Hannah Overton Archives - Texas Monthly In October 2006 a four-year-old from Corpus Christi named Andrew Burd died mysteriously of salt poisoning. The thoughts and prayers of your co-workers are with you and your family. Round-trip, the journey is 632 miles. Katy Vine has been a staff writer since 2002. Once reunited with their childrenwho were terrified by the ordealLarry and Hannah had to break the awful news to them about Andrew. There are really no words. New medical evidence shows that Hannah Overton did not force her 4-year-old foster son Andrew Burd to ingest large amounts of salt, causing his death in 2006 and her to serve a life sentence. Dabney was always smiling, no matter what was going on in his life. (CPS had not yet sent them his Social Security card, which they needed to get him insured.) But I was frustrated. . At Sunday school, he became more expressive, stringing words into sentences and holding hands with his new sister Ally. Some people love stray animals, remembered her mother, now remarried. To the Overton Family and friends of Dabney: I first met Dabney in the fall of 1972 when he was in fourth grade at Aylett Country Day School. I never saw Hannah be anything but patient and loving with all the kids, the now-married mother of two told me. The death of a childparticularly a sudden, unexplained death in which abuse is suspectedevokes strong emotions, even among seasoned investigators, doctors, forensics experts, and prosecutors. Hannah and Andrew In October 2006 a four-year-old from Corpus Christi named Andrew Burd died mysteriously of salt poisoning. You can send your sympathy in the guestbook provided and share it with the family. Sorry, I he began, when she asked him to put on his shoes. While Larry tried to scrub down the bedroom, Andrew pulled his sheets out of the trash several times, despite repeated warnings not to do so. Think of your other children, she urged the couple. The intentional poisoning of a child is usually perpetrated with sedatives, anticonvulsants, or medications like injectable insulin, not food, he told me. The defense presented the jury with a medical mystery. Not long afterward, Larry and Hannah heard about Andrew at their church, Calvary Chapel of the Coastlands, which Andrews foster mother also attended. I knew Dabney as a friend of my daughter, Stephanie. The ministry's name Syndeo is taken from a Greek word meaning "to connect" or "be connected." Her second husband was Hampton Overton, who died about. That official statement granted her access to state funds that are provided to the wrongfully convicted and also prevented her from being tried for the crime again. It should be noted that during the entire conversation, Hannah Overton showed almost no emotion, he later wrote in his police report. However, Judge Longoria could allow the jury to consider a lesser charge if he felt that the evidence did not support capital murder, and after hearing the states case, he did so, telling both the prosecution and the defense that he was willing to let the jury consider manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide. As long as I can make a nonfrivolous argument, Ill make it, but nothing in my job prevents me from praying for a more just outcome., There have been a few tear-filled nights because one of the kids misses Andrew, Larry said. Dabney will be greatly missed, but not forgotten. At a subsequent family court hearing, in which Hannahs civil attorney argued that she should be given access to the infant so that she could continue nursing her, Judge Lewis returned Emma to her parents, but with conditions. She is amazing!". No amount of money will ever bring back the years that were taken away, and the seven years of freedom I lost. But law enforcement and emergency medical personnel who treated Andrew thought otherwise. Haller was stunned by the accusation. Meny Lukk national monument bank uk; will arnett brothers and sisters I could never thank my attorneys enough for fighting endlessly to prove my innocence and bring me home.. They were not allowed to be at Andrews bedside on the evening of October 3, when he experienced massive organ failure. His mothers and fathers parental rights were terminated soon after he turned three. I shall miss him greatly. By that point, they had already been shown numerous photos of Andrews small, bruised body postmortem. Those charges were not considered double jeopardy because Overtons conviction was overturned by the higher court on the basis of ineffective counsel, which granted her a new trial. Pleading out to that was much better than having my children grow up without a mother or a father. In exchange for his plea, Larry was given five years probation and a $5,000 fine. The sheets were filthy, and he was getting poop everywhere. Diane and Peter. This was not a child that came into the office looking well, with a story of, you know, Hes just a tomboy, and he falls and hits himself, Rotta would later testify. To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our. Both Larry and Hannah had done missionary work, and as a teenager, Hannah had spent holidays volunteering at an orphanage across the border, in Reynosa, where she had fed, bathed, and ministered to kids who had been living on the streets. Cynthia Hujar-Orr, Gerry Goldstein and John Raley were apart of Overtons appellate team that helped overturn the conviction. My husband Al and I were shocked and saddened to hear of Dabney's death. Had Andrew sat among them, I realized, he would have been nine years old. Throughout the meal, Andrew repeatedly asked, Is my mom okay? He also kept requesting more food. Given that Hannah was suspected of poisoning Andrew with Creole seasoning, the suggestion that the Overtons had used pepper to discipline their children raised immediate concerns. Obituary | Alton Overton | Ashby Funeral Home Send your deepest condolences with fresh flowers. I am so sorry to hear about Dabney. But just as the prosecution could not show exactly how Hannah had forced Andrew to ingest a lethal dose of salt, neither could the defense give precise details for how the four-year-old had come to have so much sodium in his body. Her husband, Larry, took aplea deal for a lesser charge in the case and was given probation. This small benefit will allow her and her sweet family to continue to share their goodness with all of us with some degree of comfort. Yet if anyone was up to the task, most everyone agreed, it was the Overtons, and Hannah in particular. The case boils down to a woman who basically tortured a child, Eastwood continued. God bless you Dabney, we'll miss you. Anita and John Sorry to hear of Dabney's passing. I enjoyed each conversation we had about fishing, sailing and other things we both were interest in. Disclaimer: We created this website to give you general information about a variety of criminal offenses and possible defenses that might apply to those charges. If someone was trying to murder Andrew, they would have restrained him and prevented him from drinking water, Moritz subsequently wrote in an affidavit. In 2007, Hannah Overton was sentenced to life in prison for the death of her 4-year-old foster son. Larry with (from left) his children Ally, Isaac, Sebastian, Emma, and Isabel. In 2007 he published a seminal paper on salt poisoning, in which he examined, among other things, documented cases of children who had accidentally ingested excessive quantities of salt. The appellate court did not rule specifically on Overton's claims of prosecutorial misconduct, saying she deserved a new trial on claims of ineffective counsel. Plant a tree to honor the memory of your loved one. She had a way with Michael that even my wife and I didnt completely understand, his father, Richard, told me. Home; Memorials; Cemeteries; Famous; Contribute; Register; Sign In; Register; Sign In; Memorial updated successfully. The passenger side of their old Ford van was not equipped with an air bag, and Hannah, who had pulled down her seat belt so she could turn to talk to the kids, was jolted forward, her face hitting the dashboard. Hannah managed to clean him up, but when she reiterated that he would have to wait until lunchtime to eat, he defecated on the floor again. The Registry also maintains a more limited database of known exonerations prior to 1989. Isaac read John 9 aloud while Larry helped him sound out the difficult words (synagogue, Pharisees). I'm so saddened to here the news but I know that Dabney is walking his dogs in the park right now in another very special place. The physician only said that the scratch marks he had noticed on the boys neck had been caused, he believed, by another person. OBITUARY - HANNAH OVERTON (HUNTINGDONSHIRE) Bowls England regrets to inform you that former Women's Junior International captain Hannah Overton passed away on 23rd December at the age of 28, after. Former prosecutor Anna Jimenez, who had assisted Eastwood as second chair at Hannahs trial, subsequently wrote a letter to Orr claiming that a sheaf of medical records that Eastwood had asked her to fax to an expert witness before trial had not included the documents that Orr had uncovered. So I got to see that.. State district judge Jose Longoria, who would oversee Hannahs trial the following fall, would later rule Fernandezs finding of blunt force trauma to be inadmissible because it was not based on sufficient data or reliable methodology. Hannah, I am very sad to hear this news. I knew Dabney years ago while living in Richmond. He was a member of Mt. She had studied years earlier to be an EMT, she explained, and although she had never worked as a paramedic, she had felt confident in her training. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. People who knew the Overtons were certain that Andrews bewildering death was accidental. He introduced me to Bandy Field and our Labs also became friends. Murder by omission or conviction by design? - San Antonio Express-News I will miss Dabney greatly, having spent hours drinking coffee & talking with him; a kind, gentle soul who made the world a better place and who always had time for people in his life. Thank you Dabney for blessing my life with your presence. When Gilmore polled the jury afterward, all twelve members stated that they had found Hannah guilty of capital murder by omission for not acting quickly enough to save Andrew; none believed that she had poisoned him. A Texas mother who spent years in prison before she was exonerated for capital murder has welcomed a new child. OVERTON, Dabney III, died peacefully on Monday, November 9, 2009 surrounded by family and friends. Last year, new District Attorney Mark Gonzalezfiled a motion toofficially declare her innocent. Orr forwarded the paperwork to a leading expert on salt poisoning, Michael Moritz, and asked him to explain its significance. May your memories bring you comfort. The boys symptoms that afternoonvomiting, chills, and lethargyinitially suggested to the Overtons that he had a routine ailment, like a stomach bug. The children liked to hang out in her room and talk to her, particularly Andrew, who always visited her for an extra hug before bedtime. The states case would be predicated in part on the findings of Ray Fernandez, the Nueces County medical examiner, who ruled Andrews death to be a homicide. Dabney was loved and treasured for his gentle nature, ready smile, and intelligent wit. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Share Obituary. CORPUS CHRISTI - Early on Oct. 3, 2006, the morning after her neighbor Hannah Overton had rushed a dying 4-year-old boy to a nearby urgent care clinic, Kathi Haller got a visit from police. "God is so good!," Overton wrote in the social media post. Andrew liked to eat every day, all day, any time, she said. If anything had been wrong, I would have known it, she insisted. Or had the tragedy claimed its second victim? Before Hannah got married, when she was still Hannah Saenz, she knew she wanted a large familyat least six kids, she used to tell people. Although the adoption agency that had worked with CPS to find Andrew a home had described him as developmentally on target except for his speech delay, Larry and Hannah observed otherwise. The Corpus Christi Caller-Timess online comments section filled with the vitriol of readers, some of whom called for Hannah to receive the death penalty. In October 2006 a four-year-old from Corpus Christi named Andrew Burd died mysteriously of salt poisoning. A more thorough investigation would have uncovered ample evidence to suggest that Andrew had an undiagnosed eating disorder, raising the possibility that he had unintentionally consumed too much salt on his own. Dabney is survived by his sister, Hannah Overton; and nieces Emma and Lizzie Schmidt, all of Tappahannock; a half-sister Mallory Overton McKendry of Jacksonville, Fla.; and his father, Dabney Overton Jr. of Harrisonburg. I knew Dabney from the Richmond Athletic Club. The supervisor suggested that Andrew might have an eating disorder called pica, which is characterized by a desire to consume things that have no nutritional value, and she recommended that he be evaluated by a specialist if his behavior continued. Finally she relented, heating up what she had on hand: leftover vegetable-beef soup flavored with Zatarains Creole Seasoning. [I] fully disclosed the DAs offices case file to the defense, she wrote in the lengthy statement. I am happy that he has gone before us because I know if God has taken him before so many other people then he must be going to someplace better. Moritz, in fact, had been asked to testify as an expert witness for Hannahs defense at her trial. Created by: Red; Added: 9 Apr 2016 . At four, he spent most of his time playing with Sebastian, who was two, rather than Ally, who was his own age, and his motor skills lagged far behind those of his peers. The defendant has portrayed herself as a nurturing Christian woman, Eastwood proclaimed. One woman said she didnt want to work with a child killer, Larry told me.) My husband, Tom, and I were deeply saddened to hear of Dabney's sudden passing. By that point, Hannah had completely broken down emotionally.. In October 2006 a four-year-old from Corpus Christi named Andrew Burd died mysteriously of salt poisoning. Dear God, thank you for the soup, Isaac said, his head bowed, his eyes closed tightly. In the eyes of law enforcement, Hannah and Larry were not grieving parents but perpetrators of an appalling crime. Two years later, the Overtons learned that their adoption application had been approved and that Andrew would be joining their family. A short discussion followed about the passage, in which Jesus heals a blind man, and then Larry closed his Bible and said, Okay, guys, lets pray. One by one, the kids spoke their prayers, each of which ended with the same wish. Overtons current defense attorney, Cynthia Orr, told ABC News she was thrilled to get the call from Skurka announcing his motion to dismiss had been granted by the judge. I see Dabney very clearly at the dog park with Moose and Betsy, gliding along with that long stride of his and his big smile for everyone. The boy was diagnosed with a toxic salt overdose and died the following day. Guest Book Not sure what to say? It came as a shock when I got the call from Peter Detlefs letting me know that Dabney had passed away. The newly discovered documents, Moritz later told me, were a monumentally important piece of evidence., The discovery soon exposed strains among the prosecution team. Days after she gave birth to her daughter Emma, CPS took the newborn into protective custody. The kids took me out back, where they jumped on the trampoline and played hide-and-seek in the salt grass. But the damage was done: that Hannah had confessed to force-feeding Andrew and beating him was repeated, uncorrected, on the local news. A colleague of mine who attended the trial told me that the prosecution described Andrew again and again as a normal child, and that is a great distortion of the truth. Im supposed to be done crying, she said apologetically at one point, brushing away tears. Hannah, my sister, Carolyn, and John and I are very sadden to learn about Dabney's passing. The Overtons are nurturing, loving, patient, and very family-oriented, an adoption supervisor noted in her paperwork. The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. Both womens accounts were problematic; Gonzalez had never made a statement to police and was testifying from memory after nearly a years worth of negative media coverage, while Zapata had failed to mention anything about Hannah smirking when she wrote her initial report about the incident. We truly thought his obsession with food was a behavioral issue, not a medical one, Larry said. He was loved by many for his gentle nature and loyalty. It was while watching the monitor that Hannah saw him trying to eat part of his foam mattress and paint off the wall. Does God want a child to go to bed hurting, in pain, fearful, being looked at by closed-circuit television? Ive seen doctors and nurses freeze up when a patient comes in convulsing or in extremis, he said. Can College Sports Get More Absurd Than SMU Joining the Pac-12? Dabney will be missed by a wide range of supportive friends and family. What a great sense of comfort to know that I could be greated on the other side by such a kind person. She reported Andrews unusual eating habits to his adoption supervisor when she visited the Overton home on September 25. Judge rejects claims in salt-poisoning case - MySA movie nights, waking up to their beautiful faces. The Court of Criminal Appeals is currently reviewing her writ, which contends that the information about Andrews gastric contents are grounds for a new trial. You can send your sympathy in the guestbook provided and share it with the family. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. The Overtons moved forward with the adoption process, and in the spring of 2006, they received word that Andrew would be coming to live with them for a six-month trial period before the adoption was finalized. The boy was diagnosed with a toxic salt overdose and died the following day. He was an example to many by the way he lived his life and his loyalty to those values that determine a true friend. Hannah Overton, a Corpus Christi homemaker and mother of five, was convicted of capital murder in 2007 for the death Andrew Burd, the four-year-old boy she and her husband were in the process. He was preceded in death by his mother, Hannah Spencer Haile Overton and infant brother, Charles. She left nursing behind, channeling her energy instead into raising the large family she had always wanted. As the verdict was read, Hannah looked horror-struck. He was a very sweet and kind person. His foster mother, Hannah Overton, was charged with capital murder, vilified from all quarters, and sent to prison for life. But was this churchgoing young woman a vicious child killer? Andrews behavior worsened that September, after the family was involved in a car accident. They were no different from other children their age: exuberant, funny, guileless. We loved him and will miss him. It was a catastrophic decision. They also discovered that Hannah was pregnant again. I am over the moon that Hannah has been granted compensation by Texas for her wrongful imprisonment, Orr told ABC News. Beginning next year, she will also receive an annuity. Not until shortly before closing arguments did jurors hear from the defenses expert witness, a Harvard-educated pathologist and assistant medical examiner in San Francisco, Judy Melinek, who offered her opinion that the sores were consistent with mosquito bites that had been scratched and picked at. Every Easter and Christmas holiday was spent at the Reynosa orphanage, whose wards were primarily the unwanted children of prostitutes who worked the nearby red-light district. At Andrews request, he made a plate of sausage and more than a dozen eggs, all of which the boy eagerly devoured. He will be missed. The burden on the state to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt was, Gilmore told me, perhaps less than it should have been. Hannah Mason "Tess" Overton Obituary (2019) | Gunnedah, NSW - Echovita Until we specifically agree to act for you on a matter, you should not provide us with any confidential information or material. He was the first one to introduce me to kayaking from Aylett to Walkerton on the Mattaponi. If Hannah had been looking for a way out, she would have called the adoption agency and told them that she and Larry couldnt go through with it. Hess was unmoved. Four subsequent investigations were triggered by reports of abuse or neglect, including one allegation that both his mother and maternal grandmother were incapable of properly caring for him because they used methamphetamines. One attorney was even moved to tears explaining how sorry he was for the mistakes he had made in Overton's case. With guns drawn, police officers had surrounded Hannah and Larrys car as they returned from an errand, forcing them to the ground and handcuffing them. How had Hannah, who was six months pregnant and recovering from whiplash, managed to overpower Andrew? Our condolences to his family and friends. Before they started a family, Hannah worked as a private-duty nurse for disabled children, and her longest assignmentwith a four-year-old named Michael Subialdeabecame as absorbing to her as her time in Reynosa. Bowls England - OBITUARY - HANNAH OVERTON | Facebook At first, the transition with Andrew went smoothly. He recalled how Michael used to chew on his fingers, a chronic problem that left his skin bloody and raw. I was just trying to fix itto do anything I could to fix my baby, she said. A church elder, who was himself an adoptive parent, invited the Overtons to dinner one night and encouraged them to consider bringing Andrew into their home. Hannah Overton, far right, sits next to her attorney, Cynthia Orr, center, and prosecutor, Doug Norman, April 26, 2012 in Corpus Christi, Texas. They asked us, Can you pray that we have discernment and wisdom in helping him through this?. Hannah Overton announced the birth of her sixth child,Gabriela Aliana, this week in a Facebook post that described a difficult delivery. Absolutely not, Hannah shot back. In loving memory of Jonah Lee Overton, The doctor had been the on-call emergency medicine physician at Driscoll the day that Andrew arrived, and he had resuscitated the boy as he was transported to the intensive care unit. They speculated Andrew might have had pica, an eating disorder characterized by an obsessive appetite and that Andrew accidentally poisoned himself by consuming a fatal amount of sodium. The defense presented the jury with a medical mystery. They convicted her based on the latter argument, that she did not seek help quickly enough. Hannah Overton passed away in Peterborough, Lincolnshire. Hannahs mother and stepfather, Hannah, Larry, and the kids on Mothers Day 2006. That left Overton entitled to seek state compensation funds for thewrongful conviction. A committed Christian, he had gone on mission trips with his family since he was a child, including a fourteen-month stint in Papua New Guinea and several treks across Mexico. Dabney is a graduate of Aylett Country Day School, St. Christopher's School, and Washington and Lee University. He visited us in the country and brought his serinity along. ", More:Hannah Overton, supporters chant 'Actually innocent' after capital murder dismissal, More:Nueces County DA to dismiss Overton case, declare woman innocent. Our lives are richer having known him. There was Andrews bedjust a bare piece of plywood, with no mattressand a security camera, as the baby monitor was later called at trial, trained on it. He displayed hyperactive behavior and possibly had some cognitive delays as well. The doctors assessment of Andrew as developmentally delayed was significant because it dovetailed with Hannahs testimony. On October 3, while Andrew was still hospitalized, the agency removed Isaac, Isabel, Ally, and Sebastian from their parents custody, placing them in two separate foster homes in Beeville, sixty miles away. Gilmore and his defense team, which included two civil attorneys versed in the intricacies of medical testimony, tried to counter the prosecutions claims that Hannah had poisoned Andrew and purposely delayed medical treatment. Finally he agreed to plead no contest to criminally negligent homicide. When Andrew complained of being hungry that afternoon, Hannah gave him more of the leftover soup. Hannah shrugged off the teachers warnings, certain that Andrew would improve once he had the stability of a permanent home. Although he hung back when his siblings embraced their parents in group hugs, Larry and Hannah learned that if they asked Andrew to join in, he would do so enthusiastically, throwing his arms around them. Still, the overall impression was a damning one. Several crossed their arms; others looked away. I pick out the games and I make the decorations, if I can. She devotes most of her evenings to Bible studies, leading groups of inmates through careful examinations of Scripture. Every Saturday for the past several years, Larry has ridden his motorcycle from Corpus Christi to the Murray Unit, the maximum-security womens prison west of Waco where Hannah is incarcerated: a squat, concrete building walled off from the world with cyclone fencing and coils of razor wire. on our list, Other Dabney Overton III (1963-2009) - Find a Grave Memorial Would you like to offer Jonah Lee Overtons loved ones a condolence message? He called Hannah and Larry Mommy and Daddy, and he followed Larry everywhere he went, often stepping on Larrys heels as he trailed after him. A memorial service will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Miller's Tavern, Va. on Sunday, November 22nd at 2 p.m. Making him sleep on plywood burning sheets, becoming so enraged she forced him to have 23 teaspoons of hot pepper, and then watched him die in agony.. I am truly saddened to hear of Dabney's sudden passing. An Unforgettable Texas Tale of Envy, Embezzlement, and Fruitcake, How the Texas Rangers Became One of the Most Powerful Forces in the State. Until Proven Innocent: the Hannah Overton Story She found him standing on a stool in the pantry, near the baking ingredients, having pulled something off the shelf. The following week, Hannahwho had no history with CPS and no previous arrests, and had never had so much as a parking ticketwas charged with capital murder. Despite appearances, however, he was hardly a reprobate. I figured, Well, weve got to start with one, so lets see how far we get. Isabel, and then Ally, followed. According to her family tree, she married Larry D. Overton on August 9, 1997 in Texas . Myron attended Longfellow elementary, Panama Union and Kern Hannah: i was and remain so sorry to hear about Dabney's unfortunate death. Myron F. Overton June 29, 1935 - June 6, 2013 Myron was born in Bakersfield, California to his loving parents Earl C. and Hazel J. Overton. He was such a kind person, always with a smile on his face and a warm hug. Hannah Overton spent seven years in prison until her conviction was overturned. Anne Turner Overton Haile | Obituaries | newsontheneck.com My prayers and thoughts are with you all. For us to go to [the clinic] was a lot faster than it would have been had we called, at that point., As we talked about Andrew, she had to stop several times to compose herself. Submit an Obituary . A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government.
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