Aspies For Freedom

Autistic Strangling victim's family angry

BY SHEILA MCLAUGHLIN
Cincinatti News Enquirer|

The sister of a 50-year-old autistic man, who was strangled by his roommate at a residential center for the developmentally disabled, today questioned why the center's staff officials placed her brother with a man who was known to be violent.

Tina Borich, who lives in Boone County near Burlington, said she doesn’t blame the 20-year-old suspect Edward “Teddy” Shuman or his family for the death of Joseph “Joe Joe” Beaudoin.

“They put the other kid in there with him knowing his aggressiveness. Why was he placed in there?” Borich said. “I’m so angry. The system failed my brother.”


Fairfield Center nursing staff found Beaudoin on the floor of his room with a belt wrapped around his neck. A police report said that he also had injuries to his face.

The family, who saw the body, said Beaudoin was beaten severely before he was strangled.

Beaudoin had been a resident of the facility for about 20 years, his relatives said.

Shuman, who suffers from a litany of problems, including mental retardation and explosive behavior disorder, was placed at the center only six days before.

He admitted to strangling Beaudoin, police said, and is charged with murder.

At his court appearance Wednesday while a judge tried to decide how to proceed with the case, Shuman said he wanted to go home with his "mommy and daddy."

Shuman, shackled and handcuffed, laid his head on a bailiff's shoulder while officials tried to explain that he had to go back to jail. The bailiff patted Shuman on his back in an attempt to console him as Shuman sobbed.

The privately owned Fairfield Center is home to 119 mentally challenged people. Shuman and Beaudoin shared Room 304, police said. Shuman was at Fairfield Center for a week after being moved from the Southwest Ohio Development Center in Batavia.

The nursing staff at Fairfield found Beaudoin lying on the floor of the room with a belt around his neck about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. He was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital Fairfield.

According to a police report, Shuman - whose parents say he has many mental problems and a history of violent behavior - told officers that he held the belt tightly around Beaudoin's neck, and that Beaudoin turned blue and stopped breathing.

Wednesday, Fairfield Municipal Judge Joyce Campbell ordered a competency evaluation for Shuman after it became clear that Shuman didn't understand what was happening.

"I done nothing wrong," he told the judge. "I want to go home now."

He tried to reach out to his parents, who were sitting in the front of the courtroom. They never got to hug.

Bonnie and Thom Shuman - he a pastor; she a school aide in special education - said their son has been in and out of psychiatric wards, residential institutions and group homes since age 7, when he became uncontrollably violent.

The Greenhills couple adopted their son at 18 months. He was from Oklahoma. Sexually and physically abused as an infant, he didn't speak until he was 6.

He was later diagnosed with mental retardation, profound developmental disabilities, fetal alcohol syndrome and explosive behavior disorder. The explosive behavior disorder is the reason he has been repeatedly institutionalized, his parents said.

The Shumans say the call about the attack took them by surprise.

"I thought it was a dream and it was a nightmare," Thom Shuman said.

Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said it's too soon to say how the legal system will handle Shuman's case, given his disabilities. He intends to proceed with prosecution, which is likely to focus on Shuman's competency and sanity before it ever gets to trial.

"You have to be careful not to rush to judgment. ... Sometimes the facts determine that they may have that condition, but it's not exactly a rational explanation for their culpability," Piper said.

Thom Shuman hopes his son will end up institutionalized instead of in prison, where he could be a target for abuse because of his mental capacity.

"My best hope is that Teddy is able to be placed in a setting where he can be safe and secure and as successful as Teddy can be," he said.

"It's fair for the system to let the legal process run its course. But, it's not fair to treat him like every other case. ... He's just a very broken individual. It's time to help make him whole."

The Shumans say their son's movements from place to place over the years and his recent switch to Fairfield Center may have triggered Tuesday's attack. They say they have been frustrated for years by the difficulty of finding local services for young people with severe mental illness.

In 2000, an Enquirer investigation revealed that many area families have had no choice but to send their children out of town for care. Those problems still exist, the Shumans say.

Over and over, the Shumans tried to keep their son in more restrictive settings, where they say he was better off. But Teddy Shuman was released every time he showed enough signs of improvement.

"It's an amazing world," Thom Shuman said. "The police knew about Teddy. The people in the hospital knew about Teddy. But what is the government doing? They're shutting down as many of these facilities as they can."

Teddy Shuman assaulted a resident at a group home in 2004, then a staff member at the Batavia center just a year ago. But more recently, the couple thought he was getting better. There had been fewer incidents, and those that occurred were less violent.

"We had finally stopped worrying about it. I think we finally stopped walking on eggshells," Bonnie Shuman said.

No one can explain a motive for Beaudoin's death, if there was one.

Beaudoin's family could not be reached for comment.

The Shumans said their son was happy at Fairfield Center. In fact, he was well enough to join his parents on an outing to church Sunday and a party for a local golden retriever rescue organization. As recently as Tuesday, the family went out together for dinner at Cincinnati Mills mall.

He didn't talk of any problems with his roommate, even as recently as a few hours before the slaying when he spoke with his father by phone.

Fairfield Center officials would not talk about the incident. In a faxed statement, Administrator Cheryl Farnsley said the staff was saddened by the death of one of their residents, and that their facility met federal requirements as an intermediate-care facility for the mentally retarded. Neither Farnsley nor police would provide details about Beaudoin.

Shuman will remain in the Butler County Jail until at least next Thursday, when he is due back in municipal court for a preliminary hearing. Shuman will be placed alone in a cell where corrections officers can observe him, Deputy Warden Mike Craft said.

Wednesday evening, the Shumans went home to the task of breaking the news of their son's arrest to his grandparents, to friends and to members of Greenhills Community Church, Presbyterian. Many people at the church knew him as a usually sweet and innocent young man who had taught others how to be more accepting of people like him.

"He's been a gift from God to many people," Bonnie Shuman said.

"I don't know of anybody that could think he would do anything like this intentionally."

ENDS

Another failiure, i wouldn't be suprised if we saw more of these popping up.

Reyima, if you read back through the news stories, you'll find that autistic people in residental care (or "group homes" as they are called in America) are routinely killed, sexually abused,violently assaulted,  tortured, and  humiliated whilst in privatized "care".

This story is unusual because the victim was killed by another resident -  autistic people are more commonly abused or killed by the staff of private-sector care facilities.

'Why was he placed in there?'
Victim's family angry, but not with suspect


BY SHEILA MCLAUGHLIN
THE ENQUIRER - Cincinnati
24th February 2006

Joseph "Joe Joe" Beaudoin's life ended violently in his room at Fairfield Center, where the autistic man had lived for 20 years.

A belt was wrapped around the 50-year-old man's neck. His face bore signs of a beating. His nose was torn. An eye was blackened. The print of a shoe and other scratches marked his face.

On Thursday, his sister said she doesn't blame Edward "Teddy" Shuman, the 20-year-old mentally retarded man with a history of violent behavior, who is charged in the attack.

But Tina Borich wants to know how a killing could occur in a facility that is supposed to provide care and safety for people like Beaudoin and Shuman.

"It is just very hard for us to deal with. They put the other kid in there with him, knowing his aggressiveness. Why was he placed in there?" said Borich, who is a nurse and lives near Burlington. "I'm so angry. The system failed my brother. ... My brother is dead. My family is going through hell."

Two days after Beaudoin died, and a day before his funeral service, Borich said she wants answers.

Where was the center's staff? Didn't they hear a fight going on? Why didn't anyone intervene?

Fairfield Center officials issued a statement Wednesday saying that the center met all federal licensing requirements. They refused to make further comment Thursday.

However, a check of public records shows that the Fairfield Center has had several problems in recent years, including having new admissions suspended in 2004.

Borich said she holds Fairfield Center accountable in Beaudoin's death. The family intends to talk to a lawyer.

She and her brothers were "horrified" when they viewed Beaudoin's body Wednesday at the Webster Funeral Home in Fairfield. They didn't realize the extent of the attack until they saw Beaudoin's face. They believe the attack must have taken some time.

"It wasn't just a few minutes. He had to have screamed. People had to have heard that," Borich said.

According to police, Fairfield Center nursing staff found Beaudoin on the floor of his room at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.

An offense report noted that Beaudoin had significant injuries to his face.

Police wouldn't talk about that on Thursday.

The Butler County coroner's office isn't releasing information about Beaudoin's injuries.

Shuman is jailed on a murder charge. He awaits a court-ordered competency evaluation and further court hearings.

A PHYSICAL MISMATCH

Detectives said Shuman told them that he wrapped the belt around Beaudoin's neck and pulled it tight until Beaudoin turned blue and quit breathing.

The two men had been roommates for six days. They were a physical mismatch.

Beaudoin was slightly built at 5-foot-4 and 145 pounds. His autism was so extensive that he rarely talked. He had a tendency to rock back and forth.

Shuman is 6 inches taller, 50 pounds heavier and 30 years younger. He was prone to unpredictable, violent outbursts.

"It's like turning off and on a light switch," said his father, Thom Shuman. "It takes several people to control him when he goes off - preferably large men."

Thom and Bonnie Shuman of Greenhills adopted Shuman when he was 18 months old.

They said their son has struggled with explosive-behavior disorder, mental retardation, fetal-alcohol syndrome and other problems for at least 13 years.

Even as a child, Shuman's behavior could be so explosive that his father often had to wrap the boy in his arms for three or four hours to calm him down. Shuman would thrash and head-butt while his father struggled to maintain a grip.

Shuman's parents - Thom's a minister, Bonnie works with special needs children - say they intended to adopt a child with issues. But they didn't expect Shuman to suffer such severe problems.

Shuman has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals and group homes from Cincinnati to Louisville to Indianapolis. He has tried living at home and in a supervised apartment over the years, but he always landed back in a more-restrictive setting after he became violent.

The Shumans said their son consistently did better in the most regimented environments.

The Shumans wanted him to stay at the Southwest Ohio Developmental Center in Batavia, where he had been under a court-ordered placement.

They said they moved him to the Fairfield Center on Feb. 16 only after state mental retardation and developmental disabilities officials told the family Shuman had progressed enough that he could no longer stay at Batavia.

Fairfield Center is a privately run, for-profit facility owned by Alexson Services, an Ohio corporation that operates several similar centers. The state mental retardation agency refers clients to Fairfield Center, which also takes some private placements.

The Fairfield Center nearly lost its license last year, and the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities temporarily suspended new admissions in 2004 because of serious problems there.

Those problems have included a lack of staff training, failure to conduct background checks on some employees, lax procedures in responding to medical emergencies, and failure to provide prescribed medication to some patients, according to state records.

Beaudoin had been a resident of Fairfield Center for about 20 years, said Borich, who was his guardian until the late 1990s.

He transferred there after the state opted to de-institutionalize care for people with mental retardation and mental illness and shut down the Orient facility near Columbus.

Beaudoin's autism was caused by brain damage at age 2, when he became sick and had a 106-degree temperature, Borich said. A family doctor suggested that he be institutionalized at age 3 after he jumped on his mother's back when she was pregnant. The doctor feared someone would get hurt, Borich said.

BURIAL IS TODAY

In recent years, Beaudoin's siblings have visited sporadically. Their mother lives at a nursing home after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She isn't in any condition to understand what happened to Beaudoin - and her children have not told her, Borich said.

"It's a blessing. She couldn't have taken another tragedy," Borich said.

Beaudoin will be buried today at Rose Hill Cemetery in Hamilton, next to his brother Charlie, who died in a house fire when he was 13.

As for Shuman, Borich said she doesn't want to see him prosecuted. But, she thinks he should be locked up in a facility that is equipped to deal with violent behavior.

"My heart goes out to him. He knew what he did, but he didn't understand what he did," Borich said.

"That kid ... needs a lot of love, and he needs to never, ever be put in a bedroom with a person alone again."

ENDS

State probes autistic death at center
Was staff at fault or is system to blame?


BY SHEILA MCLAUGHLIN AND PEGGY O'FARRELL |
CINCINNATI ENQUIRER
February 26th 2006

Two state agencies have launched investigations into what happened at the Fairfield Center, where a 20-year-old resident with mental retardation and a history of violent outbursts is charged with strangling his 50-year-old roommate.

Ohio's department of health and its state mental retardation agency are inspecting the center's records and premises to see if staffing or any other problems played a role in the death.

"(They) will look to see if there was any kind of negligence on anybody's part," said Robert Jennings, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

But beyond whatever problems may exist at one care center, experts say the death of Joseph "Joe Joe" Beaudoin reflects weaknesses that have long existed in the state system that cares for people who have struggled since childhood with combinations of mental retardation and mental illness.

"There are very few psychiatric units that handle people with developmental issues. And the developmental places don't take kids with psychiatric issues," says Pamela Campbell, a psychiatrist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "So where are these kids supposed to go? Right now, it's nowhere."

A VIOLENT END

Beaudoin, an autistic man who lived at Fairfield Center for two decades, was found on the floor of his room about dinner time on Tuesday, an apparent victim of strangulation. He had a belt around his neck and his face was beaten and ***.

Edward "Teddy" Shuman, 20, is charged with murder. Shuman told police he placed the belt around Beaudoin's neck and pulled it tightly until the man turned blue and stopped breathing.

Shuman was diagnosed years ago with several mental and developmental problems, including explosive behavior disorder. His parents have said his outbursts often occurred with little or no warning. They could be so intense that it would take several men to restrain him.

As the court case proceeds, one of the first steps will be to determine if Shuman is competent to stand trial.

Beaudoin's family doesn't blame Shuman so much for the killing. They question how the system could have allowed anyone with a history like Shuman's to be Beaudoin's roommate.

Beaudoin's relatives want to know where the Fairfield Center's staff was when the attack occurred and why they didn't intervene.

"My brother had a right to live," said Beaudoin's sister Tina Borich, a nurse who lives near Burlington.

A DISJOINTED SYSTEM

In the complex world of mental health care, the extreme conditions of some patients make some violence - and the risk of some fatal events - unavoidable.

But experts also say the risk of tragic outcomes may be aggravated because the state-run system is so disjointed.

People like Shuman tend to fall through the cracks, says Pamela Campbell, a psychiatrist at Cincinnati Children's.

"The problem is that MRDD doesn't include psychiatry. And mental health doesn't want to cover the MRDD issues," said Campbell. Shuman's parents, Thom and Bonnie Shuman of Greenhills, say their son is a victim, too.

The state system isn't designed to deal with people like their son, they said, because his mental retardation isn't considered severe enough for a state-run, more restrictive facility.

The Shumans moved their adopted son to the Fairfield Center on Feb. 16, after the state mental retardation agency decided he was doing well enough to be transferred out of its Southwest Ohio Developmental Center in Batavia.

The Shumans wanted him to stay there, but officials say the Batavia center is not a place where people normally stay long term.

"Our centers are almost like the emergency room," Jennings said. "You're not expected to stay in the ER all your life. You go there, you try to get stable and then you move out to the community where you can live as normal as possible and as safe as possible."

The Shumans had worked hard to get their son the best care, said Cheryl Phipps, superintendent of the Hamilton County Board of MRDD.

"There are very few people who have the intense issues that we see with this poor young man (Shuman). I just feel so badly for his parents. They've done everything right," she said.

REFORMS TO COME?

Phipps said she's campaigned for years for legislative changes that would allow people like Shuman - whose behavioral problems stem more from mental illness than retardation - to be housed in the state's 10 developmental centers.

The state is considering that idea, said Michael Snow, deputy director of state-operated services and support for the state mental retardation agency.

Long-term admissions to the state's MRDD centers have changed over the last 10 years to include more adults with behavioral issues, according to a recently completed study.

The agency plans to hold several community meetings to seek comment on the study from families, providers and others. A local meeting is scheduled March 16 at the Clermont College campus in Batavia.

While the debate continues, the Ohio Department of Health plans to complete its investigation at Fairfield Center and issue its findings within two weeks.

The department will determine if the center can continue receiving Medicaid payments for residents living there. It faces civil penalties if serious violations are found.

Jennings said he didn't know how long the separate MRDD investigation would take.

Depending on the findings, the state could suspend new admissions, which happened at Fairfield Center in 2004; take over day-to-day operations of the center; or even shut the center down.

Jennings said he doubts Fairfield Center would be shut down.

"(Closing Fairfield Center) would be the last thing you would want to do," he said. "If you start closing down centers, you have an issue of where do you relocate people and how disruptive is that?"

Fairfield Center officials have refused to discuss Shuman's and Beaudoin's placement in the same room.

Administrator Cheryl Farnsley said the center complies with state and federal requirements, including conducting an "extensive" review of the residents' background, medical history and behavioral problems.

SOME SUPPORT CENTER

Despite past problems, some families say they remain confident in the Fairfield Center.

Cheryl Garnett, who heads a support group for people who have loved ones living there, said she was frustrated by the negative publicity Fairfield Center has received after Beaudoin's death.

She attended a memorial service for him there Friday as well as his funeral at a Fairfield nursing home. The American flag at the center was flown at half staff Friday in his memory.

Garnett, of Blue Ash, said Fairfield Center was a "Godsend" when her 62-year-old brother, Terry, was kicked out of a Northern Kentucky group home. Terry has Down syndrome, Alzheimer's and severe mental retardation.

Garnett knows about the center's past problems, but she said the administration has always worked to resolve those issues.

"His care . . . (is) paramount. If I thought for an instant he was not receiving those things, he would not be there," Garnett said.

She cannot imagine what she'd do with Terry if the state decided to close the center.

"What am I going to do then?" Garnett asked. "I can't offer all of these services to my brother myself."

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com

ENDS

I'm afraid you're right, but so am i, many people with mental conditions across the world are sometimes put in rooms with people who may have a conflicting disorder. (Like what happened here) I fear, however, that more patient-side incidents will occur, blotting out the fact that the current health-care system in alot of nations is insufficiently organised and checked for such heinous crimes.

Strangler of AS man suspect awaiting mental evaluation

By Michael D. Pitman And Ken-Yon Hardy
Hamilton Journal News
03-02-2006


As the legal system decides his fate on first-degree murder charges, Edward Shuman sits in an isolated observation room at the Butler County Jail and colors.

Results of a psychological evaluation will determine if the 20-year-old resident of the Fairfield Center, a mental retardation and developmental disabilities facility in Fairfield, can stand trial.

Shuman is charged with killing his roommate, Joseph David Beaudoin, 50, on Feb. 21.

Fairfield Municipal Prosecutor Gerald Froelke said Shuman will likely not be in court today for a scheduled hearing.

"We're still waiting on the report to see if he could stand trial," Froelke said.

Froelke said Shuman apparently wrapped a belt around Beaudoin's neck and pulled tight, while placing his foot on the older man's face to hold him down.

Froelke believes the evaluation will show Shuman, who has an IQ of 42, can't stand trial; he then would likely be sent to Twin Valley Behavioral Health Care in Dayton.

A 42 IQ is classified as severe mental retardation, said Dr. Scott Bresler, of the University of Cincinnati Department of Psychiatry.

Of the general population, 99.9 percent fall between 70 and 130, Bresler said. Of those that are classified as mentally retarded, 4 percent are classified as severely mentally retarded.

"Most people like this that are adults, they can perform simple tasks in a closely supervised setting. Most adapt pretty well living in group homes or with families if they have nurses," Bresler said. "They get into a routine and it becomes a set routine every day. The majority of them have a roommate. This (the killing) is a rarity of rarities.

"(But) persons with mental illness, whether it's severe autism or significant mental retardation, and even mentally ill persons, will at times act out in ways that are unpredictable. Their coping resources for handling conflict and stress are often compromised or repressed," Bresler said.

Bresler said unless a person is "eye-ball monitored" 24 hours a day, there is always a risk this could happen.

With allegations circulating about questionable practices at the Fairfield Center after the death of Beaudoin, 26 parents and guardians signed a petition to lend their support to the center.

And Fairfield Center administrator Cheryl Farnely issued a written statement last week that rules and regulations in hiring and operations are followed as mandated by state law and the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. The facility is owned by the Butler County Board of MRDD. It leases the building to Via Quest, which manages and operates the Fairfield Center.

Chris Hurr, superintendent of the Butler County Board of MRDD, said the agency has only fielded a few inquiries from the public surrounding the events.