Disabled woman beaten, forced to defecate on herself by relatives before she was killed and dumped in the woods
ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Three members of a family were arrested on Monday, June 8, in connection with the death of a severely disabled relative, whose body was found in the woods, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday morning, June 9.
Authorities said the body of Gladys Ambert was found by a security guard beneath a pink blanket near a wooded area on Valencia College Lane in Orange County, Orlando, Florida, on the morning of April 7. It was Gladys' 27th birthday when she was found dead. According to authorities as reported by The Sun, Gladys was severely disabled - she had cerebral palsy and was deaf and mute; she had the mental capacity of a 5-year-old child.
Her parents had reportedly abandoned her and she was raised by her grandmother in New York. However, after her grandmother’s death in July 2019, Gladys started living with her aunt and cousins in Orange County. She also reportedly received a social security check of $700 every month. But, during interviews with police, her relatives, 55-year-old Nellie Ambert, and her children - Jasmine Ambert, 32, and Christian Matias, 18, said they were frustrated at the amount of care Gladys needed. It has been said that the victim was tied, bound, and beaten daily. Gladys was also allegedly forced to urinate and defecate on herself from October until her death.
"There were tons of new and old marks on her belly, marks on her ankles, marks on her wrist, marks on her arms. These were disgusting crimes committed against a person who could not take care of (herself),” Orange County Detective Joe Covelli said. The accused mother Nellie has been booked on charges of first-degree murder among other charges, while Gladys’ cousins face charges of abuse and neglect of a disabled person and tampering with evidence. Covelli said the suspects could face more charges as the investigation continues. “She [Gladys] endured sheer horror in the last months of her short life,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet.
In another incident, a 16-year-old mentally challenged boy was tortured by his relatives in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The alleged incident happened in May when the unidentified victim was punished by his relatives who hung a brick from his private parts. The suspects also reportedly attacked the minor’s sister and mother when they tried to complain about the incident. “My son who is specially-abled and also mentally challenged was playing with some boys from the village when an altercation broke out. They beat him and also tied a brick to his private part, they made a video of it and shared it freely. When we got to know of the incident and went to complain they beat us too," the boy’s father Hari Ram said.
The victim’s sister Dhwani also alleged that when she and her mother went to complain about the incident to the relatives, they showed no guilt and instead attacked them. “My mother went to complain about the treatment meted out to my mentally challenged brother. I accompanied her to my relative's place where an altercation broke out. I was trying to save my mother from the relatives when suddenly I was attacked with a stick from behind," the sister added.