Inset: Aaliyah Fortner (Rich and Thompson Funeral Home). Background: Marlo Wallace appears at an arraignment for allegedly killing Fortner (WSOC).
In a tragic incident in North Carolina, a caregiver is accused of using a Taser on a nonverbal autistic woman and then fatally stomping her before attempting to commit suicide by crashing her vehicle. The caregiver later informed police that they would discover a deceased person at her residence.
Marlo Wallace, aged 59, faces charges of first-degree murder in connection with the death of 23-year-old Aaliyah Fortner. The events unfolded on October 26, 2025, when the Gastonia Police Department responded to a collision involving Wallace’s car and a semi-truck.
Following the crash and her subsequent transport to the hospital, Wallace informed officers about the grim discovery awaiting them at her home on Green Brook Trail in Dallas.
Upon arrival at the location, officers discovered Fortner’s body. Fortner had been living with Wallace, who was responsible for her care.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Wallace repeatedly assaulted Fortner using various methods, including striking her with objects, pushing her, using a Taser, and stomping on her head. Initially, Wallace was charged with concealing a death from unnatural causes, patient abuse and neglect, and felony assault on a person with disabilities.
After autopsy results were obtained, prosecutors concluded that Wallace had committed murder with “malice aforethought.” Details of the autopsy have not been disclosed to the public.
Since Fortner was nonverbal, she was unable to articulate what was happening to her. That’s what makes her brother most angry.
“For her to be alone through all of that and then for it to end the way it did, I hate to even think what was going on in her mind,” Caleb Simpson told local ABC affiliate WSOC.
Another woman responsible for Fortner’s care, Vera Williams, also is charged with patient abuse and neglect and felony assault of an individual with disabilities.
“It hurts,” Simpson said in a TV interview. “My sister went through all of that alone.”
Local NBC affiliate WCNC reported authorities revoked Wallace’s guardianship of another nonverbal adult living at her home some two years before Fortner’s placement.
Simpson said her sister never should have been placed with Wallace.
“Watch who you trust. Everybody should be angry about something like this,” Simpson told WCNC. “Let’s say you sit there and you trust the state, and then they just fail you like that. Makes no sense.”
Wallace remains behind bars at the Gaston County Jail. Her next court appearance is set for June 19.
