After getting married in 1987, Kathleen and Craig Folbigg wanted to start a family. In early February 1989, the Australian couple’s first child, Caleb, was born; but nineteen days later, the child dies, wracked with what appears to be sudden infant death syndrome. In June 1990, another boy was born, named Patrick, but he died in February 1991, aged 8 months, in similar condition.
Sarah, born in late 1992, also died on August 30, 1993. Five years later, in the fall of 1997, little Laura Folbigg was born; but she dies on the 1stis March 1999, at the age of 18 months. For Sarah as for Laura there is also talk of sudden infant death syndrome, tells Nature.
The analyzes following the death of little Laura show no signs of violence or abuse. Only inflammation of the heart is mentioned in Dr. Allan Cala’s report, indicating that she may have been caused by a virus. Conversely, the doctor mentions that Laura is the fourth Folbigg child to have apparently suffered from sudden infant death syndrome. Which, from a mathematical point of view, seems rather unlikely to him. “The possibility of multiple murders in this family cannot be ruled out”he wrote.
Charged April 19, 2001 with the murder of her four children, Kathleen Folbigg was found guilty in May 2003. The manslaughter was maintained in the case of Caleb, the eldest, but was the murder of the next three children. No evidence has been provided; what is deemed by justice, is the improbable character of this series of four consecutive deaths in similar circumstances. Lightning doesn’t strike the same spot four times, the prosecutor told the jury.
The shadow of a doubt
Sentenced to forty years in prison, Kathleen Folbigg later became notorious in the country, where she is considered the worst serial killer in Australian history. But the story doesn’t end there: In 2018, a team of scientists suggested that justice may have been wrong, as at least two of the four deaths could be attributed to a genetic mutation that could affect heart function.
The investigation is therefore reopened in 2019, but does not lead to any change in the judgment: Kathleen Folbigg remains in prison. But for how much longer? Almost twenty years after her detention, the Australian could find her freedom again, given that her dossier will be reviewed in a few days. It must be said that in March 2021 ninety scientists had signed a petition asking for his release, believing that the new elements added to the medical record should be enough to cancel the 2003 sentence.
The case recalls that of the British Sally Clark, convicted of killing her two children in the space of thirteen months, but the victim of a succession of human and mathematical errors. Released after several years of confinement, she never recovered from this series of tragedies. Sally Clark died in 2007, aged 43, of acute alcohol poisoning. If Kathleen Folbigg is released in a few weeks, it will take a miracle for her, unlike her fellow sufferer, to climb the slope and see better days.
