It is scary when a miscarriage of justice results in a person being found guilty and sent to prison. It is incredibly scary when a mother is unjustly accused of murdering her children.
This unfortunate woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison, 10 years for each of her children. In the absence of direct evidence, she was found guilty based on speculation and outdated scientific knowledge.
Ordinary family
We are in Australia.
In 1987, 24-year-old Craig Folbig and 20-year-old Kathleen Donovan got married. An ordinary young family. He was always at work, she was the diligent housewife.
Their first child, Caleb, was born on February 1, 1989. His pediatrician diagnosed him with mild laryngomalacia ("soft larynx"), but did not prescribe any treatment. This is a congenital abnormality that can cause breathing problems.
On February 20, Caleb died in his crib at the age of 19 days. He had stopped breathing. Craig was not in the house; the mother was sitting alone with the child. Doctors told the inconsolable parents that this was happening. They had to move on with their lives.
The second son, Patrick, was born on June 3, 1990. Remembering how the first birth ended, the head of the family, Craig Folbig, took a three-month leave from work to be with his wife. Kathleen herself was under constant medical supervision.
A family curse
On October 18 of the same year, the husband woke up and, not finding his wife, went to the next room.
Kathleen Folbig stood by the baby's crib, and the baby was not breathing.
Craig called doctors, the child was hospitalized unconscious. Doctors diagnosed him with respiratory arrest for an unknown reason. Perhaps it was the first seizure of epilepsy - such a disease was discovered in the baby.
On February 18, 1991, Patrick died in the hospital, never regaining consciousness. He was 8 months and 15 days old. Again, the doctors had no suspicions; everything was attributed to natural causes.
The second grief crippled the family. The couple decided to move; being among neighbors who constantly pointed fingers at you became unbearable. The first frictions between the spouses began, but nevertheless on October 14, 1992, their daughter Sarah was born.
To avoid a repeat of the tragedies, the family immediately found themselves in the center of attention of an entire army of doctors. They were categorical – the girl is absolutely healthy, there are no signs threatening life and health.
On August 29, 1993, Sarah died at the family home at the age of 10 months and 15 days. Only Kathleen was home with her that day; her husband learned of the tragedy by telephone. The diagnosis was sudden infant death syndrome; the pathologist found nothing suspicious.
The couple hesitated for a long time whether to have another child. But on August 7, 1997, Kathleen gave birth to their daughter, Laura.
Shockingly, the story with the e-book is repeating itself for the fourth time. On February 27, 1999, the mother, who was alone in the house, discovered her child dead, playing on the floor in the room.
There were no chronic illnesses or abnormalities, except for a common cold that the girl had a few weeks ago. The cause of death could not be determined.
Little Laura was 18 months and 20 days old.
The Murderer's Diary
Immediately after the funeral of his fourth child, Craig filed for divorce and filed a police report against his wife, directly accusing Kathleen of murdering their children.
The reason for such an action was the wife's personal diary, which the husband discovered.
It was the confessions in the diary to herself that would become the main evidence of Kathleen Folbig's guilt. She was arrested in 2001, and the trial began in 2003 and lasted seven weeks.
Judging by the notes for 1989-1999, the woman was mentally unstable, although all psychiatrists admit that she was fully aware of her actions. The birth and subsequent death of each child caused Kathleen great stress.
She directly wrote that she was to blame for the death of each of her children. But without details. Just self-flagellation.
From a legal point of view, there is not even a hint of murder in the diary. In court, the prosecutor did not present a single direct piece of evidence.
The cause of death in all four cases was respiratory arrest, but doctors never answered what caused it. No signs of mechanical asphyxia were found.
The evidence
Kathleen Folbig's accusation, in addition to the diary entries, was supported by the husband's testimony about his wife's unwillingness to fulfill her maternal duties, as well as by the fact that in three cases of the children's deaths, she was the only person nearby.
The second child fainted while Kathleen was nearby.
The neighbors also contributed. They all said that the mother who lost her children did not seem upset in any of the cases. She did not grieve, but continued to lead a normal life.
And finally, one more circumstance. At the trial, everyone learned that when Kathleen was 18 months old, her father killed her own mother. He served 15 years and was deported from Australia as an alien. She never communicated with her father, but was raised in a foster family.
The daughter of the murderer is also a murderer – that was roughly the message some journalists sent, describing the difficult fate of the defendant. And the prosecutor quoted a strange phrase from the woman's diary, written after Laura's death:
"Nature and fate decided that I would not have a fourth chance. I am clearly my father's daughter."
What is this – a confession of murder or a perception of the terrible events as punishment for the sins of the parent?
The final point for the judge and jury was the opinion of a pediatrician. He cited the so-called "Meadow's Law" (named after the doctor), which is widespread in Anglo-Saxon medicine:
"One sudden infant death is a tragedy. Two is suspicious. Three is murder, unless proven otherwise."
In the case of Kathleen Folbig, there was only emotion. The jury found her guilty, and the judge announced the sentence - 40 years in prison. During the appeal, the Supreme Court reduced the sentence to 30 years.
In every women's prison in the world, child murderers have a hard time. Kathleen was supposed to be kept in a separate cell, but one day she was beaten by other prisoners anyway. All the while, the convict wanted to be exonerated.
Has justice been restored?
Leading Australian pediatricians came to her aid. At first, the so-called Meadow's Law was considered unscientific.
A medical study into the deaths of the Folbig couple's sons has been released, in which the authors admit that congenital diseases of Caleb and Patrick could have led to respiratory arrest.
Finally, in 2018, scientists conducted a genetic test on the convicted mother. She was diagnosed with an extremely rare gene that often leads to sudden cardiac and respiratory arrest at a young age.
Kathleen herself was lucky in early childhood, but she passed on the predisposition to her daughters. Sarah and Laura's biological materials have been preserved and contain the dangerous gene.
In 2021, leading scientists and practicing pediatricians published an open letter arguing that all four deaths may have been caused by natural causes, meaning there was no reason to suspect Kathleen Folbig of murder.
On June 5, 2023, a new court found the mother, who spent 20 years in prison, innocent. She was released the same day. Today, 56-year-old Kathleen is at home and refuses to communicate with journalists, while her lawyers prepare multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the state for her ruined life...
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