GUILTY UT - Christina Harms, 22, disabled, found dead in closet, Kearns, 25 March 2011

SuziQ

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Omg, the suffering this poor woman must have gone through. Sounds like she was disabled and dependent on others. These need to fry.

Woman chained in closet found dead
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=14909569

(snip)
Three people, including the woman's primary caregiver and her former primary caregivers, were arrested for investigation of murder and abuse.

Christina Harms, 22, was found dead inside a house at 4978 S. 5415 West just after 3 p.m. Friday. Initially, emergency crews were called to the house on a possible overdose.

But as police and medical personnel looked at the victim, they immediately noticed ligature marks on her ankles consistent with plastic zip ties, said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal. They also found bruising on her thigh and head, a pepper seed in one of her eye lids, and her hands were completely covered with bandaging material which would have prevented her from getting the pepper seed out, he said.
 
Ok, the accused murderer's brother had a child with this vulnerable adult? Was Christina able to give consent to sex or is this a family of predators? Comment made that Christina was ok until the past couple of years. I bet the family's treatment of her made her go downhill.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51515430-76/harms-shepard-gaydon-police.html.csp

(snip)
Harms had a fetal alcohol syndrome, said Adam Shepard, with whom Harms had a child.
"For a long time, she seemed to be a perfectly normal person, but over the last couple years, she seemed to go downhill," he said. "She was developing more and more mental issues."
Adam Shepard said Harms enjoyed playing games on the Internet and listening to music.
 
Sounds like they didn't just chain her up and forget her about her, but intentionally tortured her along the way. I hope those responsible for her care spend the rest of their lives chained up.
 
Christina Harms was capable but not self-sufficient.
She graduated from high school and could do many things for herself, friends and family said, but the effects of her fetal alcohol syndrome meant she functioned at a preteen level. She needed someone there to care for her.
But police say it was the very people charged with caring for the 22-year-old Harms who abused her, putting pepper seeds in her eyes, binding her hands, even strapping her, crucifixion style, to a pole in a closet — and eventually killing her.
Police arrested three people Sunday, including Cassandra Shepard, Harms’ legal guardian, in connection with the abuse and death of the woman.

More:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51515430-76/adam-beckering-beckerings-believed.html.csp?page=1
 
every time I think I have read the most depraved thing "loved ones" can do to another human being, I find something even worse.

Poor thing. This is just awful. I wish these peopel would never again see the light of day. It is frustrating to realize that more than likely, that won't happen.
 
Trio charged in murder of disabled Kearns woman make first court appearances

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15040348

Prosecutors say Christina Harms, who suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and had the mental capacity of an 8 to 12 year old, was constantly kept in a small closet where she was forced to eat and go to the bathroom while being bound to a metal bar.

The courtroom gallery Wednesday was empty except for a Deseret News reporter. No friends, neighbors, supporters or family members of any of the defendants or victim were present.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15040348

I'm sorry Christina... I was going to be there... for you. I just couldn't make it work with our doctor's appointments too.
 
WHAT!??? No friends or family members? NO ONE except a reporter?

This has brought me to tears. I wish I were in UT - I would have been there for you, Christina. We won't forget your case and we will be your family!

I don't think I've read anything so sad. She was "alone" in life and now alone in death. What is the world coming to...
 
WHAT!??? No friends or family members? NO ONE except a reporter?

This has brought me to tears. I wish I were in UT - I would have been there for you, Christina. We won't forget your case and we will be your family!

I don't think I've read anything so sad. She was "alone" in life and now alone in death. What is the world coming to...

Indeed.

This is the saddest thing I've read in my two years here at WS.

Sad, and incredible, really.
 
So very sad. It seems those who need the most protection so very often get the least. I hope Christina will have justice in the end.

May she rest in peace.
 
My understanding is that the people who killed her pretty much were Christina's family. Any other family is in South Dakota, having her funeral today. They only lived in Kearns for a couple of months, nobody even KNEW Christina lived in that house. There was no family or friends here.

I will do everything in my power to be at the next one. The only way I could have made this one is if I took my 7 and 8 year old daughter's with me. There was no one available to babysit at the time, I have to have a nurse babysit my children or a family member to simply wait in the vehicle with them. I am much more able to go and take pictures of searches and things for this reason.

We have others in Utah that might have more flexible schedules and children who are easier to babysit. I will also talk to the special needs community here and see about someone there going. I hope that one of them can make it next time if I cannot.

The next hearing is Tuesday April 12th.

It is the 3rd District Court of Salt Lake County.

Criminal: 801-238-7321

I have not seen a time listed yet.

This hearing is only for Dale and Sherrie Beckering.

http://www.utcourts.gov/courts/dist/distsites/3rd/slc.html


WHAT!??? No friends or family members? NO ONE except a reporter?

This has brought me to tears. I wish I were in UT - I would have been there for you, Christina. We won't forget your case and we will be your family!

I don't think I've read anything so sad. She was "alone" in life and now alone in death. What is the world coming to...
 
The first photo prosecutors displayed of Christina "Nina" Harms showed the woman's body laid out on an autopsy table, a massive bruise spanning her side and fading as it crawls up her back.

Photo after photo was shown depicting the woman's injuries during a preliminary hearing Friday in 3rd District Court.


Other photos depicted a closet in the home that one child described as "Nina's room."

Police say she was bound crucifixion-style to a bar inside the small closet depicted in the photos.

Unified police officer Warren Dallof testified that after Harms' body was found, Sherrie Beckering was emotionless at the scene.

"(Sherrie Beckering) made the statement that 'Christina's been a little b!t*h lately,'" Dallof recounted. "She said, 'I'm sorry to put it that way, but it's the truth.'"

Shepard is charged with murder and aggravated abuse of disabled adult, first-degree felonies, and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony. Her next court appearance is slated for July 11.

The couple will have an arraignment on June 20.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15823748

Not going to forget you Nina...
 
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15823748

When neighbor Amber Whitman came home from work one cold day in December and saw Harms on the balcony with very little clothes on, she placed an anonymous call to police.

"She looked at me like she needed help," Whitman said. "She was just crying."

She saw police arrive later, but never spoke to them.

Another neighbor, Lacey Bazinet, spent almost a full day with Harms in July 2010 when the woman showed up at her door.

"I woke up to a knock on the door and there was a young lady with a suitcase, bag and pillow," Bazinet said. "She was panicking, saying she was being abused."

She testified she let Harms into her home and saw bruises on the woman's chest and wrists. She called around, trying to find a place at a shelter and ultimately took Harms on errands with her.

"She told me she was only allowed to eat one cup of uncooked rice a day, one cup of water a day," Bazinet said.

Later, Bazinet heard police talking about Harms and told them she knew where the woman was.

"(Harms) went in my bathroom and shut the bathroom door," Bazinet said. "She sat down in the dark, rolling back and forth, crying hysterically and begging me not to let them take her."
 
So what did LE do? Was adult protective services contacted?
 

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