Name: Kenneth Countie
Died: March 21, 2006
Age at death: 24
Cause of death: Torture/Murder
Location: Epping, New Hampshire, USA.
Details:
Kenneth "Kenny" Countie had an autism spectrum disorder. He loved chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and Christmas was his favorite holiday. He loved sports; he played hockey and was very good at it, having been coached by his father. He loved the US Army and went through basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He enjoyed watching Army movies and Westerns. He loved his mother and called her every day. When he stopped calling, his mother grew afraid.
Kenny was living on his own. Despite his autism and a mild intellectual disability, he had his own apartment and his mother had recently ceded her power of attorney, making Kenny a legally independent adult. He worked at a car wash, and every day he talked to his mother–until one, day, he stopped.
Kenny said he had gone to "a friend's farm". He had left his belongings behind in his apartment; he only intended to stay for the weekend. But the person he was staying with was not a friend; she was a killer, and her farm was her lair. First she separated Kenny from his family by forcing him to claim, falsely, that he had been abused. Then she systematically humiliated and tortured him. At one point, she called the police with a recorded false confession from Kenny that he was a pedophile, during which he could be heard moaning in pain and vomiting. By that time, she was drugging and torturing him, and his health had severely declined. Shortly before his death, she was seen pushing Kenny in a wheelchair through the supermarket. He was injured and weak. She was buying several plastic diesel containers. The police were called, but did nothing. Soon after that, Kenny was dead.
At the urging of Kenny's mother, police finally went to check the farm and found his killer in the middle of burning his body. Even then they did not arrest her. Finally, they tracked her down. She had crossed state lines in an attempt to escape justice; she had her hair dyed and was carrying a large amount of cash.
The woman who killed Kenny Countie had killed before–most likely, she had killed multiple times before. She would go to a nearby homeless shelter and target intellectually disabled, socially isolated men, and, offering them sex or work, would take them back to her farm where they were made to care for the property. She was a sadist who often beat the men she lured into her home–neighbors reported that they saw injuries on the men who worked around the farm. Some of those men disappeared. Kenny Countie is her second known victim.
Kenny's family has sued the Epping police department, who failed to act when Kenny was seen in public, bruised and in bad shape, shortly before his death. However, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, and an appeal has also failed.
Kenny's mother still maintains a memorial at the farm where Kenny died. Two books have been written about the deaths there.
Other Victims
Kenny's killer was convicted of two counts of murder and is serving a life sentence.
Her other known victim is Michael DeLoge, who had a developmental disability. She had met him at a homeless shelter, fed him drugs, cut him off from his family, beat him, and eventually killed him.
Name: Michael DeLoge
Died: 2005
Age at death: 38
Cause of death: Torture-Murder
Location: Epping, New Hampshire, USA
It is very likely that there are more victims, though none have been identified. Police found unidentified human toes at the horse farm, as well as multiple old burn pits. She had inherited the farm from a chiropractor who had died suddenly.
Editor's note: This serial killer, who targeted disabled men, chose both Countie and DeLoge specifically because they were vulnerable and easy to manipulate. Most autistic victims of serial killers and spree killers were not targeted because they were autistic–but this case, with its two known victims and probably other unknown victims, involves a killer who deliberately took advantage of developmentally disabled men and chose her victims from that group. Most autistic victims of serial killers were essentially in the wrong place at the wrong time; but Kenny Countie was killed because he was autistic and his killer was evil.
References:
Benson, Michael. The Burn Farm. New York: Pinnacle, 2009. Print.
Flynn, Kevin. Wicked Intentions: The Sheila Labarre Murders, a True Story. Far Hills, NJ: New Horizon, 2009. Print.
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