The murder of disabled people by their caregivers happens with disturbing regularity in America.
Every week, at least one disabled person is killed by a family member or caregiver who claims they were overwhelmed by the burden of care.
And a Florida woman just drugged her disabled great-granddaughter for one chilling reason that reveals the ugly truth about this ongoing crisis.
Deputies stopped murder-suicide in progress on Monday night
Deborah Collier, 69, left her DeLand home Monday afternoon after writing a suicide note that her family discovered.
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office immediately began searching for Collier and her 13-year-old great-granddaughter, who requires comprehensive 24-hour care due to severe disabilities from cerebral palsy.
Deputies spotted Collier's vehicle near Seville and conducted a traffic stop for a wellness check.
What they found was horrifying.
The 13-year-old girl was unconscious in the passenger seat, covered in white pill residue and completely unresponsive to any stimulus.
Collier calmly told the deputy the child was "sleeping."
https://twitter.com/VolusiaSheriff/status/2005996204178428094?s=20
Inside Collier's purse, deputies found prescription medication bottles containing amphetamines and benzodiazepines.
They also found a second typed note explaining that Collier planned to end both her life and her great-granddaughter's life "due to the stress caused to the rest of the family."¹
The girl was rushed to an Orlando-area hospital where she remains in the pediatric ICU in stable condition.
Collier was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder.
She's being held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail.
Collier refused to consider assisted living for one reason
Investigators learned that Collier and her husband have been the girl's sole guardians since birth.
The girl's mother was a drug addict.
This destroyed the kid's brain before she was even born.
Now the 13-year-old can't talk, can't move on her own, and needs someone watching her every second of every day.
Collier's own daughter told her: put the girl in assisted living. Let professionals handle it.
Collier refused.
And her reason? That's what makes this story so damn disturbing.
Collier told investigators she "believed that no one would care for her like family."²
That single belief — that family members are the only ones who can properly care for disabled relatives — drove Collier to attempt murder rather than accept outside help.
During questioning, Collier admitted to detectives that her plan was to wait for the girl to "go to sleep" from the pills and then "join her."
"Nobody knows what it's like in my house," Collier told investigators.³
She described years of hardships and claimed her husband was unsupportive in caring for the disabled teenager.
One murder every single week
This wasn't some freak incident in DeLand.
According to the Ruderman Family Foundation, at least one disabled person is murdered by a family member or caregiver every week in North America.⁴
Between 2011 and 2015, at least 219 disabled people were killed by parents and caregivers — averaging approximately one murder per week.
Research shows these killings often follow a disturbing pattern.
About half of all filicides — the murder of one's child — are classified as "altruistic," meaning the caregiver believed killing the disabled person was necessary to "end their suffering."⁵
But here's what the disability rights community has been screaming about for years: most disabled people aren't suffering.
They're being killed by caregivers who refuse to accept help.
Studies repeatedly show that caregivers who murder disabled relatives often had access to support services but rejected them.
Some had money for private care. Others were offered respite care, psychological counseling, and placement in quality facilities.
They refused.
And when these murders happen, the justice system treats them differently than other homicides.
These murderers get treated like saints. "Loving caregiver who just couldn't take it anymore." Prosecutors go easy on them. Judges hand down light sentences. Some walk free.
Meanwhile, the disabled person they killed gets turned into a burden in every news story. Nobody talks about the victim. It's all about how hard the killer had it.
Nobody saw it coming
Neighbors couldn't believe Collier got arrested.
One resident said Collier "always took good care, real good care of that child."⁶
Another neighbor said, "I can't believe it. I'm in shock."
But that's precisely the problem.
These murders happen behind closed doors by caregivers who appear devoted on the outside.
The disability rights movement holds an annual Disability Day of Mourning every March 1st to commemorate disabled people murdered by their caregivers and bring attention to how society treats these killings as somehow more acceptable than other murders.
Organizations like the Autistic Self Advocacy Network have created anti-filicide toolkits and pushed for equal protection under the law for disabled people.
Yet the pattern continues.
Collier's arrest record in Volusia County was clean before this incident — no prior arrests, no red flags that would have alerted authorities.
That's because the warning signs of these tragedies aren't criminal records.
They're caregivers who refuse to accept help, who insist "no one can care for them like family," and who see their disabled relatives as burdens rather than human beings deserving of life.
Florida prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Collier on the attempted first-degree murder charge.
The 13-year-old victim is recovering in the hospital, but she came within minutes of being killed by the person who was supposed to protect her.
And somewhere else in America this week, another disabled person will face the same deadly threat from the caregiver they trust most.
¹ Volusia County Sheriff's Office, "DeLand woman arrested in apparent murder-suicide attempt," Facebook, December 30, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ WFTV, "Great-grandmother, who cared for teen granddaughter, is accused of attempted murder-suicide," December 30, 2025.
⁴ Ruderman Family Foundation, "Media Coverage of the Murder of People with Disabilities by their Caregivers," August 23, 2017.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ WFTV, "Great-grandmother, who cared for teen granddaughter, is accused of attempted murder-suicide," December 30, 2025.
