Docs: 89-year-old tortured, maimed, sexually abused

Marcine Herinck

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Chris Blair, the pastor at Crossroads Church, the place where Marcine Herinck used to pray, said family and friends had been preparing for the worst when they learned of her disappearance.

On Wednesday, over a week after her body was found in the trunk of a car, the man suspected of killing her was indicted on 23 charges, including 13 counts of aggravated murder. Additionally, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said 58-year-old Timothy Mackley caused Herinck's death by "intentional torture and intentional maiming."

"We kind of were prepared for the worst," Blair said, "and this sounds like it was the worst."

Mackley, according to the indictment, kidnapped, sexually abused and tortured Herinck over a six-day span before killing her. Mackley did not appear in a court procedure Thursday morning. His arraignment was set over until November 7, a move agreed to by both the DA and the defense team.

Herinck's son Jeff Herinck told KOIN 6 News via phone Wednesday that he hadn't seen the indictment, but, "I can't fathom what happened."

Mackley's other charges include: one count of intentional murder, four counts of burglary, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of abuse of a corpse.

"I'm glad we stopped him in his tracks before he could hurt anyone else," Jeff Herinck told KOIN.

Herinck was reported missing on Sept. 19 and her body was found on Sept. 24 in the trunk of the car Mackley was driving. ​​​​​​She was last seen the day before when a family member took her home from a shift at a thrift store where she volunteered.

Mackley was caught on surveillance video in the shop, where Herinck family members say there may have been a confrontation between him and Marcine.

"We heard he may have dropped a cell phone in the store and my mom accused him of looking up her dress," Jeff Herinck said in a press conference last week. "He was ordered out of the store, he came back and apologized and then mom went missing."

Back at the Crossroads Church, Blair said the people that knew Herinck, a wonderful person who they said lived an exemplary life, are devastated.

"There's nothing you can say in a situation like this other than letting people know you're with them and praying for them," Blair said.

And as tough as it is to process, Blair said something like this doesn't test faith.

"It tests your forgiveness," Blair said.

"It's a clear cut case here of good versus evil."

Mackley will appear in court again on January 17, 2019.

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Docs: 89-year-old tortured, maimed, sexually abused

Facility Employee, Cesar Ulloa, Gets Life in Elder Abuse Case

A former employee at a Calabasas senior living facility has been sentenced to life in prison nearly three years after allegedly abusing several elderly residents.

In April a jury found Cesar Ulloa guilty of torture and seven counts of elder abuse committed in 2007 at the Calabasas Silverado Senior Living home, which specializes in caring for people with dementia and other memory-impairing diseases.

Ulloa, 21, was sentenced two weeks ago to six years for elder abuse and a life sentence for torture. The victims—three men and one woman—all suffered from dementia and were unable to speak or report the abuse.

The Reseda resident was a caregiver at Silverado between February and November 2007, according to the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.

Dep. District Attorney Robin Allen said Judge Martin Hercovitz sentenced Ulloa after several family members of the victims spoke of their loss and anger. Allen is with the district attorney’s elder abuse unit.

He did say that some stories, including one that Ulloa jumped off a dresser onto a client, were “bogus.” But he emphasized that Ulloa was absolutely guilty of abuse and was likely a sociopath, comparing him to serial killer Ted Bundy.

“We had no clue of his actions,” Shook said. “In every way he looked like the model caregiver. He had all the characteristics of a sociopath. No one can determine the problems until they see the trail left behind. That’s how this guy duped us.”

Authorities were alerted after a Silverado employee called 80- year-old Elmore Kittower’s widow and told her that her husband’s death in November 2007 was the result of abuse.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrested Ulloa in October 2008 after a yearlong investigation that revealed Kittower had been abused for months before his death.

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Employee Gets Life in Elder Abuse Case

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Brutal Abuse at Calabasais Retirement Home

UTAH: Guardian of Abused Woman Kept in Closet Sent to Prison for Her Death

Those who loved Christina "Nina" Harms drove 1,500 miles from their homes in Minnesota and South Dakota to stand in front of a judge Friday and tell them about the person they lost.

They wore T-shirts printed with Harms' smiling face. They carried a cardboard display covered in pictures of the woman throughout her life.

"Nina wanted to go to college, she wanted more kids, she was very loving," Marilee Nelson said. "She loved her daughter more than anything. Nina was the most loving person you would ever meet."

Harms was 22 when she died on March 25, 2011, as the result of abuse and neglect in the Kearns home she shared with the woman who was her guardian, Cassandra Marie Shepard, their children and Shepard's mother and stepfather.

"I don't think there will ever be understanding, but today there will be justice," 3rd District Judge Katie Bernards-Goodman said before sentencing Shepard, 29, to prison. Shepard, who pleaded guilty to aggravated abuse of a disabled adult, a first-degree felony, and manslaughter, a second-degree felony, was sentenced to consecutive terms of five years to life and one to 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors say 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.

Harms had ligature marks on her ankles consistent with plastic zip ties when officials examined her, severe bruising on her thigh and head, bloodshot eyes, a pepper seed in one of her eyelids, and her hands were completely covered with bandaging material, which would have prevented her from getting the pepper seed out.

Full Article and Source:
Guardian of Abused Woman Kept in Closet Sent to Prison for Her Death

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Guardian Accused of Causing Death of Disabled Woman

Guardian Accused of Causing Death of Disabled Woman

Cassandra Shepard told police she had moved from South Dakota to get Nina away from a life of abuse.

Prosecutors say it followed the woman here.

As paramedics worked to save Christina “Nina” Harms’ life on the afternoon of March 25, Shepard told police that Harms had been acting out again, that in a tantrum she had held her breath until she passed out.

But as investigators looked at the scene — the bandages on Harms’ hands and arms, the ligature marks on her legs — they began to look at Shepard as a suspect.

“We came to the conclusion that things just weren’t adding up,” Paul Nielsen, a former Unified Police detective, said Friday during a preliminary hearing in 3rd District Court.

After hearing from police and medical experts, Judge Randall Skanchy took the case under advisement. He will rule at a later date whether Shepard, 20,should stand trial for the murder of the woman for whom she had promised to care.

Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Edward Leis, who performed the autopsy on the 22-year-old Harms, testified the woman was severely dehydrated and had toxic levels of a sedative, possibly Benadryl, in her system when she died.

Harms had a series of bruises on her body. Her hands were wrapped tightly in bandages to cover a series of wounds. And she had a pepper seed in her right, lower eyelid, Nielsen said.

“I didn’t do those,” an emotional Shepard told her attorneys after prosecutors showed a picture of the wounds on Harms’ arms. “I didn’t do those.”

Shepard was awarded legal guardianship of Harms after Harms’ mother, a relative of Shepard’s, died in 2008.

Police say Shepard and two other adults in the home locked Harms in a closet, at times binding her crucifixion-style to a pole there. Investigators have said that closet had an alarm system and a knife stuck in the door to prevent Harms from getting out. Inside the closet was a piece of cardboard with remnants of feces and urine and some air fresheners.

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Guardian Accused of Causing Death of Disabled Woman

Couple to Stand Trial in Disabled Woman's Death

A judge on Friday ordered a Kearns couple charged with abusing a disabled woman before her death to stand trial following testimony from neighbors who said they were long worried about her well-being.

Dale Robert Beckering, 52, and Sherrie Lynn Beckering, 50, each face one count of aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, a first-degree felony, in connection with the death of Christina Harms

Third District Court Judge Lee A. Dever ordered the pair to stand trial after hearing testimony from neighbors, police and a medical examiner.

Sherrie Beckering’s daughter, Cassandra Marie Shepard, also lived in the Kearns home and was Harms’ legal guardian. While Shepard has been charged with murder in the case, prosecutors said Shepard and the Beckerings "took shifts" watching over Harms and all contributed to her demise in some way.

"Without that constant supervision, it would have never gotten to this point," prosecutor Chad Platt said.

Full Article and Source:
Couple to Stand Trial in Disabled Woman's Death

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Legal Guardian Charged With Murder

Legal Guardian Charged With Murder

The legal guardian of a 22-year-old disabled Kearns woman who was found dead March 25 has been charged with first-degree felony murder.

The charges filed Friday in 3rd District Court against 27-year-old Cassandra Marie Shepard also include one count of aggravated abuse of a disabled or elder adult, a first-degree felony, and one count of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.

Friends and family of Christina Harms said she suffered from the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome

The state Office of the Medical Examiner determined Harms’ cause of death was homicide by positional asphyxiation.

Other details from the medical examiner’s report state Harms’ body and head had bruising that was consistent with chronic physical abuse. Her hands and wrists, which were covered with bandages, were severely damaged with the skin falling off, charging documents say. The report stated Harms was fitted with a makeshift diaper.

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Caretaker of Abused Kearns Woman Charged With Murder

Caregivers and Guardian Arrested

Three people who had been caring for a disabled Utah woman who was found dead are accused of beating her, putting a pepper seed in her eye, and binding her wrists and ankles with restraints so she couldn't remove it.

Police found 22-year-old Christina Harms dead Friday in her home in the town of Kearns, about 24 kilometres south of Salt Lake City.

Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal says investigators found Harms' body covered in bruises and marks on her wrists and ankles consistent with the use of restraints.

An autopsy to determine the cause of death is pending, but police believe the abuse was a key factor.

Hoyal says Harms' live-in caregivers and her legal guardian were arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County jail on Sunday. No bail has been set.

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Utah Caregivers, Guardian Arrested After Death of 22-Year-Old Disabled Woman