Inset: Aaliyah Fortner (Rich and Thompson Funeral Home). Background: Marlo Wallace appears at an arraignment for allegedly killing Fortner (WSOC).
A North Carolina caregiver allegedly shocked a nonverbal woman with autism with a Taser and stomped her to death before she tried to die by suicide by crashing her car, later telling cops "they would find a deceased person" at her home.
Marlo Wallace, 59, stands accused of first-degree murder in the death of 23-year-old Aaliyah Fortner. The investigation began on Oct. 26, 2025, when the Gastonia Police Department responded to a crash between a semi-truck and Wallace's vehicle.
After she was taken to the hospital, Wallace informed officers that they would find a dead person at her residence in the 1800 block of Green Brook Trail in Dallas.
Cops went to the home and found Fortner's body. Fortner was entrusted to Wallace's care and lived in the defendant's home.
A probable cause arrest affidavit said Wallace assaulted Fortner on "multiple occasions" by hitting her with objects, pushing her to the ground, using Taser on her, kicking her and stomping on her head. Wallace was originally charged with concealment of death from unnatural causes, patient abuse and neglect and felony assault of an individual with disabilities.
After receiving autopsy results, prosecutors determined that Wallace murdered Fortner with "malice afterthought." The results of the autopsy were not made 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.