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the youth mental health crisis has become increasingly evident and we know social media plays a big role. Teens spend an average of 9 hours a day on screens outside of school, and the US Surgeon General has warned that kids who spend more than three hours a day online are twice as likely to experience anxiety and depression. As a parent, it's something I think about more as my child gets older. Technology is such a big part of growing up now, and figuring out how to introduce it safely can feel overwhelming. The good news is there's another option. A company called Gab has taken a different approach with something they call tech in steps. That means phones and watches designed specifically for kids with no social media and features that are matched to their age. From GPS enabled watches for younger kids to phones for tweens and teens with parent approved apps, each device helps kids build independence more safely. Bottom line, kids don't need devices made for adults. Gab helps them stay connected without the pressure of social media. I can't recommend Gab enough and right now use our code to get the best deal on a kid's phone. That will make parenting easier and give you more peace of mind. Visit gab.comcasefile and use code casefile for an exclusive offer. That's Gab Gabb. Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre for suggested phone numbers, for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings. Please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all listeners. The police listened on as Craig Folbig expressed his belief that maybe he had killed their four children. Kathleen asked why he would think such a thing. Craig told her to think about it every time they'd had a child. It had driven a wedge between them and the best way he could get Kathleen's attention was to get rid of the kids. He presented a scenario in which he waited until Kathleen went to sleep in the middle of the night and then got up to kill the children. With Laura, he waited until Kathleen went outside and then sneaked in through the front door without her ever knowing he was was there. Who had anything to gain out of them not being around? Craig asked before answering me, Kathleen told Craig that he was being ridiculous. Craig clarified that he was suggesting a hypothetical, but that such a case against him was just as feasible as the one the police were building against Kathleen. Referring to Detective Bernie Ryan, Craig said, all I'm trying to show you is the futility of the bullshit he's going on. Kathleen said she was scared and told Craig never to mention such a thing again. It's bad enough Detective Ryan is going for one of us, she said. I'm not having him going after you. Craig told Kathleen it was Detective Ryan who had first planted the idea in his head that the children had been murdered, adding, I don't want him going after you for something you didn't do. I know you didn't do it. Like you know I didn't do it. But Craig's support for Kathleen was too late. The police had already started to compile evidence that suggested to them that Craig's reported suspicions were right all along. Detectives working the full big case put together a preliminary brief of evidence. It contained the medical histories of the four Volbig children, as well as transcripts of Kathleen's police interview and copies of her diaries. Then they got to work seeking expert opinions. It quickly became clear that the majority of experts strictly adhered to Meadows Law when it came to the unexplained death of an infant. One was a tragedy, two were suspicious, and three most likely pointed to murder. After reviewing the case, one police psychologist concluded, if natural causes are eliminated, then in my opinion, Kathleen Folbig became angry and frustrated with her children's crying and need for constant attention to a point where it overwhelmed her and she lost control and consciously ended the lives of each child. The brief of evidence was also sent to Dr. Susan Beale, a paediatrician from Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital who had studied SIDS for more than 30 years and was considered one of Australia's leading experts in the field. As far as Dr. Beale was aware, there had never been more than three SIDS related deaths in a single family anywhere in the world. The only such occurrences had later been revealed to be homicide. She also agreed with Dr. Alan Carla that the deaths of Caleb and Sarah Folbig shouldn't have been classified as sids. Not only weren't they in the right age bracket, but they had also both been found sleeping on their backs. 80% of Sid's deaths occur when the infant is lying on their stomach. In Patrick's case, Dr. Beale didn't believe that epilepsy had caused his first apparent life threatening event or alti. In babies as young as Patrick, epileptic fits were typically caused by another disease which would be detectable in an EEG brain scan or at autopsy. Furthermore, it would be rare for the first epileptic fit to cause the level of brain damage that Patrick had sustained. As for Laura, Dr. Beale didn't think the myocarditis played a role in her unexplained death either. Like Professor Hilton, she believed that Meadow's Law must be applied to the Folbig children and that it was most likely that all four of them had been suffocated. Telling Detective Ryan, I have no hesitation in saying I believe that all four children were murdered by their mother. Detective Ryan flew to the United States to meet with the doctor, Janice Opphoven, a paediatric forensic pathologist who specialised in mothers who kill their children. Years of research had taught her that the number one cause of deaths in infants living in developed countries wasn't disease, but physical injury, typically inflicted by a caregiver. After reviewing the Folbig case file and examining tissue samples taken from the four children, Dr. Ophoven ruled that none of their deaths could be attributed to sids. She stated that SIDS is not a hereditary problem and that quote, the statistical likelihood that four children could die from SIDS is in excess of one in a trillion. At as the children had all been growing normally and their autopsies identified no sign of disease, Dr. Oppoven believed that all four of them had been suffocated by the last person to see them Alive, Kathleen Folbig. Dr. Alan Carlos submitted his final autopsy report for Laura, listing her death as undetermined and stating it was possible that all four children were deliberately smothered. He pointed out that it would be relatively easy for an adult to smother an infant or small child using their hand, a soft toy or a pillow without leaving a trace. Dr. Carla's report concluded the possibility of multiple homicides in this family has not been excluded. Opinion was also sought from UK paediatric pathologist and SIDS specialist Professor Peter Berry, who said he was not aware of any other case case where four infants from the same family had died of unexplained natural causes. He pointed out that Caleb's autopsy had revealed signs of hemosiderin, or repeated bleeding in his lungs. Combined with Kathleen's diary entry from the night Caleb died in which she enthusiastically wrote, finally asleep, Professor Berry believed it was possible that Caleb had not only been smothered to death, but but also smothered on a previous occasion from which she was able to recover. He also agreed that it was unlikely that Patrick's ALTI was caused by an epileptic seizure. Instead, he thought Patrick might have been suffocated to the point of brain damage. As for Sarah, if he viewed her death in isolation, Professor Berry agreed he could put it down to sids. But knowing what he knew about her siblings and the alleged tension between Kathleen and Sarah on the night that she died, he had his misgivings. In regards to Laura, he said the level of myocarditis in her heart was extensive enough to cause sudden death, but there wasn't damage to her actual heart muscles as one would expect if myocarditis was responsible. He pointed out that myocarditis was also commonly found in individuals who died from other causes, such as traffic accidents or suffocation. Professor Berry concluded, I am unable to rule out that Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and possibly Laura Folbig were suffocated by the person who found them lifeless. And I believe that it is probable that this was the case. It took the investigation team months to compile their brief of evidence. By late 2000, nearly two years after Laura's death, Detective Ryan finally felt confident enough to submit the preliminary brief to the Director of Public Prosecutions. The DPP would decide if there was enough to charge Kathleen Folbig with murdering her children. To his disappointment, the answer was no. The DPP felt there wasn't sufficient evidence to secure a conviction and recommended the case be handed over to the coroner for a full coronial inquiry. Instead, Detective Ryan was undeterred. At the end of the day, the decision to proceed with charges lay with him. And after devoting years of his life to the case, he was convinced that Kathleen was guilty. Determined to get justice for the innocent and defenceless Volbig siblings and put a serial killer behind bars, Detective Ryan discussed the case with a deputy state coroner and a crown prosecutor. They agreed there was enough evidence to at least charge Kathleen with Laura's murder. Detective Ryan was convinced that if he could just get Craig back on his side, there would be enough to proceed with all four murder charges. And he had an idea of how he could do it. While the investigation had continued slowly behind the scenes, Craig and Kathleen split up for good in mid 2000. Kathleen was already living with her new boyfriend, a builder she'd met at the gym. If there was any chance of convincing Craig to withdraw his support for Kathleen and admit that he'd lied when retracting his original police statement. The time was now. On April 19, 2001, Detective Ryan visited Craig at work and placed him under arrest for hindering the investigation into his children's deaths. Faced with this, Craig admitted he was telling the truth. When he initially went to the police to voice his suspicions about Kathleen. He stood by the story that he'd woken up about half an hour before Sarah's dead body was discovered to find that she and Kathleen weren't in their bed. Craig said that Kathleen's stories about the children simply didn't add up. Referring to his last interaction with Laura, he said, how could I kiss a perfectly gorgeous little baby goodbye and half an hour later be confronted with that child dead? In the year and a half since flip flopping on his allegations against Kathleen, Craig had felt deeply ashamed of himself. I've lived with the shame of coming and changing that story, he said. I've felt that I couldn't protect those children in life and I certainly didn't protect them in death. With Craig back on their side and agreeing to testify against Kathleen, the detectives were finally ready to make their move. That afternoon, they went to Kathleen Folbeg's flat and knocked on the door. When she answered, Detective Ryan looked her in the eyes and said the words he'd been working for years to bring to fruition. Kathy, you are under arrest for murdering your four children. Do you understand? 33 year old Kathleen Folbig was charged with four counts of murder and remanded without bail. The media quickly picked up on the story and the news sent shockwaves through the local community, particularly for Kathleen's new boyfriend, Tony. He'd fallen head over heels in love with Kathleen and envisioned them getting married and having a family together. He couldn't fathom that the warm and loving woman he knew could be responsible for such a horrific allegation. The press published some of the most damning expert opinions from the police statement of facts, including Dr. Ophoeven's belief that the odds of all four Folbeak children dying of unexplained natural causes was one in a trillion. Accompanied by the excerpt from Kathleen's diary in which she compared herself to her murderous father. It didn't take long before she was considered guilty in the court of public opinion. If the court of law also found Kathleen guilty, it would make her one of the most prolific female serial killers in Australian history. But the press had to be careful. Kathleen's case was quickly likened to that of Lindy Chamberlain, a Queensland mother who was accused of killing her newborn daughter Azaria in 1980. As covered in episode 136 of Case File, Lindy steadfastly maintained that Azaria had been taken by a dingo. However, the media painted her in such a negative light that it played a significant role in what turned out to be Lindy's wrongful conviction and one of the worst miscarriages of justice in Australian legal history. A month after her arrest, Kathleen applied for bail again. The prosecution still had a long road ahead to prepare their case for trial and she wanted to live with Tony and resume her job as a waitress while she prepared her defence. The judge agreed to release Kathleen on $8,000 bail, citing the fact that she had no other children and therefore didn't present a threat to anyone else. Tony helped secure her bond, convinced that Kathleen was innocent and that once this whole fiasco was behind them, they could move on with building a life together. While Kathleen was out on bail, the months passed as the prosecution team continued building their case against her. In addition to the expert opinions and circumstantial evidence provided by her diary entries and witness statements, they established a 10 point list of what's known as coincidence evidence. This is a type of circumstantial evidence that shows that two or more similar events occurring in similar circumstances are too improbable to have happened by chance. The list highlighted that all four of the Folbig children died suddenly and unexpectedly while at home during a period of sleep prior to each death, or in Patrick's case, is alti. Each child had appeared perfectly normal and healthy. All of the deaths occurred while Kathleen was the only adult at home or awake. She was the one to discover each of them during what she claimed to be a normal check of their well being. Three of these checks just so happened to have occurred on her way back from the toilet, and all literally within minutes of the child stopping breathing. In each incident, except for Laura's death, Kathleen didn't offer any assistance. She didn't even lift the children out of their beds. Kathleen was bolstered by support from Tony and a group of faithful friends, many of whom had known her since childhood. They didn't believe the allegations against her for a second. Among them was Kathleen's foster sister Lee, her trustworthy protector. Or so she thought. While Lee had fiercely defended her sister since the beginning, in the years since Laura's death, she'd had numerous conversations with Detective Bernie Ryan. Over time, her opinion had started to change. Reflecting on events, Lee realised there had been instances where Kathleen's behaviour was questionable. In January 1998, when Laura was five months old and still using the apnea monitor, Lee and her family had gone to stay with the Phalbics. One day, Laura was napping inside while everyone else was out in the pool. Lee felt a migraine coming on and went inside to lie down. To her great surprise, the apnoea alarm went off twice. Despite its loud, high pitched noise, neither Kathleen or Craig responded to it. When Lee mentioned it to Kathleen later on, she seemed indifferent and simply said she hadn't heard it. Another time, when Laura was 17 months old, the Fallbigs went to Melbourne to stay with Lee and her family for Christmas. One day, while feeding Laura in her high chair, Kathleen was in a bad mood, complaining that she wasn't getting enough sleep. When Laura refused to eat, Kathleen lost her temper and yanked the toddler out of the high chair by her arm. Lee had been alarmed. Not only did she think it was totally uncalled for, she had never seen this side of her sister's personality. She caught another glimpse of it on Christmas Eve, when Laura was too excited to sleep and Kathleen once again lost her temper and overreacted. Lee had also been alarmed when Kathleen told her that she'd once disciplined her puppy by kicking him down the stairs. Eventually, like Craig Folbig before her, Lea turned against Kathleen and contacted the police to change her statement. But Kathleen was none the wiser. The two sisters remained in regular contact with Lee, agreeing to record their phone conversations and act as a witness for the prosecution while feigning ongoing support. On Friday, May 24, 2002, more than a year after her arrest, Kathleen Folbig officially entered her plea of not guilty to all four murder charges. She was committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court the following year. Six months later, she was hit with an additional charge of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm in relation to Patrick Zolti. Kathleen pleaded not guilty to this charge as well. It had been a challenging time for Kathleen's defence team, who were so convinced of her innocence that New South Wales Senior Public Defender Peter Zara had agreed to work the case pro bono. The defence applied to have the cases for each of the Folbeg children tried separately so that the jury could judge each of their deaths as a standalone case without knowing about their siblings. The application was denied on the grounds that when considered separately, there could be plausible natural causes for the death of each child. It was only when all Four cases were examined together and the coincidence evidence was considered that the case for murder became apparent. But there was one piece of good news for the defence. Something huge had happened in the time since Kathleen's arrest in England. Back in 1996, an 11 week old boy named Christopher Clark had died unexpectedly in his sleep. Two years later, his eight week old brother Harry suffered the same fate. Both cases were initially recorded as sids, but the boy's mother, Sally Clark, became suspected of having smothered them. She was ultimately charged with murdering both of her children. Renowned paediatrician Professor Roy Meadow testified at Sally's trial, presenting his theory that one sudden infant death in a family is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three years murder unless proven otherwise. Meadow said that the odds of both Christopher and Harry, who had been born into an affluent non smoking family, dying from SIDS, was 1 in 73 million. According to Professor Meadow, two SIDS deaths in a single family was so rare he would only expect it to occur once every 100 years. He said there was a better chance of someone placing an 801 outsider bet on the Grand national horse race and winning four years in a row. Based in part on Professor Meadow's evidence, Sally Clark was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, which she unsuccessfully appealed in 2002. On her second appeal in early 2003, it emerged that during the autopsy for Sally's younger son Harry in he had tested positive for a bacterial infection that could have been fatal. The pathologist who performed Harry's autopsy didn't disclose his findings to either of the legal teams and it therefore hadn't been presented at Salley's trial. Furthermore, serious questions had been raised about the statistics put forward by Professor Meadow, with the Royal Statistical Society saying his figures were false. A professor of mathematics had reviewed SIDS statistics against homicide statistics and concluded that although instances of double SIDS are very rare, double murder is even rarer. Statistically speaking, it was actually twice as likely for two children from one family to die from SIDS than it was for a mother to kill two of her babies. The appellate judges reviewing Sally's case found that Christopher and Harry's deaths should not have been tried together. They also found that the statistical information put forward by Professor Meadow was clearly inadmissible and should never have been allowed in evidence as it misled the jury. Sally Clark was subsequently released from prison in January 2003 and had her conviction overturned. With just months until Kathleen's trial was scheduled to begin. This was positive news for her legal team. If Professor Meadow's statistics were unreliable. Then Dr. Ophoven's scathing opinion that there was a one in a trillion chance of four children from the same family dying of SIDS was essentially meaningless. The judge ruled Dr. Oppoven's conclusion inadmissible at Kathleen's trial, despite it having already been widely published in the media. Meanwhile, the defence asked for extra time while they sought further information from overseas about a potential correlation that was starting to emerge as a result of Sally Clark's appeal. It had been hypothesised that particular genetic mutations might lead to an increased risk of sids, or even cause sids. The judge adjourned the case temporarily to give the defence time for further testing. 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That's shipstation.com code casefiletc shipstation.com code casefileTC thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support casefile to continue to deliver quality content. By the time Kathleen Folbig's murder trial commenced in the New South Wales supreme court on Tuesday, April 1, 2003, Craig Folbig was engaged to another woman and surrounded by loved ones and supporters. The now 35 year old Kathleen, on the other hand, was essentially alone. Her foster mother, with whom she had a strained relationship, was siding with Craig despite the two not getting along in the past, her foster sister had turned on her and one of her closest friends was unable to travel to Sydney to testify on her behalf due to health concerns about her own pregnancy. Kathleen had also ended her relationship with Tony to focus on the trial despite his firm belief that she was innocent. Instead, Kathleen relied on support from a Salvation army court chaplain named Major Joyce Harmer, who had kindly agreed to look after her while the trial was underway. The prosecution was led by Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi, a formidable figure in the New South Wales legal world who had secured convictions against high profile killers such as Ivan Milat, covered in episode 109 of Case File, and Kelly Lane, covered in episode 300 of Case File. In his opening address, Tedeschi told the jury they were to consider two possibilities. Either Kathleen Folbigg had deliberately intended to kill her children by smothering them during a flash of anger, hatred and resentment, or she'd deliberately intended to render them unconscious or put them to sleep by smothering them so she could sleep or have a moment to herself. He made it clear that regardless of which situation was correct, either possibility constituted murder. Tedeschi said that Kathleen had a very low threshold for stress and resented the restrictions her children put on her life, particularly when it came to sleep, exercise and her social life. She also resented Craig for not providing what she considered to be adequate help. Tedeschi told the jury that Kathleen was, quote, constantly preoccupied to an exaggerated degree with her weight gain, and that this was partly due to the fact that her children stood in the way of her going to the gym as often as she would have liked. Tedeschi and his team wanted to detail Kathleen's dark family history to argue that she had inherited murderous traits or mental illness from her father. But the judge had forbidden anything about her father's crimes from being mentioned as it could lead to unfair prejudice. Instead, the prosecution's case relied on three major the medical evidence, the coincidence evidence and Kathleen's diary entries. After presenting the 10 points of coincidence evidence to the jury, Tedeschi said there was only one way to explain the similarities between the deaths of Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura, and that was that Kathleen Folbig was responsible for each one. He read 40 of her diary entries in court, telling the jury they showed the frustration Kathleen felt with her weight gain, her exhaustion, her moods, her lack of toleration for her babies and her inability to control her actions when around them. These entries were proof in Tedeschi's eyes that Kathleen was involved in each death and carried guilt about each one. They also demonstrated her belief that she'd finally changed when Laura was born, only for this to unravel when the same frustrations she'd suffered with the other children had gotten the better of her. Tedeschi closed arguments for the prosecution by telling the jury that Kathleen Folbig had been unable to cope with the demands of parenthood. She was so obsessed with her own wants, needs and desires that she eventually resolved her frustration by killing her children. Kathleen Folbig did not kill or injure her children to get attention for herself or in a state of profound depression. Tedeschi declared she killed them because she couldn't stand their crying and the demands they made on her life. Kathleen's lawyer, Peter Zara, told the jury that there was no evidence Kathleen had ever abused or mistreated her children. In fact, she had always advocated for their health and well being. Even those who were testifying against her said she had been a loving mother who had taken good care of her kids. As for the suggestion that Kathleen was motivated to kill so she could get on top of her weight, Zara pointed out that Kathleen hadn't even joined a gym until five months after Sarah, her third child, had passed away. Countering the prosecution's position, Zara said that each of the children's deaths could be explained by a natural medical condition. Caleb had a floppy larynx, Patrick had epilepsy, Sarah had a congested displaced uvula, and Laura had myocarditis. Zara argued that in the face of these medical conditions, the coincidence evidence presented by the prosecution was was meaningless. Given that Kathleen was her children's primary carer and it was her responsibility to get up in the night to care for them, it made sense that she was the one to have found them more rebunt or lifeless. There was also nothing suspicious about the fact that the children had died while in their beds, as this is a common factor for most children who die from unexplained causes. While it was true that Craig Folbig had been the one to administer CPR for Caleb, Patrick and Sarah, Kathleen hadn't hesitated to perform CPR on Laura when Craig wasn't there to help. As for the diary entries, Zara urged the jury to draw on their own experiences and consider that Kathleen was actually using her journals to work through her completely reasonable and normal feelings of grief, shame and guilt. He said she had used them to ask hypothetical what if questions using words that were never intended for anyone else's eyes. The prosecution presented their case over several weeks with Craig Folbig the first witness to take the stand. Kathleen appeared emotionless as Craig spoke of his deep love for his children and shared some of his negative memories of Kathleen's mothering skills. He spoke about the growl she regularly made during moments of frustration and the aggression she had shown towards Laura on the morning she died. Speaking about the day the police came to arrest him for hindering the investigation, Craig said that was the moment he decided to tell the truth. He vehemently denied that revenge had been a motivating factor for the differing statements he'd made to the police over the years. Craig was granted indemnity against being prosecuted for perjury. Although the defence was quick to point out his lies, Peter Zara reminded Craig that he had been recorded telling Kathleen that he had initially gone to the police because he was so full of hate, spite and anxiety that he wanted to ruin her life like she did his. Zara also asked Craig about a previously recorded conversation in which he told a friend that if he had even the slightest inkling that Kathleen had killed the children, he probably would have killed her himself. Craig told another friend that Detective Bernie Ryan had planted some bullshit in his head during one of the lowest points of his life. He'd shared his view that it angered the detective when people spoke about what a good mother Kathleen had been. On the stand, Craig claimed he didn't recall these remarks and agreed that he could have been lying. At the time, Kathleen's lawyer replied, you see, Mr. Folbeak, it is now becoming increasingly difficult to tell when you lie and when you don't. With the jury left to ponder whether Craig Folbig genuinely believed that Kathleen had murdered their children or was simply seeking revenge for her having left him. Craig's allegations that Kathleen was occasionally rough with her children were backed up by testimony from Kathleen's foster sister, Leigh Bowne. Although in cross examination, Lee conceded she had only ever seen Kathleen lose her temper with Laura twice, and that she hadn't been forthcoming with this information until many years after the fact that the medical and forensic experts who testified for the prosecution all agreed that they had never heard of another case in which three or more sudden, unexplained infant deaths had occurred naturally within a single family. They were required to give evidence about the death of each child individually, and while the autopsy findings for each one differed slightly, each of the experts agreed that it was possible Kathleen had deliberately smothered her children. Kathleen chose not to take the stand in her own defence, which meant the only time the jury heard from her was when the video of her one and only police interview from July 1999 was played to the court. When it came to the point of the interview where Detective Ryan had asked Kathleen point blank if she had killed her children. Kathleen became hysterical and had to be removed from the document. She was taken to hospital and sedated while proceedings were adjourned for the day. The only other time she showed any emotion was during Testimony from pathologist Dr. Alan Carla, when a video was played of a happy, healthy Laura playing by the pool on the day before she died. Dr. Carla said that based on the footage, it was quite unlikely that Laura had died of myocarditis at this point. Kathleen covered her head in her hands and broke down in tears. The defence took just three days to present their case without access to the genetic information they'd been seeking from overseas. Their strongest testimony came from Professor Roger Byard, an internationally acclaimed SIDS expert from Adelaide's Forensic Science Centre. Bayard said the video of Laura proved nothing. While she might have looked happy and healthy, it was impossible to tell from the footage whether she had a fever or any other symptoms that could be attributed to myocarditis. He cited another case where a young girl had played a game of basketball and swam 40 metres in a pool before dying of myocarditis. While the level of Laura's myocarditis might have been moderate, Professor Bayard said it was the sort of inflammation I have seen in a number of cases of sudden death in children. As for Caleb, Patrick and Sarah, he said there was no evidence that any of them had been smothered, and reminded the jury they were not dealing with absolutes. He didn't think the haemosiderin found in Caleb's lungs was significant either. A study he'd conducted had revealed the presence of hemosiderin in 20% of all SIDS cases. Although Professor Bayard admitted under cross examination that he didn't know of any other case where four children from the same family all died suddenly and unexpectedly from four different natural causes. Testimony was heard from three of Kathleen's friends from the gym, who had witnessed her being a loving and caring mother to Laura. Under cross examination, however, they each admitted that they hadn't been close enough to Kathleen to know much about her marriage or private life. The prosecution said this rendered their testimony meaningless and further proved that the only real insight into how Kathleen really felt was through her diaries. In summing up for the prosecution, Tedeschi said that while he couldn't disprove the possibility that Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura had died from the various natural causes put forward by the defence, he also couldn't disprove the possibility that pigs might one day fly if you look at what the defence is suggesting, Tedeschi stated, not in isolation, but in totality. There has never ever been before in the history of medicine that our experts have been able to find any case like this. It is preposterous. It is not a reasonable doubt. It is fantasy. The judge acknowledged the emotional nature of the seven week trial, telling the jury it is unlikely to imagine a more tragic series of events happening to a single family. You must not judge this case with your heart, but with your heads. The jury left to deliberate and were called back in the following afternoon. The general assumption was that they would request more time to consider their verdict. It therefore came as a surprise to everyone in the packed courtroom when they announced they were ready to give their decision on all five charges. Tension hung thick in the air. When the foreperson was asked how they found Kathleen Folbig in relation to the murder of her firstborn son, Caleb, their answer was unexpected. Not guilty. As those in the gallery tried to maintain their composure, the foreperson was asked how they found Kathleen in relation to Caleb's manslaughter. Guilty, came the reply. Relief washed over Craig and his family. While Kathleen appeared to be in a state of shock. For the charge of causing grievous bodily harm to Patrick, the jury also found Kathleen guilty. For Patrick's murder, guilty. Sarah's murder, guilty. Laura's murder, guilty. Craig and his loved ones looked on in stunned disbelief. Many of them broke down in tears. While Lee Bowne let out a shout. The relatively stony demeanour Kathleen had maintained for a majority of the trial crumbled in an instant. She burst into tears, her whole body shaking as she slumped down in her seat, unable to stand. Kathleen's only supporter, Major Joyce Harmer, was given permission to help. Quietly, she put her arm around Kathleen and half carried her out of the dock and towards the holding cells. Downstairs, outside court, Craig Folbig faced the hordes of reporters to deliver a message to the members of the jury. Through tears, he said, my most humble thanks go to 12 people who I have never formally met, who today share the honour of having set four beautiful souls free to rest in peace. While Kathleen awaited her sentencing, she was kept in solitary confinement. Word of her conviction quickly spread and the officials feared for her safety due to the level of hatred from the other inmates. Anytime she was taken from her cell, she was protected by guards on all sides. She barely ate, fearful that her food had been poisoned. Although Kathleen strongly maintained her innocence, the public backlash against her was fierce and she quickly earned the undesirable title of the most hated woman in Australia. Nobody could understand how a mother could do such a thing to not one, but all four of her children and expect to get away with it. The question the public wanted answered was why would someone continuously go through the strain of pregnancy and childbirth if they knew they couldn't handle the pressure of parenthood? The fact that Kathleen's father had killed her mother became a hot topic in the media, with many questioning the role that genetic and environmental factors could have played in Kathleen's crimes. She was examined by various psychiatrists who also reviewed her government records to try to find a logical explanation for why she had killed her children. It was revealed that the first few years of Kathleen's life had not started well. After her mother was killed, 18 month old Kathleen became a ward of the state and went to live with her maternal aunt and her husband. The couple soon noticed that Kathleen displayed some troubling behaviour. They said she was aggressive, had difficulty learning acceptable manners and seemed preoccupied with her genitals. A medical officer assessed Kathleen and concluded that she had likely been sexually abused by her father when she was a baby and was a very disturbed little girl. Kathleen's aunt was unable to care for her, so she was put into a foster family who went on to raise her as their own. Kathleen's foster parents said she was happy and well adjusted, but Kathleen found her foster mother to be excessively controlling, socially isolating and at times violent. Sometimes she hit Kathleen with a wooden spoon or a belt. Despite this, Kathleen felt she inherited many positive traits from her foster mother too. She went on to do relatively well at school and although she didn't have many friends growing up, she formed some lasting friendships in her adolescence that she cherished into adulthood. It was only as a teenager that she discovered the truth about her parents and was left to deal with the complex feelings this raised. Constant clashes with her foster mother prompted her to move out of home at the age of 17 and she met Craig Folbig shortly after. One of the psychiatrists who assessed Kathleen ahead of her sentencing believed that the first few years of her life had impacted her ability to form emotional attachments. In turn, this contributed to her inability to care for or protect her own children. Opposing the opinion of another psychiatrist, he didn't believe Kathleen had a diagnosable personality disorder, but that she was a deeply tormented and disturbed woman who struggled with depression, feelings of rejection and low self esteem, all of which stemmed from her first few years of life. The neglect and abuse she'd endured as a young Girl also explained her emotional detachment and what was viewed as her inappropriate grieving process after each of her children's deaths. The psychiatrist said these negative feelings were evident in Kathleen's diary entries, which provided the only real insight into her state of mind. The various mental health professionals who had dealt with Kathleen also noted that she spoke of the children as though she had nothing to do with their deaths. One psychiatrist thought she could be disassociating from the traumatic crimes or had repressed them completely. Another concluded, I am sure we will never know why Kathleen did it. When Kathleen's sentencing took place five months after her trial in October 2003, Justice Graham Barr agreed that Kathleen's early life provided an insight into her state of mind as an addict adult. In his view, the stress Kathleen experienced raising her own children was heightened because she was psychologically damaged and barely coping. He accepted that she was generally a good mother, but that her mental state left her unable to ask for help when she felt herself struggling with the demands of sick, wilful or disobedient children. Justice Barr didn't think the deaths were premeditated, but that they'd occurred once Kathleen was pushed beyond her ability to manage. He said she would always present a danger to any children in her care and it was unlikely she'd ever admit the truth about her crimes. Acknowledging the potential harm Kathleen faced in prison, Justice Barr recommended that she be held in solitary confinement 22 hours a day. And with that, he delivered his sentence for the murders of her four children. Kathleen Folbig would spend 40 years in prison with a non parole period of 30 years. Outside court, Craik Folbig avoided the media throngs, eager to put this horrendous chapter of his life behind him and move on. Kathleen's lawyer had one final message to deliver to the waiting press. Mrs. Folbick has asked me to say that she is innocent of these charges. She did not kill her children or harm them in any way. For Kathleen's foster sister, Lee, the sentencing came as a relief. If Kathleen's crimes had taught her anything, it was that other unexplained infant deaths should be examined more carefully by law enforcement and forensic specialists. She called on the press to make sure someone was giving a voice to those who couldn't speak for themselves. So scathing was Lee's opinion of Kathleen that she'd even handed over a private letter to the press that Kathleen had written to her from prison while awaiting sentencing. The letter had been published on the front page of the Daily Telegraph. Newspaper. In it, Kathleen voiced her disbelief that Lea had turned against her, saying it wasn't fair that she was being compared to her father when she'd actively fought against having any connection to him. She said any personality trait she had inherited came from her foster parents, just like Lee's had, and none of them were capable of murder. Kathleen accused Lee of purposely lying, deceiving and manipulating her during the four years it had taken the police to build a circumstantial case against her. She said that nobody had any right to interpret the meaning of her diary entries, saying it was a sad day when a mother can be put away from merely being a normal mother who wrote down her emotions, anxieties and frustrations in bloody books. The diaries are not literal. Definitely not a window to my brain, kathleen wrote. How ridiculous they were a place for me to offload and then wipe my hands and move on. Lee I know my failures and have taken responsibility for them, but I will not be forced to take responsibility for something I have not done. I have no more energy to battle with people who won't hear. Try to imagine your life being spread out, rippled to pieces, examined, opinions cast, character assassinated, your every word, action, thought, doubted, and you're told you don't know yourself. Add to that becoming the most hated woman alive. I now live with that. Every day I endure all of this, knowing that vindication will one day be mine. Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors.