of society and the tendency to use violence as tool of repression in the
maintenance of male dominance. The term, which – unlike the term genocide, for
example - has no legal basis, is elaborated in the work of Jill Radford and Diana E.H
Russell in a compilation of works entitled ‘Femicide, the politics of woman killing’,
published in 1992. It takes its form from the word ‘cide’, a derivative of the latin word
ceadere which means to kill and femina which means woman or female. The term
remains relatively specialist and has yet to reach mainstream political discourse, and has
tended to be overshadowed by the more gender-neutral and widely applicable term
‘gendercide’ (see Gendercide). For the proponents of the term, this is simply more proof
of the taboo nature of femicide and the silencing power of male structures within society
which prevent women from actively naming violence against them and resisting its
multiple forms.

While the practice is said to be as old as patriarchy itself, the term has probably not been
used until 1974, when an American writer, Carol Orlock, prepared an anthology of
femicide, which remains unpublished (Russell and Radford, 1992). The emergence of the
term can be seen as part of the 1970’s feminist movements, which were witness to
women’s attempts to name their own experiences and create a form of resistance to this
ultimate form of violence against women. Rather than being a new form of violence, it is
indeed seen as being on the extreme end of a continuum of violence exerted against
women. More specifically, however, it is proposed as an alternative to the gender-neutral
term of ‘homicide’. As such, it seeks to highlight the killing of women for being women,
a phenomenon linked closely with sexual violence enacted to punish, blame and control
the actions, emotions and behaviour of women.

Examples of Femicide

Instances of femicide have been pervasive throughout history, and range from the
relatively wide-spread to the very specific, excluding any qualitative aspects to the term.
Indeed, femicide can describe, for example, both a deliberate state/collective action
against many women, and the more particular, but the rarely random killing of one

7
woman. Consequently the term is qualitative, its essence being in both the subject and the
motivation: the person killed is a woman, killed for the gender specific reason that she is
a woman.

In the 16th to 17th century this took the form of killing witches deemed as being
inherently evil. In modern day experiences, the term can be used to describe the legal
killing of wives suspected of adultery, the burning of women in ‘shame’ killings, and
female infanticide such as that sometimes practiced in China and Korea, for example, if
there is a embedded preference for male children. The shooting of 14 female engineering
students in Montreal in December 1989 by Marc Lepine – whose victims were referred to
as ‘fucking feminists’ - is cited by the authors (Russell and Radford, 1992) as archetypal
manifestation of prevalent women-hating attitudes. While femicide can be active, as in
the examples cited above, it can also be permissive or indirect, such the death of women
as the result of badly conducted abortions due to the lack of fertility rights in some
countries, or deaths from unnecessary hysterectomies and clitorectomies. Furthermore,
femicide describes death of girls or women from simple neglect, through starvation or ill-
treatment.

In an attempt to counter mainstream critiques of feminism, which argue that advocates

have a tendency to imply the universal nature of female experience, Radford and Russell
insist that the nature of femicide varies, depending on the cultural, economic and social
character of the society in question. As such, it comes in many forms ranging from serial
or mass femicide, to homophobic femicide (otherwise termed ‘lesbicide’), to marital
femicide. Furthermore, there is said to be a particularly strong link with racism, resulting
in a high level of racist femicide. A more ‘modern’ example of a type of femicide resides
in the deliberate transmission of HIV/AIDS virus, although this has yet to be given a
specific name. Linked to all of the above, although having a strong link with ‘lesbiscide’
is the perception of homosexuality as a repressive social institution, which seeks to
control all women who do not adhere to pre-defined male definitions of female
behaviour, especially those who appear to challenge apparent male superiority and
dominance.

Paradoxically, where women are thought most to be at risk is at home, conceived of

traditionally – especially in non-feminist literature – as being a woman’s rightful place.
Husbands are said to pose the biggest threat, especially for those women wishing to leave
the home or begin divorce proceedings. However, such violence is certainly not limited
to the home, but intrinsic to every aspect of society. Media representation of women, for
example, when reporting deaths involving women and in pornography and ‘snuff’ films
which depict apparently real violence against women for male sexual gratification,
highlight the prominence of ‘male’ perspectives on issues that concern women and
objectification of women, portrayed as devoid of any subjective experience. The judicial
system also plays a role in perpetuating the structures that permit femicide due to the
refusal to focus on the misogynistic nature of crimes, and the tendency to shift
responsibility from the male killer to the woman killed. Women-blaming strategies which
have even led to the codification of the term “provocation” in many legal systems, is part
of the wider phenomenon of “victimology” which deflects blame away from the real

8
culprits, and contributes to the failure of the state to protect women from male sexual
violence

Evolution of the term Femicide

The term femicide has been forced to take into account perceived ‘modern’ ways in
which women’s lives are controlled and harmed by patriarchal structures and, as such,
research concerning the term has been extended to encapsulate technological revolutions
that effect women’s lives. Whereas the nineteen-sixties were marked by a presumed
liberation of women’s lives and control of their own bodies with pervasive use of the
contraceptive pill, New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs) are said, on the contrary, to
reinforce patterns of domination and deepen oppression of women’s lives. Writing as
early as 1989 and showing clear foresight in terms of the direction of bio-technology,
Susan Farrell in a Review of ‘Man-Made Women: How New Reproductive Technologies
Affect Women’ (by Gena Corea, Renate Duelli Klein, Jalna Hanmer, Helen B, Holmes
Raymond, Robyn Rowland, Roberta Steinbacher) highlights the way NRTs can be seen
as part of an “increased medical colonization of women’s lives” (Farrell, 1989: 127).
While on the one hand medical developments can be said to increase women’s
empowerment through the offer of maximum choice, on the other hand NRT research
seeks predominantly to discover the sex of the unborn child and, consequently, because
of the preference for males generally, or at least for first born, sex detection actually
increases the omnipresent bias for the masculine, sex choice being therefore a clear “path
to femicide” (Farrell, 1989: 128).

Since September 11, 2001, an abundance of literature on Islam and Muslim societies has
also led to increased analysis of ‘honor killings’ within these societies. Though very
rarely labelled specifically as acts of femicide in mainstream literature or press, some
authors have chosen to use this lens of analysis to highlight the femicidal nature of these
acts and the ways in which legal systems that deal with such crimes actually work in
favor of the perpetrator. In an analysis of the Palestinian legal system, Shalhoub-
Kevorkian, for example, analyses six case of femicide and the way in which they were
dealt with. She concludes that the legal double standard with respect to sexual morality
means that women-victims of male violence are blamed for having brought dishonor on
their family, whereas the men that commit these crimes are invariably given reduced
sentences or simply asked to pay fines (Shalhoub-Kevorkian 2002: 580). Interestingly,
whereas the intended meaning of Femicide as defined by Russell and Radford as “the
misogynous killing of women by men”, one of the cases used as an illustration in this
article actually describes the honor killing of a woman by another woman in the family.
While this could be ascribed to the patriarchal structure of the society which dictates that
honor killings are even necessary, it is questionable whether such an evolution stays true
to the initial intended meaning of the term, or whether it veers closer to simply being
‘homocide’.

9
 Debates about Femicide

According to Russell and Radford, the term itself goes beyond the desire to name a
crime, and aims to actually inspire resistance to the multiple faces of femicide. As a
political, philosophical or potential legal term, however, it lacks the rigueur of some of
the other concepts in the field such as genocide, and risks being used to designate any
negative action involving women, thereby diffusing its strength and undermining its
purposes. Indeed, it is questionable to what extent one term which covers such a wide
range of practices in a variety of different cultures, can be legitimately used without
harming culturally-specific attempts to define and then counteract damaging social
practices. Lastly, the claim made by Radford and Russell that most murders by women
are in self-defense or represent a desperate attempt at self-preservation seems to lend
support to the questionable belief that women are innately less violent than men.

Femicide can also refer to individual crimes that make up a larger pattern and are directed
toward women. This can include situations of spousal abuse, targeting a woman in a
relationship, which ultimately escalates until the woman is murdered. There are also
certain cultures or countries in which “honor killings” may occur that target women. Such
killings are usually done by a family member or husband of a woman who is seen to have
acted in a way that “dishonored” her family, and the woman is killed to restore this lost
honor. Femicide is used as a specific form of “gendercide,” which refers to any killing
that targets a specific gender, and is in contrast to murders that target men or “viricide.”

There have been reports of femicide in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and in Ciudad
Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The murders in Juarez, also known as las muertas de Juárez
("The dead women of Juárez"), and Guatemala were reportedly not investigated by the
local authorities. Most of the women were raped before being murdered and some were
mutilated, tortured, and dismembered. In Guatemala City, about 20% of the over 500
women murdered in 2004 and 2005 were killed in pairs, due to a (lesbian) "intimate
relationship", according to Claudia Acevedo of Lesbiradas.
1996 Femicide Report of Minnesota in 1996:

Women and Children Murdered

 At least 22 women were murdered in cases where the suspected, alleged, or

convicted perpetrator was a current or former husband, boyfriend, intimate partner
or household/family member of the woman.
 At least 17 children were murdered in cases where the suspected, alleged, or
convicted perpetrator was their mother's husband, boyfriend, or intimate partner,
or was the parent, foster parent, guardian, babysitter, or household/family member
of the child.
 At least 6 women who were used in prostitution were murdered.

10
Women Murdered

January 12, 1996

1. Genelda Campeau, 65 St. Paul
Genelda was stabbed to death by her granddaughter's ex-boyfriend. The granddaughter
said the attack came "out of the blue." Edbert Neal Williams stabbed Genelda 52 times
with a kitchen knife and attacked her granddaughter, who survived. Williams was
arrested and held by the St. Paul police. Williams was sentenced to life in prison for the
stabbing death of Genelda and was also sentenced to fifteen years for attempted first-
degree murder in the attack of her granddaughter.

2. Kami Talley, 22 Bloomington February 14, 1996

The relationship between Talley and Buggs had been described as turbulent. The
previous summer when Talley broke off the relationship, he attacked her so savagely
that she was hospitalized with serious injuries and Buggs spent time in the workhouse.
After his release he violated an order for protection. Talley and members of her family
repeatedly pleaded with police and judges because Buggs had threatened to kill her.
Kami Talley died of gunshot wounds after being shot by her ex-boyfriend at her place of
employment. Louis "Butch" Buggs went to Kami's workplace and walked into the
second floor offices and confronted her. Kami went to a bathroom where she and Buggs
argued briefly before co-workers heard gunfire. He then fled the building and the state.
The couple has a 4-year-old daughter. Two months after Kami's death, Louis Buggs was
arrested in the state of Virginia by FBI agents and returned to Minnesota. He has been
convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
3. Kimberly Schoen, 33 Truman March 1, 1996
Peter Schoen, 34, and his wife Kimberly lived together on a farm. Shoen said his wife
fell down the stairs and hit her head while they were fighting. He said he looked at his
unconscious and bleeding wife and decided to get a pipe and "put her out of her misery."
He said he hit her on the head and neck several times with the pipe, then went outside to
tend to his livestock. He later called 911. Peter Schoen has been found guilty of first-
degree murder in the death of his wife, Kimberly, and was sentenced to life in prison.
4. Margaret Bohn, 42 Shoreview April 7, 1996
Margaret Bohn was killed by her son on Easter Sunday. David "DJ" Bohn, 20, told
authorities that he had gone to his mother's home with the intention of strangling her. He
said he first tried to strangle her and that it was not worlking, so he grabbed a shovel and
began hitting her. When she went down, DJ continued to hit her, then went to the kitchen
for knives and stabbed her until he thought she was dead. He then went to the phone and
called 911 to report what he had done. He also asked that his younger brother be placed
in another home. Margaret died soon after the sheriff's deputy arrived. DJ Bohn plead
guilty to intentional second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
5. Yvonne Stevson, 32 Minneapolis April 11, 1996
Yvonne died of a gunshot wound. A friend, Phillip Ray Robinson, told investigators that
he pointed the gun at Yvonne knowing there was a bullet in the chamber but believing

11
the safety was on. He then pulled back the hammer and pulled the trigger, killing her
instantly. Robinson pled guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years
in prison.
6. Sue Akin, 49 Onigum May 9, 1996
Sue Akin was killed by her estranged husband, Alvin Akin, after moving to Minnesota
to escape domestic abuse. She had obtained an order for protection and had been
working to help other abused women and their children at the Family Safety Network in
Cass County. Although Alvin Akin violated the OFP, Sue agreed to a plea bargain which
she believed would provide safety for her. But despite the court order, Alvin Akin
followed her, squeezed himself into the trunk of her car along with his 12 gauge shotgun
and waited for morning. Unsuspecting, Sue got in her car and left. When she came to a
stop sign, Alvin Akin climbed out of the trunk of her car and shot at her. A 0schoolbus
was stopped at the corner and the following report is from the school bus monitor, an
eyewitness to the murder. "The biggest hero of all was Sue Akin herself. She had to have
seen the eight or ten or so children that were standing along the road waiting to get on
the bus. Her quick actions and selflessness saved about 30 people that I can count - and
probably more than that. By pulling in front of the bus, she threw the killer off track just
long enough for the children to run back into their homes for safety. After being shot and
having the assailant standing close, she only knocked on the bus door and asked the
driver to call for help, which he assured her he had already done. She never asked to
come on the bus or anything else for her own protection. She stood there selfless and
made sure the assailant only focused on her and not on the 20 plus children on the bus."
Sue was shot and died at the scene. Her assailant fled and later committed suicide.
7. Lorraine Miller, 73 St. Paul May 10, 1996
Lorraine Miller's body was found in her bathroom by a maid who worked in the home.
St. Paul police reported she had been shot twice but no murder weapon has been found.
A few days after finding her body, police arrested Lorraine's 42-year-old son, Lawrence
Burton Miller. He was sentenced to life in prison.
8. Tabitha Juetten, 19 Little Falls May 21, 1996
Tabitha, who was pregnant, her 1-year-old son, and a friend were taken hostage and held
at knifepoint by Tabitha's estranged husband, Robert Juetten. During this standoff,
Juetten stabbed his wife in the abdomen and stabbed her friend in the leg, then
repeatedly raped Tabitha before releasing the friend and Tabitha's son. Robert Juetten
then held her hostage for several hours until officers forced their way in and arrested
him. Tabitha's unborn child died with her also. Robert Juetten has been charged with two
counts of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree criminal
sexual conduct, kidnapping, and first-degree assault. First-degree murder charges will be
considered by a grand jury.
9. Loretta Strand, 62 Ramsey June 4, 1996
Loretta Strand was allegedly killed by her boyfriend, Dexter Perez Anderson. Her body
was discovered when her roommate returned home. A neighbor had seen Anderson
arrive and later leave in Strand's car. Anderson is being held pending formal charges.
Brooklyn
10. Barbara Korte, 39 June 8, 1996
Park

12
As Barbara Korte visited with a friend and his 11-year-old daughter in her yard, Greg
Korte, her estranged husband, drove up. He shot the friend, Michael Pivec, as he sat at a
picnic table, then chased his wife as she fled across a road and shot her. He then killed
himself. Pivec's daughter witnessed the shootings from a nearby hammock and called
911. The Korte's 3 boys, ages 13, 10, and 8 were not present.
11. Deborah Martin, 41 Crystal June 27, 1996
Murray Bunness made a phone call to his neighbor and friend, Kris Elsenpeter, saying
he had killed his wife Deborah and the 16-year-old girl that stayed with them. Mr. and
Mrs. Elsenpeter ran to the house hoping to be of some help. When it was confirmed that
the two were dead, Mrs. Elsenpeter returned home but Kris stayed to calm Bunness. The
two argued and Bunness turned the gun on Elsenpeter. When law enforcement arrived
they found Bunness holding his gun and Elsenpeter wounded on the steps. Elsenpeter
died moments later. Officers then entered the house and found Deborah Martin, Bunness'
wife of 4 years, in the living room, dead of gunshot wounds. Upstairs they found the
body of 16-year-old Christina Ayers. She had been living with Martin and Bunness
while she attended school. Bunness has been charged with three counts of first-degree
murder.
12. Heidi Haines, 20 Minneapolis June 28, 1996
Heidi tried to hide her bruises from her family and therefore, didn't often come to family
gatherings. On June 12th, when Heidi was five months pregnant, she delivered a
premature baby boy and named him Darius. He died an hour and a half later. Family
members noticed bruising on Heidi's back and a fresh black eye, and suspected the
premature delivery of Darius was due to domestic abuse. On June 28th police received a
call from witnesses that a woman was being hit by a man in a car at 22nd and
Washington Ave No. As the witnesses drove back to the scene they saw the man, David
Cross, outside of the car on the passenger side, strangling the woman, Heidi Haines.
When police arrived, Heidi was lying outside of the car, face-down on the ground. She
was pronounced dead at 12:02 am of the 29th after police made a prolonged attempt to
resusitate her. The suspect, David Cross, was arrested at the scene and later charged with
manslaughter. He was sentenced on December 11, 1996 to life in prison.
13. Ida Strouth, 42 Minneapolis June 28, 1996
Patterson, the father of Ida Strouth's 3-month-old granddaughter, believed that Ida was
hiding her daughter's and his child from him. Ida Strouth's daughter, Sarah, found the
bodies of her mother, her brother, Jake, age 9, and Jake's friend, 13-year-old Jeremiah
Sponsel. They had all been stabbed to death. Antonio Brayboy and Henry Patterson have
been charged with first-degree murder. Brayboy gave information to the police stating he
had stood by and watched as Patterson killed the woman and two boys. They await trial
the middle of February.
14. Jennifer Bradley, 30 Minneapolis July 2, 1996
Jennifer was found partially clothed in the bathtub of her apartment. Her boyfriend,
James Gibson, told police that they had argued and he grabbed her by the neck and
pushed her into the bathroom where her body was found. James Gibson has been
charged with second-degree murder to which he pled guilty. He was sentenced to 15
years in prison.

13
15. Rita Walker, 59 St. Paul July 5, 1996
The bodies of two women were found by an employee at the St Paul Radisson Hotel
after the women did not check out as expected. Rita Walker was apparently shot by
Evelyn Walker who then shot herself. Although not related, police said the women
considered themselves life parmers. Police said there was some indication the two had
been planning a murder-suicide and suspect one of them had serious health problems.
16. Sherice Drain, 22 Minneapolis July 12, 1996
Adrian Horan pled guilty to the shooting death of Sherice Drain. She and Horan were in
a car together at the time of the shooting. She was then driven to Hennepin County
Medical Center where she later died. Adrian Horan was sentenced to 36 months in a
state prison. He was given credit for serving 122 days. He will also be required to make
restitution for funeral expenses.
17. Shauntai Johnson, 27 Wadena July 20, 1996
Shauntai's body was found in the crawl space of her basement a day after her children
reported her missing. Jerry Johnson, 37, Shauntai's husband, was charged with her
murder. After three days of deliberation a jury found him guilty of the strangulation
death of his wife. He has been convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree
manslaughter.
18. Colene Navratil Wenzel, 24 Osakis July 23, 1996
Colene's husband, William Wenzel, told authorities he had been drinking and was sitting
on the couch with his wife. He said when he showed her what he thought was a defective
safety on his gun, it went off. Their three-year-old son, Jonathan, said he heard his
mother say, "Put the gun down" just before the shot was heard. Colene was shot in the
face. Jonathan remained in his father's custody until William Wenzel was taken to jail on
January 8th. Jonathan currently lives with his father's brother and family. Colene hadn't
told her family of the history of her husband's abusive behavior toward her, but had
talked about it with friends and co-workers. When they offered this information to the
prosecutor and investigators they were told it was "not pertinent to the case." William
Wenzel was charged with second-degree manslaughter, was offered a plea bargain and
pled guilty. He was sentenced to 2 years in St. Cloud and ordered to pay $8,200
restitution.
19. Carolyn Joy Seitz Voorhees Duluth August 6, 1996
Carolyn was shot 11 times when she stepped outside her home where she cared for two
people with mental disabilities. She had filed for divorce days earlier. Her husband, Brad
Voorhees, had purchased the .22 caliber rifle that was used in the shooting earlier in the
day. He was charged with first-degree murder after confessing to authorities.
20. Esther Marie Stynski, 81 Ivanhoe August 8, 1996
Esther died after being struck on the head with a blunt object, possibly a cane or a 1-
inch-square yardstick. Her husband, John Harry Stynski, said he poked his wife to get
her into a chair and later admitted to striking her with the stick but denied hitting her in
the face. John Stynski has been charged with first-degree manslaughter.
21. Yvonne Thompson, 41 St. Paul August 25, 1996
Yvonne was shot to death by her boyfriend, Freddie Bowen. A dispute between

14
Thompson and Bowen began in the back of her apartment building during which
neighbors and witnesses reported hearing Thompson yelling "Don't shoot me! Don't
shoot me!" The dispute continued through the building toward the front door where there
was more screaming, then shots and silence. Bowen then ran out of the building, down
the street and laid down on the boulevard still holding the gun. Police had by this time
taken up positions around Bowen and attempted to negotiate with him. About six hours
later, after all attempts to resolve the situation had failed, police began to approach
Bowen who then got up with his gun pointed and police shot Bowen, who was dead on
arrival at the hospital. Yvonne Thompson had been trying to break off her relationship
with Bowen.
22. Julie Ann Carroll, 43 Faribault September 12, 1996
Julie Ann Carroll's 10-year-old daughter Meghan ran to her neighbor's house saying she
and her mother had both been shot. Police were summoned and found Julie's body.
Three-year-old Keely Carroll was unharmed but badly frightened. Meghan was airlifted
to a Twin Cities hospital and underwent surgery for her wounds. Meghan reported that
"Mommy and Jim were arguing." About an hour and a half after the shootings, Erroll
James Grosman surrendered to police and was taken to the Rice County jail and held on
$1 million bail. Later Erroll Grosman was released when bail was lowered to $500,000.
He committed suicide in the middle of December.

Children Murdered

1. Raymont Osborne III, 5 wks. Minneapolis January 29, 1996

Paramedics were called to the home of Rebecca Kramer and Raymont Osborne Jr.,
parents of the baby, about 3 am. January 22. The baby was having trouble breathing. By
the time the paramedics arrived, the baby had stopped breathing and resuscitation was
begun en route to the hospital. He was put on life-support and died a week later. An
autopsy revealed brain injuries and hemorrhage consistent with shaking and the case
was ruled a homicide. The baby's father, Raymont Osborne Jr., was arrested on a
second-degree murder charge, which states that he didn't intend to kill the infant but did
intentionally assault him by shaking him.
2. Mackinzie Bussiere, 3 Shakopee March 10, 1996
The boyfriend of Mackinzie's mother, Brian Merkt, called 911 to report that Mackinzie
had fallen down the stairs and was not breathing. When officers arrived, they gave her
CPR and transported her to the local hospital where she was put on life support. She
was then flown to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis where doctors found bruises on
her face, buttocks, chest and forehead, abrasions on her abdomen, and burn marks on
her chest and right arm. Mackinzie's 5-year-old sister told police that Merkt had been
beating Mackenzie. The examining doctor noted she was a child with obvious physical
abuse leading to severe cranial trauma and brain swelling. Mackenzie died the next day
when she was taken off life support. Brian Merkt has been charged with second-degree
murder.

15
 Vadnais
3. Deontay Wilson, 6 April 8, 1996
Heights
Deontay's mother, Sabrina Wilson, called the police depamnent to report him missing
about 8 p.m. on April 8th. Deputies found the boy's body face down in the garage. The
medical examiner determined Deontay had been strangled at least six to seven hours
before his body was found. He had been invited upstairs to the residence of Crystal
Sesley and her four children, who shared a house with Deontay and his mother. Sesley
said she killed Deontay in the bathroom but couldn't remember if she strangled him or
drowned him. She later moved his body to the garage. Sesley has been charged with
second-degree murder.
4. Estara Johnson, 10 mos. St. Paul May 8, 1996
Michael Wayne French, Jr. has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the
death of his 10-month-old daughter Estara Johnson. The complaint alleges French was
carrying his daughter inside the family home when he "bumped his leg while walking
through a doorway. Reacting angrily, he spun around quickly striking the baby's head
against the door frame very hard resulting in a skull fracture." The complaint also
contends French squeezed his daughter's chest forcefully and the child suffered multiple
broken ribs. Michael French, Jr. pled guilty to second-degree murder.
5. Tuyet Dao, 18 mos. Minneapolis May 13, 1996
Victor Perdessi said he planned to kill Tuyet in retaliation for an abortion his girlfriend
and Tuyet's mother, Phetsakhone Chaokeo, had a week earlier. Perdessi had gone to the
woman's home and threatened her, telling her he was going to kill her child because she
had killed his. She pled with him for three hours before she was able to run from the
house with Tuyet to seek help at a nearby shop. Perdessi followed her and when an
employee of the shop told her he didn't want to get involved, Perdessi was able to grab
Tuyet and take her back to the house where he shot the toddler in the face, killing her.
He then committed suicide.
6. Baby Juetten Little Falls May 21, 1996
The unborn baby Juetten was killed along with her mother, Tabitha Juetten.
7. Jordyn Olson, 7 1/2 mos. Rochester June 1, 1996
8. Hannah Olson, 22 1/2 mos.
Depressed about her family's finances, Janet Olson told her husband, David, he would
be better off without her and their two young daughters. A few days later David Olson
came home from work and found the two girls dead and his wife with cuts to her wrists
and chest in an apparent suicide attempt. Janet Olson told authorities she had the
children in the bathtub. When one slipped under the water, she took the child out and
brought her to the bedroom. The other child had also slipped under the water and she
took that daughter to the bedroom. At that point she placed pillows over their faces.
Janet Olson has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
9. Christina Ayers, 16 Crystal June 27, 1996
Christina was living with a couple who had taken her in. The husband, Murray
Bunness, came home and shot his wife, Deborah Martin, first. He then went upstairs
and shot Christina. Police found her with the phone still in her hand. Evidently she had
tried to call for help. Murray Bunness then went downstairs and while standing over his

16
wife's body a neighbor tried to talk to him. He turned the gun on his friend, Kris
Elsenpeter, and shot him. Kris died a short time later. Bunness has been charged with
three counts of first-degree murder.
10. Jake Strouth, 9 Minneapolis June 28, 1996
11. Jeremiah Sponsel, 13
Henry Laverne Patterson murdered his ex-girlfriend's mother, Ida Strouth, her brother,
Jake Strouth, and her brother's friend, Jeremiah Sponsel. He slashed their throats with a
steak knife while a friend, Antonio William Brayboy, blocked the door to the basement.
Patterson believed that Ida was hiding his and her daughter Sarah's three-month-old
baby from him. After filing a domestic assault report against Patterson earlier, Sarah
Strouth moved to a location unknown to Paterson. Having previously lived at the
Strouth residence for two years, Patterson used the house key he'd kept to let himself in.
Henry Patterson, 22, and Antonio Brayboy, 20, have both been charged with three
counts of first-degree murder.
12. Alex Frank, 5 Cold Spring July 3, 1996
13. Brandon Frank, 4
Alex and Brandon's parents had recently separated and the boys went to live with their
mother. They were visiting their father, but when he did not return them at the agreed-
upon time, law enforcement was called to check on them. When police arrived they
found the two boys dead of knife wounds and their father unconscious from his own
self-inflicted knife wounds. Kurt Frank has been charged with two counts of second-
degree murder in the death of his two boys.
14. Newborn Baby Girl Minneapolis July 18, 1996
Police were called to Kathleen Wiernasz's home by relatives because she had just given
birth and needed medical care. She was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center,
where the infant was pronounced dead. She first claimed the baby was stillborn. Later
she admitted giving birth while sitting on the toilet and let the baby fall into the water.
She saw the baby move and knew she couldn't breathe but decided to let her drown.
Kathleen was charged with second-degree murder.
15. Shaunessy Walker, 15 mos. St. Paul August 14, 1996
Shaunessy's mother, Shayla Walker, told police that Robert Powell, her live-in
boyfriend, was playing kickball with Shaunessy. Shayla left the room for a few
minutes, heard a "thud" and walked back into a hall, where she saw her daughter on the
floor. Her head was against the wall and she was crying. Later that afternoon,
paramedics were called to Walker's apartment on a report that the girl had stopped
breathing. She was taken to St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center where she was
pronounced dead. An autopsy found that she had suffered multiple injuries including
large lacerations of the liver, a spleen laceration, and hemorrhages of the pancreas and
pelvis. Powell has been charged with unintentional second-degree murder.
16. Anthony M. Johnson, 6 mos. St. Paul October 24, 1996
Anthony's father, Richard Steven Johnson, was caring for his son while the baby's
mother was working. Paramedics were called in response to a 911. Homicide
investigators noticed bruises on the child's abdomen, chin, cheek, and forehead. There
also was a bruise and a bite mark on the baby's left leg, which Johnson said he placed

17
there after finding the baby cold and not breathing. Johnson was charged with second-
degree murder after the medical examiner determined the baby died of brain injuries
suffered when he was shaken. The child's death came about a month after Johnson
allegedly struck the baby's mother during a domestic dispute. Although police
responded to a call at that time, they were unable to apprehend him and the couple
reconciled and investigators closed the case.
17. Brandon McArthur, 14 mos. Cloquet December 7, 1996
A teenage boy, a friend of Brandon's mother, was baby-sitting with Brandon. When his
mother returned home and found him unconscious and having trouble breathing, she
took him to the hospital. He had suffered severe head trauma and other injuries and two
days later was declared brain dead and life support was disconnected. The teenager has
been charged with second-degree murder. The county attorney wants to try the teen as
an adult.

Women Murdered While Being Used In Prostitution

Golden
1. Renee Bell, 30 Body Found May 23, 1996
Valley

Renee's nude body was found floating in a Theodore Wirth Park creek. She had been
strangled with an elastic string. The suspect charged with her murder is Mark Profit, 33.
His wallet was discovered near the creek by Golden Valley police.

2. Audrey Rodney Neadeau Minneapolis Body found May 31, 1996

Audrey was beaten to death. No further information is available at this time.
Golden
3. Deborah Lavoie, 42 Body found June 3, 1996
Valley
Deborah disappeared May 22nd. Her body was found in Theodore Wirth Park lying on
her back with fists clenched. The flesh from her neck to her hips was burned away.

Golden
4. Avis Warfield, 36 Body found June 19, 1996
Valley
Avis was last seen on June 13th. She was discovered underneath bushes 1/2 mile east of
Theodore Wirth Park. She died of multiple sharp force injuries and her body was
partially burned.
5. Debra Rogers, 30 Minneapolis August 15, 1996
No information is available at this time.
6. Barbara Leighton, 26 Minneapolis August 17, 1996
Barbara died of multiple stab wounds. No one has been apprehended or charged.

18
 Bibliography

FARRELL, Susan A. (1989), Reviewed Work(s): “Man-Made Women: How New

Reproductive Technologies Affect Women” by Gena Corea; Renate Duelli Klein; Jalna
Hanmer; Helen B. Holmes; Betty Hoskins; Madhu Kishwar; Janice Raymond; Robyn
Rowland; Roberta Steinbacher, Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 18, No. 1, 127-128.

RUSSELL, Diana E H. and Radford, Jill, 1992, Femicide, the politics of woman killing,
Buckingham, Open University Press

SHALHOUB-KEVORKIAN, Nadera, 2002, “Femicide and the Palestinian Criminal

Justice System: Seeds of Change in the Context of State Building?” Law & Society
Review, Vol. 36, No. 3, 577-606.

19