Thanks to science, Kathleen Folbigg, who they dubbed “Australia’s worst serial killer”, was released from prison this Monday (5) in New South Wales (a state in the southeast of the country) after serving 20 years on charges of killing her own children.
Her conviction and imprisonment came in 2003 when she was found guilty of the firstdegree murder (without intent to kill) of three of her children — Patrick, Sarah, and Laura — and the wrongful death (without intent to kill) of her eldest son, Caleb.
The deaths of the children whose ages ranged from 19 days to 19 months occurred between 1989 and 1999. Kathleen was accused of suffocating the babies. However, she always maintained that she was innocent and that the deaths were natural.
New evidence on the case
After a coroner ruled in 2015 that there was no evidence of a homicide, new evidence showed the cause of death may in fact have been natural. Last week New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley told the press that new scientific evidence had cast doubt on the woman’s guilt in the deaths of her children.
genetic mutations
A second probe into the case, led by former judge Tom Bathurst, began after 90 scientists and doctors signed a petition calling for Kathleen’s release. There are two Nobel Prize winners on the list. Scientific research had discovered a genetic mutation in Kathleen and her two daughters, Sarah and Laura, raising the suspicion that this mutation could have been the cause of the babies’ natural deaths.
In 2021, Carola Vinuesa, professor of immunology and genomics at the Australian National University, explained in an interview with the BBC that this variant is contained in a gene called CALM2, which codes for calmodulin (a protein found in the brain and cells). occurs in the heart) is responsible. which could lead to sudden cardiac death.
The results were published in the journal Europace. Other known CALM variants are responsible for causing cardiac arrest and death in sleeping children. Myocarditis is also mentioned as a possible cause of Laura’s death.
Caleb and Patrick would have a different genetic mutation in the BSN gene, unlike their mother and sisters. Research has shown that this variant could be responsible for the development of fatal epilepsy.