Case 338: The Folbigg Children (Part 1/2)

[Part 1 of 2] *** Content warning: child victims *** Married couple Craig and Kathleen Folbigg wanted nothing more than to be parents. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Kathleen gave birth to four children—Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura—but tragically, none of them survived past their second birthdays. While each death was initially attributed to natural causes, the question started to emerge – had Kathleen done something to harm her children? --- Narration – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Research & writing – Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas http://mikemigas.com/ Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casefile-true-crime/id998568017?ign-itscg=30200S&ign-itsct=casefile_podcastsSpotify Premium https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/9gSwcv7USsbPatreon https://www.patreon.com/casefileFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-338-the-folbigg-children-part-1-2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  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.

• 2:49Speaker 00

  It was just after midday on Monday, March 1, 1999, when a frantic call came through to the New South Wales Emergency Services Line. A panic-stricken woman was on the other line. "Um, my baby's not breathing", she exclaimed.

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  The operator asked how old the baby was. "Twenty months", the woman replied, her voice bordering on hysterical. She told the operator to hang on for a minute as she was in the middle of performing CPR.

• 3:22Speaker 00

  A moment later, she reported that she couldn't get a heartbeat. The operator asked the woman if she knew what was wrong with her baby. The woman responded, but the operator wasn't sure if she'd heard correctly. She asked the woman to repeat herself.

• 3:41Speaker 00

  "I've had three go already", the woman said.

• 4:08Speaker 00

  Craig Folbigg had always wanted children. Having been raised in a large and loving family, he looked forward to the day he could start one of his own. That desire only intensified after Craig's mother unexpectedly died of a stroke when Craig was a teenager and his father subsequently remarried.

• 4:28Speaker 00

  Craig worked hard to save money and carve out a stable life for himself, so that he'd be ready to settle down when the time was right.

• 4:37Speaker 00

  In 1985, Craig was enjoying a night out with friends at a Newcastle nightclub when he met a young woman named Kathleen on the dance floor. Although Kathleen was six years younger than Craig and had only recently moved out of home for the first time, he was instantly drawn to her. She had a confidence and cheekiness that he found very endearing. The two immediately hit it off and were virtually inseparable from the get-go, finding great joy in one another's company. Kathleen saw Craig as her knight in shining armour. Not only was he extremely charming with the gift of the gab, Kathleen liked that Craig came from a large and welcoming family.

• 5:21Speaker 00

  Having been raised in a foster family herself, she viewed family as the most important thing in life and she shared Craig's dreams of having children. The two fell head over heels in love and by 1988, they were married and living in their first home, a two-bedroom weatherboard house in the north-western Newcastle suburb of Mayfield. Everything seemed to be falling into place for the newly wedded Folbigg when in May that year, Kathleen discovered she was pregnant. Although this wasn't planned, it was very exciting news for them both. Kathleen fully embraced her journey into motherhood, making changes to her diet, forbidding Craig from smoking inside

• 6:05Speaker 00

  and preparing the house for the baby. Her pregnancy proceeded without a hitch. She didn't even experience any morning sickness. As her due date grew closer, Craig received a compensation payout for a workplace injury he'd sustained and they were able to pay off their mortgage, clearing themselves of all debt before the baby arrived. It was as good a start to married life as any couple could have hoped for.

• 6:37Speaker 00

  After a difficult eighteen-hour labour, Caleb Folbigg was born on February 1, 1989. As the now twenty-one-year-old Kathleen held her baby boy for the first time, she felt a great sense of accomplishment, thinking to herself: "I did it. This is what I'm on this planet for." Other than some slight respiratory issues that were common in newborns, Caleb passed all of his health checks with flying colours. The mother and son stayed in hospital for four days while doctors monitored Caleb and while Kathleen recovered from some complications caused by the epidural she'd been given. When they were allowed to go home,

• 7:19Speaker 00

  the new parents set Caleb up in his nursery in the sunroom next to their bedroom and settled into their new routine as a family of three. Kathleen had some trouble breastfeeding, so opted to bottle-feed Caleb instead. All was going well, but she was a little concerned about the way he was feeding. It looked like he was having trouble breathing through his nose while sucking on the bottle, as though he couldn't breathe and drink at the same time. When Caleb was two-and-a-half weeks old, Kathleen took him to see a paediatrician, who concluded that he had a floppy larynx, which was causing stridor upon inhalation. In other words, he was a noisy breather.

• 8:03Speaker 00

  The paediatrician assured Kathleen that it was a very common and mild problem that would resolve itself over time. A couple of days later, on Sunday, February 19, Craig had the day off from his relatively new job at a local car yard and he took Kathleen and Caleb to visit his brother who lived nearby. It was an enjoyable day, and Caleb fell asleep in the car on the drive home. At 8pm, Kathleen dressed Caleb for bed and gave him a bottle before putting him down in his cane bassinet in the nursery. Although it was summer, their house was drafty overnight, so Kathleen wrapped Caleb in his bunny rug and covered him with a white blanket.

• 8:47Speaker 00

  She and Craig stayed up for a bit longer before kissing Caleb goodnight and going to bed themselves at around 10 o'clock.

• 8:56Speaker 00

  Caleb typically woke up every three or four hours overnight and it was Kathleen's job to tend to him. She would wake up the second she heard his cries and feed him in the lounge room before settling him back to sleep in his bassinet. Craig had always been an incredibly heavy sleeper and he never even stirred during these nighttime feedings. But at around 2:50 AM on Monday, February 20, Craig was suddenly jolted awake by the sound of Kathleen screaming. "My baby", she cried, "something is wrong with my baby."

• 9:37Speaker 00

  Craig jumped out of bed and raced into the nursery. Kathleen was standing over Caleb's bassinet, holding her hands to her forehead and screaming. Craig ran to the bassinet and saw Caleb lying on his back, still wrapped in his bunny rug, his eyes closed and his lips blue. He frantically picked Caleb up and started giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but as he hadn't been formally trained, he wasn't exactly sure what to do. He told Kathleen to call an ambulance and then carried Caleb into the lounge room. Caleb's small body was still warm as Craig hurriedly laid him on the couch and continued blowing into his mouth.

• 10:22Speaker 00

  Ambulance officers arrived at the Foglegs' home at 2:59 AM and asked Craig and Kathleen to leave the room while they worked on their son. They established that Caleb was in a state of cardiac arrest and was no longer conscious or breathing. For 39 minutes, they did everything they could to try and resuscitate the 19-day-old, but it was too late. Caleb was already dead. The ambulance officers told the clearly devastated parents to hold their baby boy one last time, while declaring the likely cause of his death to be sudden infant death syndrome, commonly known as SIDS.

• 11:04Speaker 00

  SIDS, which is sometimes referred to as cot death, is not technically a cause of death, but is the term used for the unexpected death of an otherwise healthy baby when no other cause can be found. Incidents of SIDS typically occur while the baby is asleep, and it is most common in those aged between 1 month and 6 months old, with the majority of all cases occurring in the first 12 months of life. While certain risk factors, such as premature birth, unsafe sleep practices, or smoking during pregnancy can increase the chances of SIDS, there is no way to prevent it completely. Little was known about SIDS at the time of Caleb's death, and exactly what causes

• 11:49Speaker 00

  it remains unknown to this day.

• 11:53Speaker 00

  Kathleen said she'd gotten up to feed Caleb shortly before 2 a.m. and he'd been completely fine. She put him back to sleep in his bassinet before returning to bed herself, but had stirred awake again shortly after. She rose to check on Caleb again, but as soon as she entered the nursery, she noticed that she couldn't hear him breathing. When she placed her hand on his chest, she couldn't feel it rising. Everything from that moment on was a blur.

• 12:26Speaker 00

  Caleb's autopsy didn't explain his death. The forensic pathologist found him to be well nourished, well-developed, and well cared for. There were no signs of injury, no obstructions in his airways, and no evidence that his floppy larynx played any role in his passing. With nothing else to attribute it to, the pathologist confirmed that Caleb Folbigg had died from SIDS.

• 12:53Speaker 00

  Craig and Kathleen did the best they could to accept their tragic loss. They met with a grief counselor and tried to accept that nothing they did had contributed to Caleb's death. A representative from a SIDS organization told them there was no reason not to try for another baby, explaining that it was incredibly rare that such a thing would happen again.

• 13:20Speaker 00

  Craig and Kathleen both dealt with their grief in different ways. While Craig fell into a deep pit of despair and struggled to face the outside world, Kathleen preferred to keep herself busy and get on with things. After being advised that there was a higher rate of SIDS among those of lower socio-economic status and that environmental factors could also play a role, the couple got to work renovating their house. They made improvements to the rundown and drafty nursery, bought high-quality bedding, repainted and re-carpeted the home, and put new blinds in.

• 13:57Speaker 00

  While all this was going on, Kathleen discovered she was pregnant again.

• 14:03Speaker 00

  The couple was excited, yet apprehensive. They hadn't planned on having another baby so soon, but they also felt they'd taken all the right steps to ensure the same thing wouldn't happen again and were thankful to have a second chance at a family.

• 14:19Speaker 00

  On June 3, 1990, just fifteen and a half months after Caleb's death, Kathleen and Craig welcomed another son, a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy they named Patrick.

• 14:33Speaker 00

  Like his brother, Patrick was born at full term and passed all his health checks. He had no problems feeding or breathing, but given what happened to Caleb, Patrick underwent a sleep study when he was a week and a half old. It came back entirely normal.

• 14:52Speaker 00

  As far as the doctors were concerned, there was no medical reason for the Folbigg to worry. Craig was ecstatic. Regretful of how little time he'd had with Caleb, he quit his job so he could spend as much time as possible with his new son. Instead of sleeping in the sunroom, Patrick was given the renovated bedroom towards the back of their house. Although it was a bit further from his parents' room, it was warmer and more secure.

• 15:23Speaker 00

  Again, Kathleen took responsibility for the nighttime wakes, and by the time Patrick was three months old, he was sleeping well and only waking up once in the middle of the night for a quick feed before going straight back to sleep until morning.

• 15:40Speaker 00

  Craig was so relieved by how positively Patrick was thriving that when he was offered a job at the Holden dealership five minutes from their home, he accepted. By Wednesday, October seventeen, nineteen ninety, he'd been in the new job for three days and was adjusting to his new routine. Patrick was recovering from a slight cold, but was otherwise healthy and well. Kathleen put him to bed in his cot at around eight thirty PM, and Craig went in a couple of hours later to kiss him goodnight before retiring to bed himself. As always, Craig slept soundly, oblivious to the nighttime activity in his home.

• 16:23Speaker 00

  But at around four thirty AM, he was once again awoken by the sound of Kathleen's blood-curdling scream. Craig threw off his covers and raced into Patrick's room. Kathleen was standing over the cot, screaming. Patrick was lying on his back with his eyes closed, his lips blue and his body limp. Craig scooped him up and yelled at Kathleen to call an ambulance. He held the infant to his ear, and to his great relief, he could hear the faintest sound of labored breathing. Despite what had happened to Caleb, Craig still hadn't formally learned CPR, but the

• 17:05Speaker 00

  SIDS representative had taught him how to properly give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He immediately leapt into action until the ambulance arrived. Patrick was rushed to the hospital, where Kathleen told the doctors that he had woken up at around midnight as per usual. She'd gone in to give him his bottle before settling him back to sleep. Later on, she heard him coughing and went in to check on him, but all appeared to be well, so she went back to bed again. It was only when she got up to go to the toilet later on that she noticed what sounded like Patrick, gasping for air. The doctors administered Patrick with oxygen, and to the relief of everyone in the emergency

• 17:50Speaker 00

  room, his eyes shot open and he started to cry. Slowly, his skin returned to its regular colour and his oxygen levels returned to normal.

• 18:02Speaker 00

  It was determined that Patrick had suffered what's known as an apparent life-threatening event, or Ulti. The doctors could find no reason for it. They conducted various tests and found no evidence of disease, infections, or injury to explain his respiratory distress. Whatever the cause, the lack of oxygen to Patrick's brain had been catastrophic. While he was recovering in hospital, he had numerous seizures, and a CT scan revealed signs of brain damage. The seizures continued over the following weeks, leading to Patrick being diagnosed with epilepsy. After further testing, the doctors broke the news to Kathleen and Craig that Patrick

• 18:47Speaker 00

  was also officially blind.

• 18:54Speaker 00

  From that point onwards, family life changed for the Folbigg. Kathleen devoted her time to shuffling Patrick between various specialist appointments, consultations with the Blind Association, and administering his medication. She brought him to occupational therapists and sought professional guidance about how to teach him to eat, drink, and crawl. She and Craig monitored Patrick closely in case he had another seizure. It was hard work, but they were just so relieved that Patrick had survived that they were willing to do whatever it took to give him the happy and full life he deserved. As 1990 drew to a close, Patrick was admitted to hospital on three separate occasions

• 19:39Speaker 00

  after having further seizures, but overall, he seemed to be responding well to his treatments and was becoming a spirited and determined little boy. The Folbigg were still adjusting to their new normal when the phone rang at Craig's work on the morning of Wednesday, February 13, 1991. Kathleen was on the other line, screaming. "It's happened again," she cried.

• 20:07Speaker 00

  Craig thought she meant that Patrick was having another seizure, but Kathleen explained that she'd put Patrick down for a nap and had later walked past his room, only to notice that he was lying on his back. This was odd, because she always laid him down on his side. She said that at first she thought he'd had another seizure, but then she realised he wasn't breathing.

• 20:34Speaker 00

  Craig immediately raced home, beating the ambulance, which was delayed due to roadworks in the area. When he walked in, Kathleen was hysterical, covering her face with her hands and sobbing. Eight-month-old Patrick was still lying in his cot, slightly warm to the touch. His lips were blue and his body was limp. Again, Craig scooped him up and placed him on the lounge room floor, kneeling over his little body as he tried to resuscitate him.

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  The ambulance officers finally arrived and took over. They rushed Patrick to the hospital, where doctors worked desperately for 20 minutes before declaring the unthinkable. Craig and Kathleen Folbigg had lost another child.

• 21:27Speaker 00

  Unlike with Caleb, the cause of Patrick's death was a little clearer. An autopsy determined he had suffered from an epileptic seizure that caused obstruction to his airways and cardiac arrest. Patrick's small body was cremated and interred with his brother, while his devastated parents tried to come to terms with what had happened.

• 21:51Speaker 00

  Patrick's death took a huge toll on the Folbigg' marriage. Consumed by grief, Craig felt unable to function or face the world, and he eventually lost his job. He preferred to spend time alone, hanging out in his garage or with the young son of their next-door neighbour.

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  Kathleen blamed herself for what happened and felt as though she had failed as a mother. She had no drive to do anything, but she did find some comfort in the fact that doctors had found a valid reason for Patrick's death.

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  Having had the first three years of their marriage steeped in tragedy, Kathleen, who was only twenty-three at this point, was eager for a fresh start. Wanting to free herself from the constant reminders of her children's deaths, she told Craig she wanted to move.

• 22:45Speaker 00

  She also accepted a job as a sales assistant at BabyCo, a retail store that specialised in supplies for expectant mothers and newborns. Craig couldn't understand how Kathleen could possibly handle being around pregnant women and babies so soon after Patrick's death, but she saw it as exposure therapy. The sooner she got out there, the sooner life might return to normal.

• 23:12Speaker 00

  The Folbigg sold their home and moved to Thornton, an inland suburb twenty-five kilometres north-west of Newcastle. As the months passed, Craig still felt no desire to see anyone or do anything. It became a source of contention for the couple, with Kathleen insisting they needed to get on with their lives. Eventually, Craig found a new job as a used-car salesman and did his best to join his wife on social outings.

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  He craved another chance at fatherhood, but was so traumatised by what had happened to Caleb and Patrick that he could barely stand the thought. If there was one thing he was certain of, he never wanted to hear that scream come out of Kathleen's mouth again.

• 24:04Speaker 00

  By the end of 1991, ten months had passed since Patrick's death. After all the changes they'd made to their lives, Kathleen told Craig she was ready to try for another baby.

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  While she understood the potential for pain, she wanted to be a mother more than anything else and was willing to take the risk. Despite his innate desire, Craig was full of doubts. There were simply too many unanswered questions, and he feared what would happen to their marriage if they were faced with another blow. They spent a week talking and mulling it over before Craig agreed to give it another shot, as long as they sought expert medical advice from the moment the baby was born. Kathleen happily agreed, and by February of 1992, she was pregnant for the third time.

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  At 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 14, the 25-year-old gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Sarah.

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  This time, the Folbigg weren't taking any chances. Craig and Kathleen had both been trained in CPR, and they'd utilized the help of the SIDS organization, through which they were given an apnea blanket to use on Sarah.

• 25:24Speaker 00

  The blanket was fitted with an alarm that was designed to go off any time a lack of movement was detected after a set period of time.

• 25:34Speaker 00

  Sarah's health was closely monitored by doctors. She was subjected to a sleep study at 3 weeks old that showed nothing of concern. However, a doctor later noticed some slight abnormalities in her breathing and prescribed a drug to help open up her airways just to be on the safe side. As the weeks passed, Sarah developed normally, but Kathleen was getting very little sleep. Not only was Sarah a cat-napper, who only slept for short periods during the day and woke regularly throughout the night, the apnea blanket incessantly produced false alarms that jolted Kathleen out of bed and filled her with anxiety. Being the deep sleeper that he was,

• 26:19Speaker 00

  Craig slept through the false alarms and provided no overnight relief.

• 26:26Speaker 00

  The first few months of Sarah's life were difficult for Kathleen. The car dealership Craig was now working at was an hour's drive from their home, and he typically worked long hours, leaving at 7:00 in the morning and not returning until 7:00 or 8:00 o'clock at night. This left Kathleen home alone to take care of the domestic duties on very little sleep, with a baby who could be fussy and strong-willed. She was also finding it difficult to bond with Sarah, terrified of getting too close, in case she lost her too.

• 27:01Speaker 00

  Kathleen felt like she needed a break, but she didn't trust anyone other than Craig to look after their daughter. No one else understood how the apnea blanket worked, and she didn't feel safe leaving her with anyone unless they were trained in CPR. Eventually, Kathleen started working weekends at BabyCo again to regain a little bit of independence.

• 27:28Speaker 00

  By the time Sarah was 10 months old in August 1993, the family had found their groove. With 80% of all SIDS-related deaths occurring before the age of 6 months, the Folbigg felt they could slightly let their guards down. They'd stopped using the apnea blanket, and Sarah had taken to co-sleeping with Craig while Kathleen slept in the spare room. While they all slept better this way, Kathleen was eager to get Sarah used to sleeping in her own bed. She still didn't feel comfortable with Sarah being alone at night, so the decision was made to move Sarah's single bed into Kathleen and Craig's bedroom.

• 28:11Speaker 00

  This way, she'd be close enough to her parents for them to monitor her while also learning to sleep independently. On Sunday, August 29, the family enjoyed a relaxing day out. They went to the beach, visited Craig's brother, and then took Sarah to the playground for the first time. Although she was recovering from a cold with a bad cough, Sarah had an absolute ball, and her parents loved seeing her in her element. That night, they completed the usual routine—dinner, bath, and playtime—before it was time for Sarah to go to bed. Despite the lovely day they'd had, night times could still put Kathleen on edge.

• 28:56Speaker 00

  She'd worked hard to establish a night routine with a consistent bedtime, and it frustrated her that Craig didn't take it as seriously as she did. He often got Sarah riled up right before bed, making it more difficult to settle her down for sleep.

• 29:13Speaker 00

  That night, Sarah was having so much fun mugging around with her dad that she got upset when Kathleen tried to put her to bed. The more Sarah refused to go to sleep, the more frustrated Kathleen became. Craig was sitting in the lounge room and he heard Sarah crying and grizzling from the bedroom. He also heard a loud growl come from Kathleen. It was a sound he'd heard before, she often made it during times of great frustration, particularly when enforcing bedtime. Craig went to check on things and found Kathleen cradling Sarah in a bear hug while patting her hard on the bottom in an effort to soothe her to sleep.

• 29:57Speaker 00

  He told Kathleen to mellow out and let Sarah be. This just fuelled Kathleen's anger. She told Craig to get out before stomping down the hall and thrusting a cry of Sarah into his arms, snapping, "You fucking deal with her." Craig was alarmed by Kathleen's reaction. He calmed Sarah down and eventually she fell asleep in his arms on the couch. At 11pm, he settled her into her bed in their bedroom, kissed her goodnight and went to sleep himself. Kathleen was in bed already, either asleep or ignoring him.

• 30:40Speaker 00

  Craig drifted off, but at 1.34am, he was jolted awake by that sound he had never wanted to hear again as long as he lived. Kathleen's blood-curdling scream.

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  Craig immediately sat up. The bedroom light was on and Kathleen was standing by the door screaming frantically. Sarah was lying in her bed in a position that was unnatural for her, on her back with her arms out straight beside her. Craig raced over. Sarah was warm to the touch, but her body was floppy and she wasn't breathing. Craig screamed for Kathleen to call the ambulance while he started CPR. The ambulance officers arrived quickly and desperately tried to revive Sarah, cutting off her jumpsuit and administering a shot of adrenaline to her thigh in an attempt to kick-start her heart. But she didn't respond.

• 34:40Speaker 00

  Forty minutes later, they walked into the lounge room where Craig and Kathleen were waiting and gave them the news they'd hoped to never hear again. Sarah was gone.

• 34:54Speaker 00

  The Fallbigs were beside themselves. Craig cradled his daughter's tiny body in his arms, crying on the couch as he tried to wrap his head around the soul-crushing reality that his worst nightmare had been realised for a third time.

• 35:10Speaker 00

  As was protocol, two police officers arrived to assess the situation. Kathleen was too distraught to give many details. She said that she'd woken up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and on her way back to bed she'd glanced over at Sarah and noticed she was lying in an unnatural position.

• 35:32Speaker 00

  Sarah typically slept curled up or with her arms and legs thrown about, but she was on her back with one of her arms hanging out of the blanket. Kathleen went to tuck Sarah in, only to realise that she wasn't breathing. She told the police what had happened to Caleb and Patrick, while Craig informed them that Sarah had been considered a high risk of SIDS. Even for the seasoned officers, talking to the parents was heart wrenching. Their grief was so completely raw that the officers found the encounter to be quite distressing.

• 36:11Speaker 00

  Sarah's body was taken to the coroner's court, where a post-mortem performed by one of the state's best forensic pathologists found no obvious cause of death. Like her brothers before her, Sarah appeared well nourished and well looked after. Tests for various diseases came back negative, but her lungs did show mild signs of congestion and fluid. This can be caused by heart problems and can make it difficult to breathe. Furthermore, her uvula looked congested and was slightly displaced, overlapping the flap at the top of her windpipe that prevented food or liquid from entering her lungs.

• 36:54Speaker 00

  Although the pathologist took note of these things, he didn't think they were contributing factors to Sarah's death. He determined there was only one logical explanation: SIDS.

• 37:13Speaker 00

  Sarah's death marked a steep decline for Kathleen and Craig's mental health and their marriage. Craig felt utterly consumed by grief. Aching desperately for his three deceased children, he had Caleb, Patrick and Sarah's ashes returned from the cemetery and interred into a custom-built ebony table.

• 37:35Speaker 00

  Craig distracted himself with work, spending long hours at the dealership and then busying himself in the garage at home. He barely saw Kathleen, who became increasingly withdrawn and distant.

• 37:49Speaker 00

  The couple moved house several more times in search of a fresh start, but no matter where they went or how much time passed, their grief followed like a dark cloud.

• 38:01Speaker 00

  Over time, Kathleen grew frustrated with the way Craig was handling things. While Sarah's death had left her devastated and even suicidal, she was eager to move on with her life as best as she could.

• 38:15Speaker 00

  While she empathised with Craig, she also recognised that their marriage was hanging by a thread and something needed to change. When Craig refused to see a grief counsellor, Kathleen moved out of their home and into a flat of her own. She had gained some weight which was impacting her self-esteem, so she joined a gym and started exercising regularly.

• 38:39Speaker 00

  This became something she grew to love. Kathleen went out with friends, got a new job and tried to bring some joy back into her life.

• 38:50Speaker 00

  Kathleen and Craig still loved each other dearly and spoke often. Craig eventually agreed to see a grief counsellor, which helped him come to terms with everything that had happened. Slowly, he felt himself start to get back on track. While he was impressed by how well Kathleen was doing without him, he missed her dearly and desperately wanted her back. One night, after a deep conversation about many of the things they'd previously avoided discussing, the couple decided to give their marriage another chance.

• 39:26Speaker 00

  This time, things would be different. They agreed not to have any more children.

• 39:34Speaker 00

  Kathleen and Craig bought a home in Singleton, a small riverside town 70 kilometres north-west of Newcastle with a population of around 22,000 people. Then, they started afresh. They continued in their jobs, made new friends, took holidays and had fun together for the first time in a long time.

• 39:57Speaker 00

  While their marriage still had its ups and downs, things were finally looking hopeful for the Folbigg. Then, in May 1996, two and a half years after Sarah died, Kathleen threw a spanner in the works. She told Craig she wanted to try for another baby.

• 40:18Speaker 00

  Craig was resolute, the answer was no. While he still wanted nothing more than to be a father, there was simply no way he could go through that pain again.

• 40:34Speaker 00

  Eventually, Craig agreed he would consider the idea, but only if they consulted with experts who could explain why this kept happening to them and how they could avoid it. They consulted with the SIDS specialists at the new children's hospital at Westmead in Sydney, who concluded that there could be a genetic explanation for why the three Folbigg children had all died in their sleep. Craig and his siblings were snorers, as were Sarah and Patrick, and this could be indicative of obstructive sleep apnea.

• 41:08Speaker 00

  The Folbigg were told there had been technological advancements since Sarah's death, with the new sleep studies available, and there was also a greater understanding of SIDS prevention. As far as the specialist was concerned, there was no reason for them not to try for another baby. Encouraged by this, the Folbigg anxiously tried for several months before Kathleen announced that she was pregnant again.

• 41:37Speaker 00

  On Thursday, August 7, 1997, the now thirty-year-old gave birth to her fourth child, a daughter they named Laura.

• 41:47Speaker 00

  Like her three siblings before her, Laura appeared to be a healthy and happy baby. She was tested for a wide range of illnesses and abnormalities, but everything came back completely fine. When Laura was twelve days old, she was taken to the hospital for an overnight sleep study. The doctor was generally pleased with the results.

• 42:11Speaker 00

  While Laura showed signs of mild central apnea, which was normal in infants and would correct itself over time, she showed no signs of the more worrisome obstructive apnea.

• 42:24Speaker 00

  Laura was given a monitoring device which was designed to record and download her breathing patterns and heartbeat while she slept.

• 42:33Speaker 00

  The monitor was plugged in next to her bassinet and connected to her body via electrodes. If there was a change in her breathing or heartbeat, the monitor would sound an alarm and specify what exactly had caused it to go off. All of its data, including when it was turned on or off, was recorded and sent back to the sleep unit at the hospital. Laura never went to sleep without being connected to the monitor, even if it was just for a short nap.

• 43:04Speaker 00

  The alarm provided equal parts reassurance and anxiety for Craig and Kathleen. It would go off if Laura stopped breathing for even a second and all they had to do was gently check on her to make sure she responded. The alarm was so ear-piercingly loud that even Craig woke up when it went off, ensuring a quick response time if anything unexpected happened.

• 43:30Speaker 00

  But, like Sarah's apnea blanket, it was prone to false alarms and could cause unnecessary panic. By the time Laura was about seven months old, Kathleen felt comfortable enough to stop using the monitor, reassured by the fact that Laura was growing into a strong, healthy and happy little girl.

• 43:54Speaker 00

  When Laura made it to her first birthday in August 1998, the Folbigg were so thrilled that they threw a huge pool party at their house to celebrate, inviting all of their family and friends.

• 44:07Speaker 00

  Laura was an easygoing baby who was hitting all of her milestones and hadn't had any illnesses aside from the common cold. Subsequent sleep studies showed that she'd grown out of her apnea and had excellent quality of sleep.

• 44:22Speaker 00

  With 97% of Sid's deaths occurring before the age of one, it seemed like Laura was out of the woods. For the first time, Kathleen really started to imagine a future with Laura in it.

• 44:37Speaker 00

  Kathleen and Craig adored Laura. She was funny, sweet and good-natured.

• 44:44Speaker 00

  But while everything was going well in the parenting department, the Foglegs' marriage was coming apart at the seams. Exhausted by the demands of motherhood, Kathleen craved more time to herself.

• 44:58Speaker 00

  She wanted to get back into her exercise routine, but Craig worked long hours and made her feel guilty every time she left Laura with a friend so she could go to the gym. Kathleen felt there was little connection between herself and Craig anymore, and she didn't feel like he was the same person she'd fallen in love with all those years ago. They didn't seem to have anything in common anymore. The only thing bonding them together was Laura.

• 45:28Speaker 00

  Towards the start of 1999, the couple was sleeping in separate bedrooms. Kathleen wrote Craig a letter saying she wanted to end their marriage and that she planned on taking Laura with her. She laid out a plan for how the two could remain friends and peacefully co-parent together. Craig was appalled. For all the flaws in their marriage, he was still very much in love with Kathleen. He sat her down and told her that he couldn't live without her or Laura. They discussed improvements they could both make to turn the marriage around and promised to be more supportive and considerate of one another.

• 46:12Speaker 00

  By the end of February, they were back to sleeping in the same bed and trying to give their marriage another shot.

• 46:22Speaker 00

  For all their good intentions, things remained tense between the couple. Kathleen was having a hard time with the now eighteen-month-old Laura. It was particularly frustrating when Laura wouldn't eat or sleep when Kathleen wanted her to.

• 46:40Speaker 00

  On Sunday, February 28, 1999, Craig could sense that something wasn't quite right between his wife and daughter. He asked Kathleen about it, and she explained that she had lost it with Laura the night before and accidentally knocked her over. She said that Laura had "got the shits with her".

• 47:03Speaker 00

  Kathleen said she was sick of being cooped up in the house, so Craig suggested they invite some friends around for a swim and a barbecue. Kathleen happily agreed and called up some friends who came over with their three kids. It was a lovely afternoon spent out in the sun.

• 47:22Speaker 00

  Laura was recovering from a cold, but that didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. Craig took out his video camera and filmed her as she ran around playfully with a huge smile on her face.

• 47:35Speaker 00

  The next morning, Craig was getting ready for work while Laura potted along behind him. She was sniffly and a bit clingier than usual, and little things were setting her off.

• 47:48Speaker 00

  When Kathleen woke up, Craig could tell she was frustrated. She was short with Laura, quickly losing her patience when she wouldn't eat her cereal. Craig told Kathleen to ease up, if Laura didn't want breakfast, then there was no point forcing her. Kathleen snapped at him to fuck off.

• 48:09Speaker 00

  She said Laura only acted up when Craig was around. She grabbed Laura from her highchair and sat her down on the ground, angrily telling her to go to her father, and then telling Craig, "I can't handle her when she's like this."

• 48:25Speaker 00

  Then Kathleen let out a loud growl, causing Laura to burst into tears.

• 48:32Speaker 00

  As Craig tried to soothe his daughter, Kathleen snatched Laura off of him and told him to go to work. Craig told Kathleen to calm down, saying it looked like she was going to punch someone.

• 48:45Speaker 00

  "If I was going to punch anyone," Kathleen replied, "it would be you."

• 48:51Speaker 00

  By the time Craig was dressed and ready to leave, Laura was happily eating her cereal in front of the television, and Kathleen seemed to have simmered down. Craig left for work, but he was unsettled by the incident, thinking there was something unhealthy about Kathleen's reaction to Laura's behaviour. He hadn't been at work for long when Kathleen called to apologise for losing her temper. She put it down to their different parenting styles, and said they'd talk about it more when Craig got home. She then accepted Craig's invitation to come to his office later for morning tea. Kathleen and Laura spent the morning at the gym, where Laura happily played with other children in the creche

• 49:36Speaker 00

  while Kathleen completed her exercise class. A friend of Kathleen's asked if she wanted to grab a coffee after class, but Kathleen said Laura hadn't been feeling well and she should probably get her home for a nap. Afterwards, they stopped in to see Craig at the dealership. Despite her runny nose, Laura was in good spirits, drawing pictures while happily sitting on Craig's lap. After about half an hour, it was time for Laura's midday nap. At around 11am, Craig walked his wife and daughter to the car, saying he would try and make it home for lunch, and then kiss to them goodbye.

• 50:17Speaker 00

  About half an hour later, Craig was on a phone call in his office when a coworker burst in and yelled at him to hang up. He told Craig he needed to go to the hospital right away. Something was wrong with Laura.

• 50:35Speaker 00

  Craig raced into his car and sped to the nearby district hospital, where a member of staff led him into a waiting room. Kathleen was sitting there, sobbing uncontrollably. In the adjoining room, Craig saw Laura lying on a hospital bed, surrounded by doctors and paramedics. It quickly dawned on him that they weren't working on Laura, but appeared to be packing their things away. Craig yelled at them to keep going, screaming, "This is my fourth baby." The doctor told him it was no use. Laura was already gone.

• 51:13Speaker 00

  Craig was beside himself. He turned to Kathleen and asked what had happened and why she hadn't called him. Kathleen explained that Laura had fallen asleep on the drive home from Craig's work, so she had carefully carried her inside and placed her into the bed, lying her on her left-hand side. She took off Laura's sandals and covered her with a blanket before leaving the bedroom door half-open. Kathleen then went outside to tend to the dog and hang up some washing, taking the baby monitor with her. At one point, she heard Laura cough, but didn't think much of it and continued going about her business.

• 51:55Speaker 00

  Kathleen said she went back into the house about five or ten minutes later, only to find that Laura was lying on her back. Her skin was pale, her lips were blue, and she was cool to the touch.

• 52:09Speaker 00

  Kathleen grabbed Laura and carried her to the breakfast bar, where she administered CPR while calling for an ambulance. She tried calling Craig too, but his line was busy. The ambulance arrived within two minutes, and officers took over the CPR, noting that Laura's airways were clear, but she wasn't breathing and had no pulse. They administered three doses of adrenaline, but none of them had any effect. All the while, Kathleen sat in a chair screaming and crying hysterically.

• 52:43Speaker 00

  Laura was rushed to the hospital, but declared deceased shortly after arriving.

• 52:50Speaker 00

  After Craig formally identified Laura, Kathleen shakily repeated her story to detectives at the hospital while Laura's body was transported to the morgue.

• 53:01Speaker 00

  The doctors who'd tried to save her had found no obvious cause for her death, but at eighteen and a half months old, she was no longer considered at risk of SIDS. It was hoped that an autopsy would shed some light on what had happened. Meanwhile, the detectives examined the Folbigg' home, as was standard practice when dealing with the death of a child. They noted it to be clean and neat, with child safety precautions in place, and that the scene appeared to have played out exactly as Kathleen had described.

• 53:39Speaker 00

  For the Folbigg' friends and family, news of Laura's death hit particularly hard. In comparison to Caleb, Patrick, and Sarah, Laura had lived a lot longer and had more time to develop her own unique personality. Consequently, her loss was felt more deeply. Loved ones rallied around the Folbigg as they dealt with their fourth unimaginable tragedy. But Laura's death was the last straw for Craig and Kathleen's marriage.

• 54:10Speaker 00

  As the weeks went by, they drifted further and further apart. The only thing Craig wanted to talk about was Laura, while Kathleen just wanted to forget it all and move on. For her, Laura's death marked her last chance at being a parent and trying to support Craig while managing her own feelings was simply too much. All she wanted was to be left alone.

• 54:37Speaker 00

  Six weeks after Laura died, Kathleen moved out of the family home and into a flat on the other side of town. Craig was devastated. Not only had he lost all four of his children, but now his wife of fourteen years. He started taking antidepressants and threw himself into his work, but the amount of loss he'd suffered was crippling. He'd hoped his separation from Kathleen would be temporary while she worked through her grief, but shortly after moving out, she made it clear she didn't intend on coming back.

• 55:13Speaker 00

  On Mother's Day in May that year, Craig took a card over to Kathleen's flat, telling her that no matter what happened, she would always be the mother of his children. It didn't elicit the warm response he'd hoped for.

• 55:28Speaker 00

  Kathleen told Craig that he needed to stop a wallowing in self pity. "The sooner you realise Laura's dead," she said, "the happier you will be."

• 55:40Speaker 00

  Craig tried to move on, but every day was a struggle. He reluctantly accepted that his marriage might truly be over and started packing up some of Kathleen's things. In a bedside drawer, Craig found one of Kathleen's old diaries. She'd typically always kept a diary, leaving them out where Craig could see them. While he'd never been tempted to read one of them before, Craig suddenly felt the urge to look inside.

• 56:13Speaker 00

  The first entry was from June 1996, three years after Sarah had died and fourteen months before Laura was born, during the period when they were trying to conceive for a fourth time. In an entry dated June 18, Kathleen had written: "I'm ready this time, and I'll know I'll have help and support. When I think I'm going to lose control like last times, I'll just hand baby over to someone else, not feel totally alone. Getting back into my exercise after will help my state of mind and sleeping wherever possible. I have learned my lesson this time."

• 56:56Speaker 00

  Unsure what she meant by "losing control", Craig read on until he came across an entry dated August 26, 1999. Kathleen had written it after she and Craig had both gone to see a clairvoyant. While Kathleen didn't necessarily believe in psychics, she did consider herself to be a spiritual person and believed in some form of the afterlife. The entry read: "I now know that even though I'm responsible, it's alright. She accepts and is happy there. I've always felt her strongly, and now I know why. She is with me."

• 57:38Speaker 00

  Craig wondered who she was talking about. Was it Sarah? And if so, what did Kathleen mean when she said that she was responsible?

• 57:50Speaker 00

  As the couple struggled to conceive, in September Kathleen wrote: "I suppose I deserve never to have kids again." In late October, she curiously said: "I worry my next child will suffer my psychological mood swings, like the others did." Two months later, after Kathleen discovered she was pregnant with Laura, she wrote that she was going to change her attitude with this baby and not let things stress her out to the max. She would try to keep herself in a good mood by asking for help and getting as much sleep as she could, writing: "I now know that battling wills and sleep deprivation were the causes last time."

• 58:37Speaker 00

  Kathleen's choice of words were surprising to Craig. He wondered what those things had to do with Sids. On New Year's Day in 1997, Kathleen wrote about the year ahead and reiterated her plan to ask for help when the baby was born, instead of trying to do everything by herself. "I know that was the main reason for all my stress before," she wrote. "And stress made me do terrible things."

• 59:08Speaker 00

  The following month, Kathleen was reflecting on the deaths of her three other children and questioning whether she was making the wrong choice by having another baby. She wrote: "My guilt for how responsible I feel for them all haunts me. My fear of it happening again haunts me. My fear of Craig and I surviving if I did haunts me as well. What sort of mother am I? I have been a terrible one. That's what it boils down to."

• 59:42Speaker 00

  Kathleen questioned whether she was just having another baby to prove that there was nothing wrong with her. "If other women can do it, so can I," she wrote. "Is that the wrong reason to have a baby? Yes, I think so. But it's too late to realise that now. What scares me most is when I'm alone with the baby. How do I overcome that? Defeat that?"

• 1:00:09Speaker 00

  Two weeks later, she wrote about her feelings for Craig, saying: "He should be for me forever. Just because a baby is entering our lives makes no difference, really. One day, it will leave. The others did. But this one's not going in the same fashion."

• 1:00:30Speaker 00

  In April, she wrote: "I think this baby deserves everything I can give her, considering I really gave nothing to the others. I think even my feelings towards this one are already deeper. Shame, but that's the way it is."

• 1:00:51Speaker 00

  Craig's head was spinning as he absorbed Kathleen's words. So much of what Kathleen had written didn't make any sense. While she did have a tendency to lose her temper easily when it came to the children, she had always been a caring and devoted mother.

• 1:01:09Speaker 00

  He was confused as to why she was blaming herself and why she spoke about their deaths as though they could have been prevented. As Craig went on, an entry dated May 16, 1997, gave him serious pause. In it, Kathleen said that night times and early mornings would be the hardest for her once the baby arrived because, quote, "That's when wishing someone else was awake with me will matter, purely because of what happened before." Craig says he will stress and worry, but he still seems to sleep okay every night, and did with Sarah. "I really needed him to take over from me.

• 1:01:50Speaker 00

  This time, I've already decided if I ever feel that way again, I'm going to wake him up."

• 1:01:58Speaker 00

  The truth was, something had happened on the night of Sarah's death that Craig had done his best to forget. At around 10 past 1 on that fateful morning, Craig had woken up to find that neither Kathleen or Sarah were in their beds and the bedroom door was closed, with a light shining through from another part of the house. There was nothing unusual about Kathleen attending to Sarah in the middle of the night, so we didn't think anything of it and went straight back to sleep. About 20 minutes later, Craig was jolted upright by the sound of Kathleen's screams and woke to discover Sarah's lifeless body lying in her bed.

• 1:02:40Speaker 00

  Kathleen later explained that she'd gotten up to go to the toilet and found Sarah on her way back into bed. This meant that in the space of just 20 minutes, Kathleen put Sarah back to bed after giving her a bottle, fell back asleep, and then woke up again to go to the toilet, when she found Sarah dead. At the time, Craig couldn't understand how something so drastic could have happened in such a small space of time, but he'd pushed it out of his mind and never mentioned it to anyone.

• 1:03:17Speaker 00

  He had some niggling questions about Laura too. While Craig had been comforted by the sleep apnea monitor she was given, Kathleen had stopped using it for Laura's daytime naps within weeks of bringing her home from the hospital. She explained it was because she was keeping a close eye on Laura during these times, but Craig had been so worried by how blasé she was about using it that he'd even privately contacted the sleep clinic to voice his concerns. In a letter to their nurse, Craig wrote about his appreciation for the monitor, but said: "Strangely though, I feel that Cathy finds it all tedious and frustrating and would rather not use it at all, merely entrusting Laura's survival to fate."

• 1:04:02Speaker 00

  You would think after all she had been through as a mother, she of all people would be more diligent with the monitoring. Craig apologized for being paranoid, stating: "But with every passing day, I fall that much further in love with this child and could not bear her not being part of my life." On the day Laura died, he'd noticed a couple of other strange inconsistencies. Kathleen said that she'd removed Laura's sandals in the hallway while carrying her in from the car. Yet, when Craig got home, he saw the sandals sitting on the couch in the lounge room next to a baby bottle.

• 1:04:42Speaker 00

  Kathleen also said that she'd been in the backyard hanging laundry when she heard Laura cough through the baby monitor. But Craig noticed that the baby monitor was still plugged into the wall. Then, in the days following Laura's death, Craig overheard something that unsettled him further. Kathleen was talking to herself, using three different voices.

• 1:05:09Speaker 00

  While these details hadn't sat well with Craig, he'd convinced himself they meant nothing and tried to ignore them. Now, reading Kathleen's diary, he couldn't ignore them any longer, especially after coming across an entry from October 14, 1996. Written while they were still trying to conceive Laura, Kathleen said that she was thinking of giving up on the idea of having another baby, but wasn't quite ready. She wrote: "I would like to make all my mistakes and terrible thinking be corrected and mean something, though. Obviously, I am my father's daughter."

• 1:05:51Speaker 00

  This comment was significant because of Kathleen's family history. Her father, Thomas Britton, was a dangerous and brutal man who worked as a hitman and debt collector for a couple of notorious underworld figures. He also had a dark history of domestic violence.

• 1:06:10Speaker 00

  Kathleen's mother had challenges of her own. She struggled with alcohol and gambling, two addictions that hindered her parenting abilities. When Kathleen was just eighteen months old, her father became incensed at Kathleen's mother after she abandoned Kathleen and went to live with friends. Thomas confronted her on the street in front of her new house. When she said she had no intention of coming home, he stabbed her twenty-four times. As Kathleen's mother bled to death on the footpath, Thomas kissed her and said: "I'm sorry, darling. I had to do it."

• 1:06:53Speaker 00

  With Kathleen's diary entry comparing herself to her father, Craig could no longer deny the harrowing suspicion that was slowly creeping up on him. The suspicion that Kathleen had killed their four children.

• 1:07:09Speaker 00

  He wrestled with the distressing thought for days before he couldn't take it anymore. He picked up the phone and called the police.

• 1:07:26Speaker 00

  Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors.

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• 1:09:29Speaker 00

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• 1:09:45Speaker 00

  What Craig Folbig didn’t realise was that over at the Singleton Police Station, an investigation into the deaths of the four Folbig children was already underway. Ever since Detective Senior Constable Bernie Ryan had inspected the Folbig’s home after Laura’s death, he hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. He had a daughter the same age as Laura, and while he sympathised immensely with the Folbigs, the fact that four children in the one family had died from inexplicable causes seemed highly unusual to him. After Laura’s body was transported to the morgue to be autopsied, Detective Ryan told a colleague to notify the coroner of the family’s history.

• 1:10:30Speaker 00

  Professor John Hilton was a forensic pathologist and the director of the Glebe Institute of Forensic Medicine. He was the one who had performed Sarah’s autopsy and concluded that she had died from SIDS. When he heard that the Folbigg had lost a fourth child, it gave him serious pause.

• 1:10:51Speaker 00

  Back in 1989, a British paediatrician named Professor Roy Meadow published a book about child abuse in which he spoke of a theory that came to be known as Meadow’s Law.

• 1:11:03Speaker 00

  Meadow’s theory was that when it came to the unexplained death of an infant, one death in a family was a tragedy, two were suspicious, and three most likely meant murder, unless proven otherwise.

• 1:11:18Speaker 00

  Echoing Meadow’s sentiments in a textbook published later that year, American medical examiners Doctors Vincent and Dominic De Mayo looked into the possibility of multiple instances of SIDS occurring in a single family. They examined a case in which the unexplained deaths of five infants had been attributed to SIDS, only for the mother to later confess to having smothered each of them. In what came to be known as De Mayo’s Rule, the pair concluded: “It is the author’s opinion that while a second SIDS death from a mother is improbable, it is possible and she should be given the benefit of the doubt.

• 1:11:59Speaker 00

  A third case, in our opinion, is not possible, and is a case of homicide.”

• 1:12:08Speaker 00

  Armed with this knowledge, Professor Hiltum watched on as his colleague, Dr. Alan Carla, performed the autopsy on Laura Folbigg. Dr. Carla conducted a thorough exam and found no sign of disease or injury that could explain the 18-month-old's death. Laura's lungs had collapsed and showed slight signs of internal bleeding, but there was every chance this occurred during the attempts to resuscitate her. The only abnormality he found was mild myocarditis, inflammation around the heart, but this was common in those recovering from a cold or flu, as Laura had been. Dr. Carla didn't think it had played a role in her death.

• 1:12:52Speaker 00

  He looked for signs that Laura could have been smothered, such as bruising to her face or injuries under her skin, but found nothing. This didn't necessarily rule the possibility out. In many other cases where infants had been suffocated to death, there were no telltale signs. The only difference was that the person responsible had come forward and confessed. It was such a difficult thing to identify that the American Academy of Pediatrics had even put forward a set of guidelines to help medical professionals distinguish SIDS cases from fatal child abuse. Red flags included if the child was outside the majority age range of between 1 and 6 months,

• 1:13:37Speaker 00

  if they had siblings who had also died unexpectedly, and if those siblings also died while under the care of the same person. Based on Laura Folbigg's age alone, Dr. Carla ruled out SIDS, instead listing the cause of her death simply as "undetermined".

• 1:13:58Speaker 00

  At the request of Detective Bernie Ryan, he also looked into the medical histories and autopsy reports of Caleb, Patrick, and Sarah.

• 1:14:07Speaker 00

  Dr. Carla didn't agree with Caleb's SIDS diagnosis, he had been too young. Similarly, he thought Sarah had been too old. Sarah's autopsy report also noted that there had been two small, unexplained puncture marks on her chin, and Dr. Carla couldn't rule out the possibility that they were caused during a smothering event.

• 1:14:32Speaker 00

  As for Patrick, Dr. Carla believed his Ulti could have been caused by him being smothered, and that his death therefore shouldn't have been attributed to epilepsy. As far as Dr. Carla was concerned, the deaths of all four Folbigg children should have been recorded as undetermined.

• 1:14:53Speaker 00

  While he couldn't medically prove what exactly had happened to them, he suspected that their deaths had been no accident.

• 1:15:05Speaker 00

  The case was put before the New South Wales homicide squad, and Detective Bernie Ryan was assigned to lead the investigation. He got to work gathering information about the medical history of each of the Folbigg children, and researching similar cases that had resulted in criminal convictions.

• 1:15:24Speaker 00

  Multiple doctors who had dealt with the Folbigg stated they'd never seen any signs of neglect or abuse, and that Kathleen and Craig had presented as loving and caring parents. However, they agreed that it was extraordinarily unlikely that one family could experience multiple cases of SIDS, unexplained deaths, and an Ulti.

• 1:15:48Speaker 00

  The pathologist who had issued Patrick Folbigg's death certificate citing epilepsy as the cause said he would have done things differently had Patrick's other siblings died first.

• 1:16:01Speaker 00

  Detective Ryan became increasingly convinced that the parents were hiding something, but he had no evidence to back his suspicions. That was, until Craig Folbigg called him out of the blue in May of 1999, wanting to report his own fear that his wife killed their four children. He gave several reasons: the inconsistencies in Kathleen's stories, the fact that she lost her temper with the children easily, and that she'd been visibly agitated in the lead-ups to Sarah and Laura's deaths. Craig also revealed that he'd found some upsetting diary entries that bolstered his suspicions.

• 1:16:43Speaker 00

  For Detective Ryan, this was a major breakthrough. However, he was also aware that the Folbigg' marriage was on the rocks, and was concerned that Craig's emotions might be doing the talking.

• 1:16:57Speaker 00

  Craig took a few days to think about it before going to the Singleton Police Station for an interview and a formal statement.

• 1:17:05Speaker 00

  He also handed over Kathleen's diary from June 96 to June 97, as well as another he'd found from 1989. It was written in the lead-up to Caleb's birth and during his short 19 days of life.

• 1:17:22Speaker 00

  The interview went for so long that Craig said he'd come back later to finish it off. In the meantime, Detective Ryan read the diary entries for himself and became even more convinced that Kathleen had killed her children. Why else would she have written those things?

• 1:17:41Speaker 00

  Chillingly, the diary from the time Caleb was alive had an entry that was written less than an hour before he was found dead. Dated 2 AM on February 19, 1989, it read simply: "Finally asleep."

• 1:17:59Speaker 00

  Pleased that the investigation was finally gaining momentum, Detective Ryan was therefore deeply disappointed when Craig Folbigg returned to the station four days later to announce that he wouldn't be completing his police interview. It was quite the opposite, he wanted to retract his statement instead. Craig told the police to forget everything he'd said because none of it was true. He explained that it had finally dawned on him that Kathleen wasn't coming back and he'd cast suspicion on her out of spite. In a revised statement, Craig wrote: "I am deeply hurt and I want Kathleen back.

• 1:18:42Speaker 00

  I believe because of this, I contacted Detective Ryan and told him some things that were not true. I love my wife and still do. I would never seriously think that she has hurt my children. I know that having four children die is not common, but nobody knows my wife like I do. I have been with her for fourteen years and we have been literally to hell and back. Having watched Kathy as a mother and seen the joy these children gave her, then to watch that disappear, I don't and can't believe that Kathy killed my children."

• 1:19:23Speaker 00

  Craig signed the revised statement, declaring everything he said in it was true and that if required, he'd be willing to stand behind it in a court of law. This was a major blow for detectives. The police still didn't have any concrete medical evidence to prove the Folbigg children had died as a result of foul play, and without Craig's involvement, there was little to go on. But Detective Ryan wasn't prepared to let it go. He questioned some of the Folbigg's neighbours to see what the couple's conduct was like after Laura died.

• 1:20:04Speaker 00

  The general consensus was that Craig had been a complete emotional wreck, whereas Kathleen appeared largely unaffected. One neighbour had lost their own child to Sids years earlier and had been so grief-stricken that they were unable to leave the house. In comparison, Kathleen had returned to the gym within days of losing Laura.

• 1:20:29Speaker 00

  It turned out that some townsfolk had privately questioned whether something more sinister could be at play, but hadn't dared voice their suspicions in case they were horribly wrong. But not everyone felt this way. The family GP praised Kathleen's parenting, while many of her friends were adamant that she had always been an incredibly caring and protective mother who was left devastated by her children's deaths. They said Kathleen had been so paranoid that something would happen to Sarah and Laura, that she refused to leave them with anyone who wasn't trained in CPR or didn't know how to use the apnea machines. Those who had spent time with Kathleen and Laura together noted the special bond the

• 1:21:14Speaker 00

  pair seemed to have. Kathleen's foster sister Lee Byrne, whom Kathleen had lived with since she was three years old, was outraged at the mere suggestion that Kathleen could have been involved in the children's deaths in any way. She knew that Kathleen had loved being a mother and that the deaths of her children had crushed her. Lee viewed the police investigation as nothing short of a witch hunt. With Lee's father and Kathleen's foster father deceased, and Kathleen having a strained relationship with her foster mother, Lee was fiercely protective of Kathleen.

• 1:21:55Speaker 00

  It quickly became clear to the police why Craig had decided to retract the statement he made against Kathleen. Within days of his first visit to the police station, Craig drove to Kathleen's house to talk to her, only to find her there with another man. Craig had such a strong reaction to this that he openly accused Kathleen of killing Laura and told her that the police thought so too. Kathleen was distraught. She asked Craig how he could think such a thing when he knew how much she loved them. They talked for hours and eventually Craig realised that he had made a big mistake. Of course Kathleen couldn't have harmed their children.

• 1:22:39Speaker 00

  After everything they'd been through, they decided to give their marriage one last shot.

• 1:22:46Speaker 00

  With the couple having reunited, the police would have to rely on outside sources to build their case. After Detective Ryan arranged for Kathleen's diaries to be analysed by experts from the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, he decided it was time to go straight to the source.

• 1:23:09Speaker 00

  On the morning of Friday, July 23, 1999, almost five months after Laura's death, Kathleen was called to the Singleton Police Station for her first formal interview. She went willingly and detailed the events leading up to the deaths of all four of her children. Straight away, Detective Ryan noticed some inconsistencies. For starters, Kathleen had previously told him that on the day Laura died, she'd been in the backyard when she heard Laura cough through the baby monitor.

• 1:23:44Speaker 00

  In her interview, she said she left the baby monitor inside because it could be annoying to carry around. Secondly, Craig had told the police that when Caleb died, he'd found Kathleen standing above his bassinet with her hands to her head, screaming. Kathleen told the police that upon finding Caleb, she had immediately scooped him up.

• 1:24:07Speaker 00

  On the night that Sarah died, Kathleen said that she'd been in their bedroom all night, whereas Craig said he'd woken to find neither his wife or child in the room.

• 1:24:18Speaker 00

  Asked about the inconsistencies between her and Craig's version of events, Kathleen admitted that Craig could be right in any given situation. She said her memory wasn't great and when it came to her children, she chose to remember the good bits and shut out the difficulties. However, she was adamant that Craig's recollection of the night Sarah died was incorrect and insisted that she'd never taken Sarah out of the bedroom.

• 1:24:48Speaker 00

  While Kathleen also admitted that she'd become frustrated with the kids at times, she said she never held on to any anger. She'd just express herself, sometimes with the so-called growl that Craig had described, and be done with it. She also agreed with Craig's comment that she'd moved on more quickly after the children's deaths than he did, but she explained this was because she had a tendency to block things out rather than deal with them. It was something she was working on in therapy. Detective Ryan asked Kathleen how she felt for the children now, and she responded: "That they are somewhere peaceful, happy."

• 1:25:31Speaker 00

  "Do you really believe that?" the detective asked. "I don't know," Kathleen responded. "I don't know. I prefer to believe that."

• 1:25:46Speaker 00

  The detectives then asked Kathleen about her diaries, which she already knew Craig had handed over. Kathleen explained that she had always kept some form of journal as a way to vent her thoughts and feelings. The detectives queried what she'd meant when, while trying to conceive Laura, she had written: "When I think I'm going to lose control like last times, I'll just hand the baby over to someone else. I have learned my lesson this time."

• 1:26:17Speaker 00

  Kathleen said she was referring to the frustrations she typically directed at herself and Craig when she was having a hard time with Sarah and Patrick. She had meant that instead of trying to do everything herself, she would ask for help and try to communicate more.

• 1:26:35Speaker 00

  As for the entry that read: "I would like to make all my mistakes and terrible thinking be corrected." Kathleen said she was referring to the regret she felt about being frustrated with the amount of time she'd had to devote to Patrick and the occasional battle of wills she'd had with Sarah. Looking back, she explained: "I thought that was a terrible way of thinking."

• 1:27:01Speaker 00

  She admitted that she'd had the occasional angry thought when dealing with Sarah and Patrick, but that those thoughts were more directed at Craig and the lack of help she received. When she'd written that she didn't want her next child to suffer from her psychological mood swings like the others did, she hadn't meant physical suffering, just that they'd pick up on it when she was upset or in a bad mood.

• 1:27:28Speaker 00

  Regarding her entry that she was most scared about being left alone with the baby, this was because they had all died on her watch. Kathleen was adamant that she never felt like harming her children or had any feelings of hatred towards them. Any comments she'd made about feeling guilty or responsible for their deaths were based on the fact that she felt like a failure for not being able to keep them alive. She explained: "I was still carrying around the thought that I could have done more, or should have done more." For example, what if she'd just checked on them two minutes earlier? Would they still be alive? Her comment that she'd been a terrible mother was based purely on the fact that other mothers

• 1:28:13Speaker 00

  had numerous children and were probably much more stressed than Kathleen had ever been, and their children were still here, while Kathleen's were not.

• 1:28:24Speaker 00

  Detective Ryan asked Kathleen what she meant when she wrote: "Obviously, I am my father's daughter." She explained that her father had been a "total big loser" who ruined the lives of everyone he came into contact with. Kathleen said she was questioning whether she too was a loser who was destined to have a tragic life.

• 1:28:49Speaker 00

  It had been a long and grueling interview, with questions increasing in intensity as the hours passed. It was obvious that they were starting to take their toll on Kathleen. By the time the interrogation reached the seven-hour mark, the detectives asked Kathleen if she knew what sort of person would kill four children. Her voice was barely audible as she replied: "I have no comprehension, and I don't even want to think about it."

• 1:29:21Speaker 00

  They then put her to her point blank, asking if she was responsible for the deaths of each of her children. Kathleen's answer was the same for each of them: a forceful and emphatic no. When the interview ended after almost nine hours, the detectives told Kathleen they had search warrants for her new flat and the home she shared with Craig. They were going to search both properties right away. Of particular interest to them were any other diaries. Kathleen had told the detectives that she'd stopped journaling after discovering that Craig

• 1:30:01Speaker 00

  had read one of her diaries and she'd subsequently thrown her old ones away. However, the search turned up another diary from mid 1997, which Kathleen claimed to have forgotten about. It chronicled the time during Laura's birth and infancy. Various entries raised even more questions than the ones before it. In the lead up to Laura's birth, Kathleen wrote that she was already having visions of her baby's future, whereas, quote, "With the other three, I never bothered to think about school or the teenage years, maybe because I always knew they would never get there.

• 1:30:43Speaker 00

  Therefore, I assume I'm actually ready for the family life now, where I wasn't before." She said her desire to have another baby was due in part to wanting to leave a legacy after her own eventual death, and that the problem with the other three kids was that she hadn't felt that way. Kathleen wrote, "Felt I didn't deserve to be extended, and that I was condemning them to life with me. That feeling has changed. This time, all is well, and well, it will go."

• 1:31:20Speaker 00

  An entry dated July 6, 1997, just weeks before Laura was born, saw Kathleen once again talking about her so-called "dark moods", and how she planned on asking for help when the stress became too much. She wrote: "Hopefully, preparing myself will mean the end of my dark moods, or at least the ability to see it coming, and be able to say to Craig or someone, 'Hey, help! I'm getting overwhelmed here. Help me out.'

• 1:31:52Speaker 00

  That will surely be the key to this baby's survival."

• 1:31:57Speaker 00

  A few days later, reflecting on memories she said she had blocked out, Kathleen wrote: "Heaven help, the day they surface and I can recall. That will be the day to lock me up and throw away the key. Something I'm sure will happen, one day."

• 1:32:17Speaker 00

  Eighteen days after Laura was born, Kathleen made a comment that she was having scary feelings about Laura, in that quote: "I've realised I actually love her and have bonded with her. Wished to protect her, etc. Maternal instinct is what they call it. Realise I never had it with the others."

• 1:32:41Speaker 00

  Referring to the apnea monitor that recorded Laura's sleep data, Kathleen wrote: "Monitor is a good idea. Nothing can happen without the monitor knowing, and since I'm not game enough to not plug it in because they'd want to know why, everything will be fine, this time."

• 1:33:02Speaker 00

  By the time Laura was six weeks old, the lack of sleep was taking its toll on Kathleen. She used her diary to vent her frustration that Craig wasn't doing anything to help during Laura's overnight wakes and the false alarms triggered by the monitor. She said that she was growing irritable, calling Craig a "selfish prick", and writing: "This is my punishment for the others, to be continually woken up."

• 1:33:32Speaker 00

  When Laura was two and a half months old, Kathleen watched a video of Sarah and then reflected on her feelings in her diary.

• 1:33:41Speaker 00

  "Have to be honest," she wrote. "I cherish Laura more. I miss Sarah, yes, but I'm not sad that Laura is here and she isn't. Is that a bad way to think? Don't know. Also, she is a far more agreeable child and easy most of the time. I think Laura is beautiful compared to Sarah. Sarah was cute, but Laura has a special look about her. They are chalk and cheese, and truthfully, just as well. Wouldn't have handled another one like Sarah. Laura saved her life by being different."

• 1:34:23Speaker 00

  As the months passed by, Kathleen wrote about the troubles in her marriage and her desire to be alone. She felt like she'd lost her freedom. Her one enjoyable outlet, the gym, had been taken away because she had to take Laura with her and couldn't switch off like she used to. Kathleen said that Laura being there put a dampener on everything.

• 1:34:49Speaker 00

  Sleep deprived and feeling like she'd lost her identity, in January of 1998, Kathleen wrote that she'd lost her temper with Laura. She had yelled so angrily that the six-month-old wouldn't stop crying. She said that things were so bad that she'd nearly purposely dropped Laura on the floor and left her there. "I feel like the worst mother on earth," Kathleen wrote. "Scared that she'll leave me now, like Sarah did. I know I was short-tempered and cruel sometimes to her, and she left with a bit of help. I don't want that to ever happen again. I actually seem to have a bond with Laura.

• 1:35:33Speaker 00

  It can't happen again."

• 1:35:37Speaker 00

  If that entry wasn't damning enough for the detectives, one from a couple of months earlier was enough to completely eradicate any lingering doubts they might have had.

• 1:35:49Speaker 00

  In November 1997, writing about Craig's morbid fear that something bad would happen to Laura, Kathleen said: "Well, I know there's nothing wrong with her, nothing out of the ordinary anyway, because it was me, not them. Think I handle Laura's fits of crying better than I did with Sarah. I've learned to walk away and breathe in for a while. It helps me cope and I figure out how to help her. With Sarah, all I wanted was her to shut up, and one day, she did."

• 1:36:30Speaker 00

  Unbeknownst to Craig and Kathleen, about a week before Kathleen was interviewed, the police had placed a telephone intercept on their landline and installed covert listening devices in their bedroom and lounge room. All of their phone calls and personal conversations were being recorded and monitored. The police hoped that Kathleen's police interview and the subsequent search warrant would provoke some incriminating conversations. As soon as the Folbigg were alone, an emotional Kathleen started telling Craig about everything she'd just endured at the station. She asked why he had decided to go to the police in the first place.

• 1:37:13Speaker 00

  Craig struggled to find the words, stuttering: "I went there because I was so full of hate and spite and anxiety and grief and anguish over the fact that I'd not only lost my daughter, I'd lost my wife. I'd lost the two most precious things to me."

• 1:37:33Speaker 00

  Professing his deep and undying love for Kathleen, Craig explained that he didn't know how to properly express his feelings in a way that would convince her to stay with him. Instead, he thought:

• 1:37:48Speaker 00

  "Fine, I'll fucking fix this. You fucked my life, so I'll fuck yours. I will go and tell some fucking horrible thing about you that the police think you did anyway."

• 1:38:02Speaker 00

  Their conversation continued late into the night. Over the days that followed, the tension between them seemed to be brewing. Three days after the police interview, Kathleen told Craig she was feeling stressed out. His response was shocking.

• 1:38:22Speaker 00

  "I'm feeling stressed out too," Craig replied. "You know, all night I've been thinking, maybe I killed the kids."

• 1:38:35Speaker 00

  To be continued next week.

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