The following day, family court judge Carl Lewis awarded temporary custody to Hannahs mother and stepfather. Hannah liked the tall, serious-minded student who shared the same hopes she had of creating a life centered on children and Christian outreach. Nevertheless, the idea that Andrew had sustained a head injury propelled the case forward, further casting Hannah as an abuser. Hannahwho had already lost a child and was now living apart from her four older oneswas in a fragile state of mind. But Saenzs account of his whereabouts on the evening of the murder did not jibe with the evidence, and blood that matched the victims type was discovered inside his van. They wed a year later and moved to Corpus Christi. "We cannot say thank you enough for all who have helped especially the attorneys who worked endless hours to prove my innocence and gain my freedom," Overton told ABC News today. (CPS had not yet sent them his Social Security card, which they needed to get him insured.) In 2007, Hannah Overton was sentenced to life in prison for the death of her 4-year-old foster son. Our lives are richer having known him. If she had taken Andrew to the hospital earlier, what would she have taken him in for? Hannah Spencer Overton (born Haile) in FamilySearch Family Tree Hannah Overton in U.S. Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Hannah Spencer Haile in MyHeritage family trees (Baker Family Site (23andMe)) view all Immediate Family Private ex-spouse Private child Hannah Overton Tiffany daughter Private child Edmond Ware Haile father Irene Margarite Tyler He was kind and gentle with me, and he made himself available no matter how busy he was. At Sunday school, he became more expressive, stringing words into sentences and holding hands with his new sister Ally. In loving memory of Jonah Lee Overton, Anyone who knew Dabney loved him. After dinner the kids settled down in front of the TV to watch a movie that was Isabels pick: a Japanese animated film that her brothers and sisters showed less enthusiasm for, fidgeting as they lay next to each other on the carpet. Andrew was not a normal child, Cortes explained to me. Left: Hannah Overton at the Murray Unit, west of Waco, on November 21, 2011. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. Although Cortes had been scheduled to testify for the prosecution, he was never put on the witness stand. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. She found him standing on a stool in the pantry, near the baking ingredients, having pulled something off the shelf. He served as president of the School of Law. They also discovered that Hannah was pregnant again. She was unflappable and unfailingly patient with children. Moritz, in fact, had been asked to testify as an expert witness for Hannahs defense at her trial. And when he became less responsive, she had pulled out her old EMT books to assess what was wrong. There's also a pen pal program and Overton is often featured inFacebook videos in which she talks about ways to help women in prison. Overton spent seven years in prison for the murder of a young foster child that she says she didn't commit. I have mitigating testimony that I think would have been very useful to your client, he said in a voice mail he left for Gilmore. 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. Before they headed to bed, Larry turned up the lights for their nightly devotions. The experience had affected her deeply, and she told Larry that she was willing to adopt a child with disabilities or an older child who had been unable to find a permanent home. He was a very quiet and caring man. It came as a shock when I got the call from Peter Detlefs letting me know that Dabney had passed away. After drinking a little, he threw another tantrum that continued unabated for twenty minutes. Brother Paul Campbell will officiate the service. Hannah Overton and her family spend Christmas together for the first time in seven years. Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. (Like Eastwood, neither Norman nor Jimenez would comment for this article.) If you would like a copy via email, please let me know. Push him? Throughout the interrogation, which spanned more than two hours, Hannah insisted that she had never harmed Andrew. I made sure that he saw that we had an identical set of Spider-Man sheets so he would calm down., That evening Larry laid a sleeping bag on top of Andrews plywood bed frame, where, he told the boy, he would have to spend the night while his mattress finished drying. Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. December 22, 1930 - She was even slighter in person than I had expected, and as she related the events of the past five years in her soft voice, she looked hopelessly out of place in her white prison jumpsuit. It has been a long time since I saw Dabney last. 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. Find the obituary of Hannah Mason "Tess" Overton (2019) from Gunnedah, NSW. We will always remember him fondly as a fellow Friend of Bandy Field. The salt poisoning case earned international attention because many believed she was wrongfully convicted and her story was featured in the 2017 documentary, Until Proven Innocent. ABC News has followed Overton's and her husband's story since her original 2007 trial. It did not matter that Haller, who had seen Andrew in the days leading up to his hospitalization and who was frequently in the Overton home, had never observed any suspicious bruises or indications of abuse. The Overtons live in East Texas and told ABC News they have housed and supported prisoners after their release through their non-profit organization, Syndeo Ministries. Does anybody remember that? 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. His mother was just sixteen, the file shows, when she gave birth to him in Corpus Christi on July 28, 2002. Sadly she lost her . See production, box office & company info. He enjoyed everything he did, was always friendly and supportive. Some people love stray animals, remembered her mother, now remarried. Detective Hess was put on administrative leave in 2008 after it came to light that he had disclosed confidential information to the suspect in an ongoing investigation for indecency with a child. But as the afternoon wore on, his symptoms grew troubling; his breathing became congested, and he became less and less responsive. He was preceded in. Just as she had hoped, they would have six children. He was a Southern Gentleman and true Virginian who touched the hearts of many. Hannah Overton is expected to receive compensation for wrongful incarceration. Mr. Overton was also very active in the local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Carvers, like most members of Calvary Chapel, never doubted her innocence. 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. 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. I knew Dabney from the Richmond Athletic Club. Its about trusting God and seeing how he is a god of redemption and restoration, she said. My prayers and thoughts are with you all. She could not consent to a lesser charge, she told her attorneys, because she felt it would mean she was admitting fault. I am truly saddened to hear of Dabney's sudden passing. I have shared a memorial tribute I wrote about Dabney with all who've asked. 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 did describe how she and Larry had at first tried to treat the boys symptoms themselves, often volunteering more information than the detective had asked for. May God wrap his loving arms around you until we meet again. His foster mother, Hannah Overton, was charged with capital. He was preceded in death by his parents and daughter, Nicole . After nearly eleven hours of deliberationduring which jurors sent out thirteen notes to the judge, primarily seeking to clarify medical testimonythe jury found her guilty of capital murder. Hannah Overton passed away in Peterborough, Lincolnshire. . Its not even a consideration, she said. At 13, he served as a page for the General Assembly of Virginia. . If I failed in my duties of disclosure before the Hannah Overton trial (which the record corroborates I did not), then so did Ms. Jimenez., Orr filed the writ in April 2011, and soon afterward San Antonio Express-News reporter John MacCormackwhose reporting has raised questions about the fairness of Hannahs convictionmade a routine call to the office to gauge the reaction to the recent developments in the case. I was privileged to know Dabney at W&L and as a fraternity brother at LXA. Yet to find her guilty, theyd had to believe that she knew he would die if she did not get him immediate medical attention. He was a supportive friend to so many people, including me. Skurka ended up dropping the new case against her in 2015 but Overton remained in legal limbo until Gonzalez officially declared her innocence last year, thus closing a significant chapter on this decade-long case. Frantic, Hannah began administering CPR in the backseat. My friend Dabo - thanks for the fun at Washington and Lee but mostly for these last few years when your selflessness and wisdom were refreshing to see and experience. I feel sad. At the time, Overton had four children and was pregnant with a fifth, and had no prior trouble with the law. Dabney will be missed by many. Share Obituary. I knew it would probably make him sick, but I wanted him to understand why we were setting limits, Larry explained. A block away from the clinic, as they waited at a red light, Andrew stopped breathing. 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. When Andrews condition worsened, she and Larry had debated whether to call 911 or go to the nearby urgent care clinic, a concern because Andrew lacked health insurance. It was very tense. Does God want a child to go to bed hurting, in pain, fearful, being looked at by closed-circuit television? His foster mother, Hannah Overton, was charged with capital murder, vilified from all quarters, and sent to prison for life. All those that I know who knew Dabney will miss him greatly. So she had to find a way out. (Hess did not respond to interview requests for this article but has previously denied Hallers version of events.) After he completed his probation, the charges were dismissed. (In his 32 years of practicing law, Gilmore told me, he has never run across the charge of capital murder by omission before or since.) He seemed to enjoy having brothers and sisters to play with, and the Overton kidsespecially the girls, who doted on himwere enthralled by the new arrival. 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. A church member who homeschools her daughters educates the Overton children, using lesson plans Hannah sends her. They had 4 children and were expecting their fifth. Hannah would never harm a child. Even setting aside her loyalty to her friend, the detectives theory made no sense to her. We had known each other for ten years, and I dont think Id ever seen her mad, Haller told me. (Larrys parents, who were friends of the Saenzes, were parishioners.) Ive missed, you know, so many things, she said at the time. Write your message of sympathy today. She is also qualified to receive insurance and education benefits. They considered adopting a nine-year-old girl who was deaf, but when, after much prayer and deliberation, they decided to move forward with the adoption, they learned that the girl had been placed with another family. Elaine and I are deeply saddened by his sudden passing. He acted more like a toddler than a preschooler, they noted; if he wanted an object, he pointed to it and grunted. Im supposed to be done crying, she said apologetically at one point, brushing away tears. 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. — -- Murder charges against Hannah Overton, a south Texas mother of five who had been convicted in the 2007 salt poisoning trial in the death of her foster son, have been dismissed by the district attorney. 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. Before the family returned home, Andrew asked if he could have lunch, and Hannah told him that he needed to wait; Larry was bringing them something to eat, she explained, and he would be back in a few minutes. And thanks for the movie, even though it was kind of weird. In the eyes of law enforcement, Hannah and Larry were not grieving parents but perpetrators of an appalling crime. The three oldest Overton children had gone to their aunts house to see their cousins, who were visiting from out of town, and Andrew grew increasingly agitated and restless, throwing a tantrum at three oclock in the morning. Another nurse, Dina Zapata, remembered Hannah smirking as she tried to resuscitate him. The onus for the boys death fell on Hannah, who was charged with capital murder. Hess had given me his word that he would tell me if and when warrants were going to be issued, so that Hannah and Larry could turn themselves in. Instead, law enforcement officials had apprehended the Overtons by making a felony traffic stop, a practice usually reserved for suspects believed to be armed and dangerous. After her shift ends in the late morning, there are letters to write home, in which she tries to stay present in her childrens lives by choreographing what she can from a distance. Moritz is the clinical director of pediatric nephrology at the Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he specializes in childrens kidney diseases. Andrew flew into a rage. Each pregnancy felt extraordinarily fortunate; after Isaac, Hannah had suffered two miscarriages and been advised that she might not be able to have more children. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. So I got to see that.. The Huntsville Times. Preceded in death by his mother Hannah Spencer Haile Overton and infant brother Charles. Heritage Funeral Home 3700 Forest Lawn Dr, Matthews, NC 28104, Weddington Methodist Church 13901 Providence Rd, Weddington, NC 28104. a few minutes before we actually took him in, she testified. She was always smiling, always laughing. As a teenager, she was captivated by missionaries stories of serving in far-flung places, and she began going on group mission trips herself, once venturing as far as Romania. Here are the tributes to Jonah Lee Overton. On their honeymoon, they stopped at the orphanage in Reynosa, where Hannah wanted Larry to meet some of the children she had told him so much about. As a former private-duty nurse, Hannah felt equipped to handle the challenges of a foster child; she had spent several years caring for special-needs children, some of whom were profoundly disabled. The particulars of her crime, as sketched out by the prosecution, were vague; assistant district attorney Sandra Eastwood, a passionate child advocate, conceded in opening arguments that she was not sure how Hannah had made Andrew eat so much salt. But was this churchgoing young woman a vicious child killer? 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. I visited Hannah at the Murray Unit one bright, cloudless afternoon, when the warden granted her a few hours to speak with me. There was a time when I questioned how God could allow this to happen, she said. Dabney Overton III Birth 30 Jul 1963 Death 9 Nov 2009 (aged 46) When people are under severe stress, their judgment becomes poor., Cortess perspective was revelatory. I was convinced that we were in the presence of a crime.. Larry, who was sitting behind her, broke down. That perception would throw her other children into the investigation as well. 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. Think of your other children, she urged the couple. The detective had been alerted to Andrews grave condition when the boy was transported to a nearby hospital the previous afternoon and, as was protocol, had begun looking into the circumstances surrounding the boys unusual and rapid decline. Hannah Overton, far right, sits next to her attorney, Cynthia Orr, center, and prosecutor, Doug Norman, April 26, 2012 in Corpus Christi, Texas. I feel happy. She is also pregnant with her sixth child. 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. It should be noted that during the entire conversation, Hannah Overton showed almost no emotion, he later wrote in his police report. The thoughts and prayers of your co-workers are with you and your family. Now they can move forward, grieve the loss of Andrew, and heal, Orr said. Losing his patience, Larry took the sheets to the familys fire pit and burned them. Hannah understood little of what had taken place except that she, her mother, and her brother had to leave Corpus Christi behind. After years of appeals and hearings the state'shighest criminal court overturned her conviction in 2014. H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping, West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country. Larry was charged with injury to a child for failing to get Andrew timely medical attention. Hannah Overton, a south Texas mother of five whose wrongful conviction for the 2006 death of her foster son was overturned last year, is expected to receive over $500,000 in compensation from the state for the years she spent in jail. Hannah Overton announced the birth of her sixth child,Gabriela Aliana, this week in a Facebook post that described a difficult delivery. Dabney was always smiling, no matter what was going on in his life. Would I really have stayed with a family that would abuse a child?, The most unsettling aspect of The State of Texas v. Hannah Ruth Overton, which got under way in August 2007, was how effectively a woman who had spent most of her life as a do-gooder could be recast as a monster. I always knew I'd be able to catch up with him on occasion at the Village Starbucks. Right, a photo of Andrew Burd held by Larry Overton. . I fear she may have purposely withheld evidence that may have been favorable to Hannah Overtons defense, Jimenez wrote in her letter, which Orr would include in the writ. When Michael put his fingers in his mouth, she would call his name softlythere was no anger in her voiceand he would smile and slowly slide his fingers out, Richard said. He would have been witness number one for the defense, Gilmore told me. And Eastwood was fired from the DAs office in 2010. Afterward, she instinctively looked back to check on the children, not realizing that her face was covered in blood. He was predeceased by : his parents, Theodore Roosevelt 'Jack' and Annie Overton of Washington; and his wife Claudia Cotten. Always with a Northern Neck Gingerale for me--I still can't buy a 12 pack without thinking of him. We thought that he would stop turning to food for comfort when he learned that he could trust us.. Because he felt cold? He suspected that as the boys condition worsened, Hannah had fallen victim to what he calls stress blindness, a phenomenon he had witnessed many times during his 42 years of practicing medicine. I wouldnt give up that time we had with him and that he had with us., As we sat across from each other in the dayroom, Hannah and I discussed her case and the anguish that had consumed her following Andrews death. In Marchshetold ABC News she would receive nearly $600,000 in compensation, along with other benefits, though she acknowledged no sum could give her back the years of freedom she lost. Dabney was loved and treasured for his gentle nature, ready smile, and intelligent wit. He is in my thoughts and his family in my prayers. After a week-long trial, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison. 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. This is where Andrew used to sleep, Isaac told me softly as he led me into the boys room. Larry Overton was also charged with murder, but after his wife's conviction, he was offered a plea deal and was given probation. Though the kids were in poor health, Hannah was unreserved in her affection. Andrew had never been diagnosed with pica, Rotta reminded jurors. He picked at mosquito bites on his body incessantly, prompting Larry to put socks on his hands; still, Andrew would not stop scratching and eventually developed a staph infection on his arm. It is unclear, read the courts ruling, whether the state actually knew of Dr. Cortess opinion. The court also ruled that the wording of the jury charge was free from error. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined the opportunity to reconsider the decision. He always made time and never in too much of a hurry for a chat. The kids took me out back, where they jumped on the trampoline and played hide-and-seek in the salt grass. When Andrew complained of being hungry that afternoon, Hannah gave him more of the leftover soup. 2023 www.caller.com. Fellow church member Anita Miotti remembers their telling her and her husband, Rich, that they were struggling. Or had the tragedy claimed its second victim? Round-trip, the journey is 632 miles. Hess remained skeptical of Hannahs account. He was preceded in death by his mot In 2011, Overtons appellate attorney, Cynthia Orr, filed a state petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking a new trial. 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. Other witnesses testified that they had detected signs of abuse. (After his arrest, he lost most of his clients. 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. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? 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. Despite all the pain, she told me that if she could do it over again, she would not change their decision to bring Andrew into their home. Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Todd Yates/AP Photo, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Andrew liked to eat every day, all day, any time, she said. Hoping to show him that his behavior was self-destructive, Larry told Andrew one morning that he could have as much as he wanted for breakfast. Finally she relented, heating up what she had on hand: leftover vegetable-beef soup flavored with Zatarains Creole Seasoning. Other couples they knew who had adopted foster children assured them that their kids had outgrown similar eating issues, and the Overtons assumed that, with time, Andrew would outgrow his as well. She could not recall later what, exactly, he had been holding in his hand. He visited us in the country and brought his serinity along. I would often see him riding with all the dogs in the back of the car. News reports that followed, prominently featuring their grim-faced mug shots, cast the Overton home as a house of horrors. The intentional poisoning of a child is usually perpetrated with sedatives, anticonvulsants, or medications like injectable insulin, not food, he told me. Fernandez determined that the boy had died as a result of acute sodium toxicity, with blunt force head trauma as a contributing factor. Home; Memorials; Cemeteries; Famous; Contribute; Register; Sign In; Register; Sign In; Memorial updated successfully. The court ruledher trial lawyers were ineffective, and sent her case back to be retried. The newly discovered documents, Moritz later told me, were a monumentally important piece of evidence., The discovery soon exposed strains among the prosecution team. Dinner was potato soupIts good and filling, and its cheap, Larry told mewhich the kids dived into after saying grace. 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. Death, Burial, Cemetery & Obituaries Search; Sponsored by Ancestry. To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our. Richard and his wife had tried all sorts of tactics to deter him: redirecting his attention, putting gloves on him, even restraining his hands. Yet according to the unusual wording of the jury charge, jurors had to believe just one of two scenarios to find Hannah guilty: that she deliberately made Andrew ingest a lethal amount of salt or that she purposely neglected to get timely medical attention, knowing that this would kill him. Overton, 38, was convicted in 2007 after being accused of force-feeding young Andrew Burd enough salt to kill him, even though she had no previous problems with the law and was raising four children and was pregnant with a fifth. They had also watched the video of Hess questioning Hannah, during which she described calling a paramedic friend in Oklahoma for guidance when the boys condition deteriorated, and even using her cameras flash to check if his pupils were reactive, but never calling for an ambulance. Our condolences to his family and friends. He felt at ease around her; his favorite thing to do was sit on her lap and rest his mouth on her cheek, and she gladly obliged. Submit an Obituary . During the consultation the attorney can discuss whether our firm can assist you. We welcome new information from any source about exonerations already on our list and about cases not in the Registry that might be exonerations. Dabney will be missed by so many. I knew Dabney in highschool and we became reaquainted through sailing and always remarked "what a small, small world." When a four-year-old from Texas died mysteriously of salt poisoning, his foster mother, Hannah Overton, was charged with capital murder and sent to prison for life. Hannahs father was the Reverend Bennie Saenz, an evangelical preacher in Corpus Christi whose fall from grace profoundly altered the course of her childhood. 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. Shortly after noon, Larry picked her and the boys up and took them to a McDonalds drive-through, and then the chiropractor, before returning to work. In October 2006 a four-year-old from Corpus Christi named Andrew Burd died mysteriously of salt poisoning. If anything had been wrong, I would have known it, she insisted. I worked with Dabney at Browder Russell just after he graduated from W & L, and saw him often at FBYC. The day Andrew died Hannah said she found him in the kitchen pantry but could not determine what he had consumed, if anything. The sheets were filthy, and he was getting poop everywhere. I enjoyed his company and was truly blessed to have shared time with him. 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. Take it one day at a time. And we do have some evidence of bruising to his nose [which could indicate] his nostrils were squeezed and he was made to drink it..
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