Baby Killer

As a little girl you dream of the day when you will get married and have children of your own, at least most of us do. You play house with your dolls. You carefully bath, dress and care for them. There would be war to pay if your little brother tampered with your dollies in anyway. Then you grow to be a woman and the dolls are exchanged for human babies. Life grows within you. You can’t wait for the day to see the life, which is attached to you and is a part of you. This is a life that cannot survive without you. It is a life that came forth from the womb to become a little person. Though this precious baby no longer is attached to your body, this infant is still very vulnerable; a tiny being who still depends upon you for his/her every need. So vulnerable and so beautiful is this brand new life and you are instantly in love.

Did Kathleen Megan Folbigg have these feelings, how could she not? She was a mother wasn’t she? Perhaps 37-year-old Australian born Kathleen Folbigg was not capable of love? She never knew the love of a mother. Kathleen lost her own mother when she was just 18 months old. She lived in a series of foster homes and orphanages after her father murdered his live in girlfriend, Kathleen’s mother. Kathleen lost her dad then too, he received a 12-year-jail-sentence for his monstrous deed. What did this woman, Kathleen know about love? Did she ever have any herself?

Kathleen was raised as Kathleen Marlborough and never knew what happened to her parents until she became an adult. Her diary was discovered indicating some of Kathleen’s feeling about her family tragedy. She wrote, "Obviously I am my father's daughter" on October 14, 1996. What is the connection that she is referring to?

This diary implicated this woman as Australia’s infamous serial killer. Kathleen wrote this diary entry after she had already killed three of her children. Kathleen was a baby killer yet no one not even her husband knew or suspected her of being anything but a loving mother.

Kathleen met Craig Folbigg and married him in 1987. One February 1, 1989 the first child, Caleb was born. One night 19 months later, Craig woke up to hear Kathleen shrieking, "My baby, something is wrong with my baby!". The child was already dead when he rushed to his wife’s side. The conclusion was that the baby died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Like many young couples they had a second child and 22 months later something terrible happen to little Patrick who was four months old at the time. This time the baby did not die but he had massive brain damage. The ambulance technicians were able to revive him. He then was rushed to hospital and saved. The doctors concluded he had an epileptic seizure. Unfortunately, the child was not meant to survive. He died four months after the seizure, just barely eight months old at the time.

It was such a terrible tragedy for the young couple to lose both their children in that way but the saga did not end there. It seemed that the young couple was determined to have a child one way or another and their third child, Sarah, was born on October 14, 1992. This time Kathleen showed evidence of mounting frustration. The last night Craig saw his daughter alive, the child was pushed at him with the angry Kathleen shouting, “ You fucking deal with her.”

That night Craig woke up looked for his wife and daughter couldn’t find either one of them and just conveniently went back to sleep. Again the saga repeats itself. He wakes up once more by Kathleen screaming. The baby was dead of course.

Was he suspicious, not really, were the authorities suspicion, not really? The death was classified as another Sudden Infant Death Syndrome case (SIDS). At this point one has to wonder were there any sane people around. Three deaths, no surviving children and each time Kathleen happens to be the one to find the children dead.

Craig and Kathleen had their last child in August of 1997. Little Laura also died at 19 months old. Was this the breaking point for the couple? Who really knows, but what is known is that the couple separated. Kathleen moved out on her own and Craig found the diary and handed it over to the police.

In April 2001, Kathleen was charged with four accounts of murder and one account of afflicting bodily harm. The crown argued she was a violent murderer who suffered from an extreme case of detachment.

At the trial the defense argued that all four children died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) with each case being slightly different. “They argued Caleb died from a floppy larynx, Patrick, an epileptic fit, Sarah, an inflamed uvula and Laura died of the heart disease myocarditis.”

The international panel of experts called to give their statements all agreed that they had never heard of a case where four children of the same family died from SIDS. They said there would be a one in a trillion chance of this happening

Since this trial 258 similar cases are reopened in Britain investigating spurious Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Cases.

Kathleen Folbigg was sentenced to 40 years and broke down in shock when the verdict came in. How could she a mother who suffered so much losing her children be convicted of murdering them?

My question is why did it take the death of four innocent babies before anything was done about it. If there that diary had not been found no charges would ever have been laidd against this baby murderer.

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