Jennifer Daugherty: Disabled Woman Tortured, Murdered By ‘Friends’

[t0dd]

Source: Tribune Review

On her MySpace page, Jennifer Lee Daugherty talked about making a new start.

She didn't get that chance.

Six people were charged Friday with holding Daugherty, a mentally challenged 30-year-old, against her will for up to 33 hours inside a Greensburg apartment, where they tortured her and stabbed her to death. They allegedly put her body in a trash can, carried it to a nearby middle school and left it in the parking lot.

Charged are Greensburg residents Ricky V. Smyrnes, 23; Melvin Knight, 20; Robert Loren Masters Jr., 36; Peggy Miller, 26; Amber C. Meidinger, 20; and Angela Marinucci, 17, who is charged as an adult.

The six were arraigned early yesterday on charges of criminal homicide, kidnapping, aggravated assault and conspiracy. They are being held without bail in the Westmoreland County Prison.

During the ordeal in the second-floor apartment where four of them lived, the suspects allegedly shaved Daugherty's head and painted her face with nail polish. They forced her to ingest various substances, including urine, vegetable oil, spices, detergent and medications, police said.

They struck her with a towel rack, vacuum cleaner hose and a crutch, police said. Then she was stabbed multiple times in the chest, neck and head. It’s also alleged she was forced to write a suicide note.

Neighbors said they heard loud noises coming from the apartment Wednesday night, then silence.

Some in the group wrapped Daugherty's body in Christmas decorations and clothing and put it in a plastic trash can. They carried the can two blocks to North Main Street, across the street and into the parking lot outside Greensburg Salem Middle School, where they left it, police said.

...

All suspects have allegedly admitted participating in this horrific tortured murder of a disabled woman.




Jennifer Daugherty

Read more: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_667059.html

---

Right near where I live. :( :( :(

[Blue_Tires]

1. i REALLY wish i didn't just read this...

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

[DesertFlower]

13. same here. nt

[brentspeak]

2. The evil among us

:(

[Cheap_Trick]

3. Fry them all

the scumbag motherfuckers.

Make it slow and make it hurt.

[Patchuli]

4. I don't like an automatic death penalty

but I'd sure turn my head the other way if they put these vermin down.

[demigoddess]

27. amen

me too

[Lil Missy]

5. WTF is wrong with these people??

Not one, but SIX people agreed to torture and murder a disabled woman all of a sudden?? :wtf:

[WestSeattle2]

7. Words fail. n/t

[Bryn]

12. I thought the same thing ... SIX people?

This is very very sad. They acted like they weren't even humans.

Jennifer looked so cute and sweet. May her Soul be in a safe place, loving place.

[LiberalFighter]

23. They should all get the death penalty. They are totally sick.

[stillwaiting]

57. There was probably one or two leaders that riled the follower types along.

All six are pieces of shit and deserve life in jail, no parole.

[givemebackmycountry]

6. Posted this on Friday...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7704087

This story needs a wider audience so, good post.
It seems the media is picking up on this story.

[flvegan]

8. Enjoy prison, shitwits.

I'd only ask why they did it. Because she's different? Shit, look in the mirror miscreants.

Again, enjoy prison and the rewards you get from it. Predators become the predated. Justice.

Suffer crims.

[Xipe Totec]

9. Rest in Peace, Jeniffer,

I feel ashamed we were not there to protect you.

I am so sorry.

[Odin2005]

10. I work with people like Jennifer every day. Horrific!!!

:cry:

[Writer]

11. What could have possibly been, in even the darkest stretches of the imagination...

the reason for doing this? And why would six feel the need to gather to do this? What was the motivation???

Absolutely bizarre.

[wisteria]

14. This is a hate crime against the disabled. What a horrible, horrible way to die.

These six people-human garbage-one and all should feel the pain and suffering this poor girl went through. How can a human being do this to another human being. I am the mother of a mentally challenged daughter and she happened to have worked with Jennifer at a workshop a little while ago. My daughter came home on Friday and told me about this and I just could not believe it. This haunts her. Words can not express how awful I feel for this woman and her family. And, my daughter doesn't understand why someone would have wanted to hurt her. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about this. May she rest in peace and may those that did this to her never have any.

[undergroundpanther]

34. scary

To me,because I am disabled,and my cousin he is disabled,has retardation seizures etc.
Hitler's "final solution" started with murdering the disabled first.For fascists it's always is a war against the weak. Fascists fear the'weak',the disabled,the different.

[Schema Thing]

15. why?

[marshall]

16. I can't imagine what reason they might give

I suppose some of them will point the finger at one or more of the others and say he or she was the ring leader and coerced everyone else to do this.

The thing that gets me is that this went on for almost a day and a half. Even if some of the six felt threatened into participating, surely they could have gotten away at some point and alerted the police. It's not like this happened in one insane moment of frenzy and people didn't have time to stop and think about what they were doing.

Still, somebody will be identified as the ring leader who somehow got the others to do his or her bidding.

[wisteria]

20. You seem to be on the right track. That is what is being discussed right now.n/t

[coti]

22. It's hard to come up with a word that accurately describes how disgusting this story is.

I think the only word would be "evil," but it's overused and has lost its potency.

It's the viciousness, the delight in the misery of other people, showed in this case that I think sets it apart from so many others. The ganging up on someone already ill-suited to defend themselves. The taking advantage of her, seeing her trusting nature as opportunity. The self-absolution and total lack of thought or empathy that comes with acting as a mob. The illegitimate subjugation by numbers for pleasure.

I don't know what else I'd call all that, though.

Anyway, it's those cases involving the above kinds of behavior that have always really boiled my blood. There is no "why"- it's just that pure human sickness we see on occasion that, hopefully, someday, we'll evolve away from.

[Zebedeo]

65. Evil is the right word.

There is a sinfulness and wickedness that lurks in the hearts of all of us. Human nature is not inherently "good." I do not believe it has anything to do with evolution. It has to do with the free will that each of us has to do good or to do evil. Unlike the animals, we have the capacity to choose between moral or immoral actions. Unfortunately, these people chose to do evil. Hopefully some good can come out of this awful tragedy.

- Zeb

[whathehell]

26. The police mention "jealousy" but they don't mention the cause

of the jealousy...I also notice that the victim was pretty.

What a hideous bunch of moral degenerates...Words fail.

[Quantess]

31. This article explains the motives a little better:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_667147.html

She thought they were her friends! That is maybe the saddest part.

[KittyWampus]

38. Reading that article it appears these 6 were mentally challeged or mentally ill. Some on meds.

Some having been in programs. Some not eligible because of problems and violence etc.

[wisteria]

55. Yes, some may have had problems and the systemmay have let them down, but the

system REALLY let Jennifer Daugherty down. There are no excuses at all for the behavior of these six people.

[wisteria]

39. And, you know when you have disabilities so many people either ignore you or make fun.

I am not saying everyone, but when you are the person with the disability you want to fit in and be like everyone else. And, having friends is like being like everyone else. Jennifer Daugherty was innocent enough to believe she found some good friends,and sadly she trusted them without reservation.

[whathehell]

44. Yes, this explains more...If you can count anything as a "reason" here

Thanks for the information.

Truly appalling. May the poor woman rest in peace.

[winyanstaz]

17. This is so sad...it breaks my heart..that poor lady...and so young too.

Its insanity run amok in America and I blame society, tv, movies, absent parents and violent video games for a lot of it.
Every one of these people have been raised on a daily dose of violence and sex so what makes anyone think the feeble brained among us wont try to act those things out?
I hope these people NEVER walk free again.

[tavalon]

18. They all look stupid, except for their victim

They are awful people.

[wisteria]

19. There is a facebook page in honor of Jennifer Daugherty if you would like to .

comment.

It is, R.I.P. Jennifer Daugherty

[That Is Quite Enough]

30. Thanks

[appleannie1]

21. The downstairs neighbor should have called police when she heard a female screaming and the overhead

thumps. They went on for over a full day.

These clowns lured her, pretending to be her friend. They took advantage of her sexually, then tortured her to death. They treated her like a toy that they destroyed once they got tired of playing with it.

[BeHereNow]

24. I think I'm going to be sick...

I need some fresh air after reading this.
Horrific, simply unfathomable.
BHN

[readmoreoften]

25. Disgusting cowards. I mean, really.

How about feeding them to one another as punishment? :shrug: Proto-fascists sicken me.

[undergroundpanther]

28. Fucking assholes,I'm so tired of them.

If a person is vulnerable,disabled,trusting,sensitive, innocent or not 'normal' enough this world will find a way to kill them. I have seen the systemic and gradual destruction of too many awesome people.Stories like this make me wish bully people that would do this kind of shit were dead.There are too many assholes,sycophants sucking up to assholes,enablers of assholes and selfish bystanders and a culture that is psychopathic..hell bent on pitying those who deserve none.

One great person I knew was recently killed by a train. He was homeless.He had no family he was adopted,his mother died leaving him with his abusive foster father.He ran away and dreamed of finding his real family.He would get depressed and manic but lived undiagnosed and did not get access to help.He was 41 when he died.
He held jobs but could not afford rent despite working.He lived in a tent. Life just beat the fuck out of him.He had his share of flaws and issues,but his situation was made harder by hard hearted people and the low wages. He had been attacked and beaten before because he was homeless.The night he died he was at a restaurant.He was in there until late. I guess he was not sleeping well because of the bitter cold.I bet he was not looking forward to sleeping in a tent during the second blizzard either. He was at the restaurant and started dozing off. So the owner made him leave. He began walking to his tent and passed out or slipped and knocked himself out on the train tracks.The train conductor said he saw something on the track,blew the horn it didn't move. So he ran over it unable to stop.That something was one of my friends,Ed,I used to call him the manticore because he had two rows of upper teeth, like a manticore has.He died,I had no clue, I had not been hanging much in Elicott City .I lost touch because I had no way to get there.I wondered how everyone was doing down there..I got an occasional word..

I wonder if Ed had not fallen through the cracks,instead of being scorned for his 'erratic behavior' instead got some help from an agency with resources to expend,and not only sporadic aid from a few individuals,and friends it may have been easier on him to live.Or if the jobs he had paid enough to afford housing,If the state had housing he could afford,instead of pretending homeless people had no rights to be there or even if the town had reliable transport..What if there was more compassion,maybe someone to help him cope ,maybe it wouldn't have ended that way for him.http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/bal-md.ho.train06feb06,0,6918387.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+baltimoresun%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fhoward%2Frss2+%28Howard+County%29

There are so many people that exist in such hardship,that cannot cope,who are disabled or innocent or misfits that die and are forgotten. I think the hard hearted bullshit has to stop.We are all vulnerable.Disabled or not.

[mmonk]

29. Sorry to hear about your friend Ed.

[undergroundpanther]

32. Thanks

I just hate the way this world treats vulnerable people.Acting like victims deserve what happens to them.Acting like homeless or disabled people are less than human.

[mmonk]

33. Me too.

I have a son with a disability. I worry about leaving him in a society like today's whenever I die.

[wisteria]

37. I do too, I have a daughter with a disability. Her safely never leave my mind. n/t

[complain jane]

50. The world

should be filled with people who feel the same way about your daughter's safety as you do (and as I'm sure most here do).

I don't have children but I have a disabled pet. I've never felt that kind of protectiveness before having her to care for and I can imagine how stories like this make you feel.

[Initech]

35. Wow damn.

Those pieces of shit deserve whatever punishment they get. I have a similar situation in which a former co-worker who was a friend of mine was hit by a car and almost died. And I saw her two weeks ago, and ever since I haven't been able to get that out of my head. Now that has just totally struck a chord with me, and reading stories like this makes me absolutely sick. Those bastards should fry for what they did.

[wisteria]

36. Yours is a very heartfelt and sad post. We need to remember that we are all God's children.

And, everyone of us is special is some way. We should all take the time to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

[Randall Flagg]

41. Thanks so much for sharing that.

I wish we could rec individual posts.

[complain jane]

53. Amen.

[Marr]

40. Why do they seem to be wearing the same clothing?

The ones up top seem to be wearing the same white shirt, and two in the bottom row seem to be wearing the same blue shirt with purple trim.

[Urban Prairie]

43. Hopefully the ones in "white" are wearing straightjackets.

Faces of evil...every last one. I can't even begin to imagine the gradually worsening viciousness that must have egged on the others to top, when each took their "turn" to beat on the poor girl, which ultimately led to one or more stabbing her to death.

Life in prison is too mild a sentence for any of them, IMO, regardless of which one(s) actually killed her.

[HughBeaumont]

42. No death penalty. Put them in the GP.

Sleep on a gurney is too good for them. Let them get chopped alive or beaten to death with blunt objects. I'll cry not one tear for these shitworm fucks and neither will anyone else.

Yeah, real brave. WHAT DID THAT FUCKING ACCOMPLISH?? WHAT???

What the fuck is WRONG with people anymore? I think it's always been this way, and that's the scary part. This world is a breeding ground of meanness, coital mistakes, abuse cycles and neglect. To think this poor woman would have a target on her for pretty much no reason gives me no hope for humanity at all.

[complain jane]

45. Speechless.

I read this story 2 days ago and can't get it out of my head. This morning it actually had me sobbing.

What kind of people could do such sick, vile, evil, unimaginable things to another human being- let alone one who was so vulnerable and helpless?

I read that one of the six is pregnant with another suspect's child. The expectant mother's own mother tried to sell her when she was 4 years old, and now as an adult she and the baby's father tortured and murdered a disabled woman. It's unthinkable that they could be permitted to raise a child of her own. God help the poor baby.

When something like this comes on the news it's heartbreaking and frightening to be reminded that there are actually some in the world capable of this- but it's TV, it's the news, and I'm a little numb to it. But then I go on Facebook and see the page set up for her and her family and friends and people who knew her are right there talking about her and what happened to her, and it just goes right through me because the slick newscast and sound bites are gone and you see there the real thing, the real pain and bewilderment and that yes this really did happen. Six people really did this to someone.

I can't get my head around it.

[Uzybone]

46. Full extend of the law...if its the DP so be it

These are animals.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

47. Jennifer was a very pretty girl and a smile that pretty comes from inside.

I'm an atheist but stories like this make me wish there was somebody to comfort people like her.

[ebbie15644]

48. close to home

Not only did this happen in my back yard (I live 6 miles away) I have a disabled niece and this just gives me nightmares!!

[wisteria]

54. I understand, I live very close also and it is hard to believe that people this inhuman

lived so close to me. I also have a mentally challenged daughter who came home from her workshop job and told me about what happened. Jennifer had worked with her for a while at the workshop, and this whole situation just adds to my concerns about my daughter's well being. I just can not stop thinking about the horror that Jennifer Daugherty went through, and knowing that the last thing she saw on earth were the faces of these six people-human garbage one and all.

[ebbie15644]

59. Her poor family!

As a mother, sister or father, I think I would have trouble sleeping at night. Hearing the details of this case would haunt my nights and days!!

[complain jane]

60. Yeah

I can't imagine what that poor family must be going through. The loss is bad enough but when you get into the details of the whole thing- from the fact that she thought these scumbags were her friends and trusted them, to the horrific things they did to her.

Ah crap here we go again, I just woke up and even just typing about this has me all upset about it again. It's been bothering me since I read the first story, on my mind a good part of the past few days.

My heart goes out to her family. What an unimaginable nightmare.

[Brickbat]

49. If you're calling for the DP or for the perps to be put in general population, read the stories.

Many of the accused have mental health issues.

The story is ugly and sad all the way around. It sounds like many of the people in this story have been marginalized and shuffled around for much of their lives. It's not an excuse to act like an animal, but I'm not surprised when they do.

[wisteria]

58. Together they were a dangerous brew. But, that does not excuse what they have done.

I think in the end it was the sytem of support in this area that let Jennifer down-in no way excusing what these people did to her. To lump all these different types of challenged, angry and medically ill people together and try and treat them at one community location is wrong. To allow them to just rome the streets and have no police watching the home-even after the tenant downstairs and local residences knew they were strange is just wrong. And, the landlord-who was informed about the daily and nighly fighting going on at his rental property is guilty of lack of concern.

[FedUpWithIt All]

51. One of the suspects had been offered for a sale of $10,000 by her own mother when she was 4.

There is a lot of tragedy and sickness in this story.

Meidinger's rough start in life is just one part of a twisted tale of people whose troubled lives converged in the apartment where police say Daugherty was killed last week.

According to court documents and Tribune-Review reports, Amber was 4 years old on May 6, 1994, when her mother, then known as Flora Meidinger, attempted to sell her to a Unity neighbor to pay bills

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_667372.html

[Quantess]

76. That was a really interesting article.

[Echo In Light]

52. Human beings: the scariest fucking evil on planet earth

[complain jane]

61. That's for sure.

[NoodleyAppendage]

56. Not to diminish her death or status, but they ALL look developmentally disabled.

I suspect narry an IQ over 80 in that bunch.

[dugaresa]

62. they are all disabled.

[complain jane]

67. Supposedly they all have disabilities, anger issues, and/or mental illness.

But then again I think you would have to be mentally ill to torture and murder another living creature.

[snooper2]

63. What a bunch of fucking losers...death penalty..

rabid dogs...put them down...

[Iggo]

64. Man, I wish I hadn't read that.

I feel sick.

But at least I can feel. What the fuck is wrong with people?

[WI_DEM]

66. It is unbelievable the number of sick, twisted bastards are out there walking the streets.

The poor woman.

[Swamp Rat]

68. FUCK! I wish I did not click on this thread.

Poor Jennifer. :cry:

[upi402]

69. Shit, man's inhumanity still gets to me

Guess I'm still human somehow

[indy legend]

70. I have a mentally challenged handicapped little girl

If these sons of bitches had done this to my child they would never come to trial. They wouldn't die right away but before they did they would beg for the relief that death would bring their sorry fuckin' asses.

[complain jane]

71. I hear you.

I don't have a child, but I do have a handicapped pet. She is blind, she has no eyes. This is as close as I will come to having a child and I've never felt the level of protectiveness and worry that I feel taking care of her. I can only imagine what it must be like to be the parent of a vulnerable child. So I put myself in the position of this poor woman's parents and I feel exactly the way you do. Fucking unimaginable.

[complain jane]

72. Update: Suspects' Lice Delays PA. Torture-Murder Hearing

GREENSBURG, Pa. — A district judge's office says a hearing for six people charged in the torture killing of a mentally disabled Pennsylvania woman has been postponed because the suspects have head lice.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ghW2ePu5TIyR-0wtNHzS-Hvqwz7AD9DUM0BG1

[complain jane]

73. Update: Suspect in Custody Days Before Slaying, Set Free

New Kensington District Judge Frank Pallone, presiding at Westmoreland County Night Court that Saturday, determined police didn't have enough evidence to charge or hold Smyrnes on an offense of possessing instruments of crime -- a claw hammer, two screwdrivers and seven pairs of rubber gloves. Smyrnes was set free.

<snip>

They are accused of torturing Daugherty for more than 33 hours inside an apartment at 428 N. Pennsylvania Ave. They allegedly smeared nail polish on her face and fed her urine, vegetable oil, medications and detergent. They struck her with a towel rack, a vacuum hose and a crutch, police said. Then they stabbed her to death, put her body in a trash can and left it in a Main Street parking lot, where it was discovered about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 11, according to court papers.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_667977.html

This guy is wandering around with 7 pairs of rubber gloves on him and days later he and five others torture and kill Jennifer Daugherty? :wtf:

[complain jane]

74. Memorial Facebook Page: "R.I.P. Jennifer Daugherty" n/t

[complain jane]

75. Petition for the death penalty

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/justiceforjennifer/