Criminal law, Society, Torts

Kathleen Edwards, 2003-2012

It is with an extremely heavy heart that I have to report that nine-year-old Kathleen Edward died of Huntington’s disease on Wednesday night. We discussed Kathleen’s illness as part of a horrific case about bullying by a neighbor, Jennifer Petkov.

<img Petkov mocked the illness of the little girl and the death of her mother who died of Huntington's disease at 24. Kathleen was diagnosed with the disease at 3. Petkov superimposed a skull and crossbones over a photo of Kathleen and posted it on the Internet. She also posted pictures showing Kathleen’s mother (Laura Edwards) in the arms of the grim reaper and photoshopped a picture of Kathleen with her face above a set of crossed bones. She was also accused of attaching a coffin to her truck (that she named the ”Death Machine”) and driving it down the street honking the horn and parking it in front of the girl's house.

Petkov, shown right, eventually pleaded guilty in an assault and battery case and was forced to move away from the neighborhood.

Kathleen died after a long bout with pneumonia — a common end for Huntington’s patients.

The unspeakable abuse by Petkov made this girl’s tragic life all the harder in the short time that she was on this Earth. Fortunately, neighbors and strangers rallied around Kathleen and many were inspired by her cheerful nature and her strength for such a little girl. Rest in peace, Kathleen.

Source: CBS

36 thoughts on “Kathleen Edwards, 2003-2012”

  1. Is there a particular organization the family would like donations to be made to? It would be great if you could find that out and put that into the post. I believe readers of this blog are very kind compassionate people!

  3. We in the 5thGradegroup believe that bullying of minors by adults is worse than by fellow minors. Teachers can be a problem. The word “principa”l should not end with the spelling “pal”. Bus drivers used to be a problem but we have them on our video cameras now and they behave. We have a dog owned by one of the group who can spot a perp. He sniffs and then puts his ears straight up. So we call the perps “Straight Ups”. I hope this contributes to your blog.

  4. Pingback: huntington disease - Tenvipo
  5. Pingback: Kathleen Edward, aged 9, passes away from Juvie Huntington’s disease-to the Facebook bullies that taunted her – I hope you die too « THE WORD WARRIOR Bonju Blog

  6. AY, evil is not a word I use very often, but there are evil people in this world. I think Ms. Petkov is one of them, based on everything I have read and heard about her.

  7. Swarthmore Mom, my deepest condolences on the loss of your friend. As one who is no stranger to loss, I know the pain cuts deep and lasts long, like a would that does not bleed but does not heal. May her friends and family keep her memory alive, for it is in the memories that she now lives on.

    1. OS,

      As you are well aware…it matter most not how you treat a person that is deceased….but how you treat them while they are here……..

  8. How is it that the Petkov woman was not recruited as an interrogator at Gitmo? She seems to have all the qualifications.

    1. I’ll take a stab at this OS…The Department of US Intelligence has some degree of morality……Nah…Dreaming….

  11. This is very sad, and one of my best friends ,Lisa M., died overnight of complications from a debilitating disease. She was only 59.

  12. HeHeHe, Up all night (insomnia) and 7 tabs open, 4 of them from this blawg. That’ll do it every time- nevermind.

  13. OMGWTF!

    Either an entire thread (which had admittedly spiraled into complete chaos, meanness and insanity) disappeared or I just had some kind of dimension-spanning experience that I hesitate to even discuss further because it will reveal the true magnitude of my detachment from consensus reality.

    In any event, a link was posted by one of the bloggers that took one to a thread from 2010 that had many of the same posters and a similar trajectory into madness.

    Viewing the two threads was such a weird time shifting experience that I opened another tab and found this vid which encapsulated how trippy the experience was. When I returned to this thread and refreshed the page I see seven comments instead of the almost a hundred I thought I saw. Wow, It’s astounding, time is fleeting, madness takes its toll…

  14. mespo,

    I was gonna throw the corrections to ya…but you did fine…

    It is sad when you have supposed adults taunting children…I know what it is like first hand with children that are cancer survivors or back in the 60’s might as well call them victims….

    I cannot imagine a person not having some empathy for this child…and the mother…but some I have learned are psychopaths….

  15. I dont get it. Since it was horrific to post those images in the first place, why is Turley re-posting them?? I think he explains the photos in detail enough to NOT have re-posted the images.

  16. well, there is no more suffering for her now. If only it could all transfer to that horrid woman there would be justice.

  19. The Petrovs are currently charged with violating the personal protection order which protected little Kathleen from Facebook bullying. Ms.Petrov is also charged with violating the order by creating even more harassing comments on Faceook and shouting at the little girl while her mother was placing her in her wheelchair. Here are the alleged comments:
    •“Block party when that kid dies.”
    •“Now her daughter will die.”
    •“How does it feel to know Kathleen will die?”
    The Petrovs deny the charges and a hearing on January 23rd was continued. after some evidence was take. The Petrovs could serve 3 daysif convicted.

    Here’s the story:

    http://trenton.patch.com/articles/petkovs-back-in-court-for-alleged-ppo-violations

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