Jennifer Lee Daugherty was murdered in Greensburg

Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city is named after Nathanael Greene, a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 in February 2010. Daugherty, who was mentally disabled

Mental retardation

Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...

, was tortured and murdered

Torture murder

Torture murder is a loosely defined term to describe a murder where death has been preceded by the torture of the victim. In many legal jurisdictions a murder involving "exceptional brutality or cruelty" will involve a harsher sentence.-Punishment:...

 before being wrapped in Christmas decoration

Christmas decoration

A Christmas decoration is any of several types of decorations used at Christmastime. The traditional colours of Christmas are pine green , snow white, and heart red. Blue and white are often used to represent winter, or sometimes Hanukkah, which occurs around the same time. Gold and silver are...

s, put inside a garbage can and dumped in the parking lot of Greensburg Salem Middle School.

During torture

Torture

Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

 and abuse sessions, which lasted for 36 hours, Daugherty's attackers tied her up, forced her to consume feces

Feces

Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...

 and urine

Urine

Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...

 and detergent

Detergent

A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with "cleaning properties in dilute solutions." In common usage, "detergent" refers to alkylbenzenesulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are less affected by hard water...

; beat her with a towel rack, a vacuum cleaner hose, and a crutch; shaved her head; painted her face with nail polish; forced her to write a fake suicide note

Suicide note

A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....

; and then stabbed her to death. Six suspects were charged with criminal homicide, kidnapping and other counts related to her death.
According to her relatives, Daugherty had the mental abilities of a 12- to 14-year-old, she trusted everyone, and she had thought that the suspects were her "friends."

Allegheny County Coroner Cyril H. Wecht, who has conducted and reviewed thousands of autopsies of homicide victims, stated, "... This is one of the most horrific cases I have seen... You have one young, defenseless woman, six people who are keeping her captive and doing all of these things, knowing she is [mentally challenged]. Put it all together, it is bizarre, it is extreme barbarism."