Three subsequent infanticides covered up as SIDS.
Within a period of 9 years a young woman lost 3 daughters during infancy and each time death was attributed to the sudden infant death syndrome. The children had different fathers and died at the ages of 11 weeks, 7 weeks and 2 weeks, respectively. A fourth daughter survived and lives separated from the mother together with her father and is healthy. At autopsy the last of the three deceased infants did not reveal any pre-existing pathological organ findings, except for acute pulmonary emphysema and extensive intra-alveolar bleeding. As a consequence the strong suspicion of mechanical suffocation arose. Subsequent police investigations produced incriminating clues that the first two children had also been suffocated. On confrontation with the autopsy findings and investigation results, the woman confessed that she herself had killed the first two infants by pressing a cushion on their faces. In the case of the third death the baby had been smothered by the child's father who in agreement with the mother put a plastic film on mouth and nostrils.
Bohnert
M
M
Institute of Legal Medicine, Albert Ludwig University, Albertstrasse 9, 79104 Freiburg, Germany. michael.bohnert@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Grosse Perdekamp
M
M
Pollak
S
S
D000328:Adult; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007237:Infanticide; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000473:pathology*