Recently I was asked how many U.S. children were murdered by fathers in situations involving custody/visitation, especially in the last five years. I honestly didn't know, as I just reference cases on the appropriate state list. I don't count them. But I decided it would be interesting to do a tally by state and year. Of course the usual caveats apply. These are just the cases I happened to find by searching the media. In addition, because of work/life responsibilities, I have had less time to search for cases in the last year and the numbers reflect that. But this is what I found:
Children Killed by Father in Situations Involving Child Custody/Visitation 2011-Feb. 2016 | |||||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | TOTAL | |
Alabama | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
Arizona | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
Arkansas | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
California | 4 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 18 | |
Colorado | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
Connecticut | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
Florida | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
Georgia | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
Hawaii | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
Idaho | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
Illinois | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
Indiana | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |
Iowa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Kansas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
Kentucky | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
Louisiana | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Maine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
Maryland | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
Massachusetts | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Michigan | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Mississippi | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
Missouri | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | |
Montana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
Nebraska | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Nevada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
New Jersey | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
New Mexico | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
New York | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 11 | |
North Carolina | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
Ohio | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | |
Oklahoma | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 8 | |
Oregon | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
Pennsylvania | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
Rhode Island | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
South Carolina | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | |
Tennessee | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
Texas | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 24 | |
Utah | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
Vermont | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
Virginia | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
Washington | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | |
West Virginia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
Wisconsin | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
Total | 52 | 55 | 43 | 62 | 36 | 4 | 252 |