The Death of Innocents - Hardcover

Firstman, Richard; Talan, Jamie

 
9780553100136: The Death of Innocents
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0553100130 ISBN 13: 9780553100136
Verlag: Bantam Dell Pub Group, 1997

Inhaltsangabe

Follows the investigation into the deaths of five babies in a single family during the early 1970s, a probe that resulted in the mother's conviction for murder

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Richard Firstman is a former staff writer and editor at <i>Newsday,</i> where he was the recipient of numerous awards for feature and investigative reporting.  Jamie Talan is a prizewinning science and medical reporter for <i>Newsday</i> who specializes in neuroscience and behavior.  They live in Northport, New York, with their three children.

Aus dem Klappentext

twenty-five-year tale of multiple murder and medical deception, <i>The Death of Innocents</i> is a work of first-rate journalism told with the compelling narrative drive of a mystery novel.  More than just a true-crime story, it is the stunning expose of spurious science that sent medical researchers in the wrong direction--and nearly allowed a murderer to go unpunished.<br><br>On July 28, 1971 a two-and-a-half month-old baby named Noah Hoyt died in his trailer home in a rural hamlet of upstate New York. He was the fifth child of Waneta and Tim Hoyt to die suddenly in the space of seven years. People certainly talked, but Waneta spoke vaguely of "crib death." There was plenty of unease, but over time the talk faded.<br><br>Nearly two decades later a district attorney in Syracuse, New York was alerted to landmark paper in the literature on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome--SIDS--that had been published in a prestigious medical journal in 1972.  Written by a

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"Sue," Courtright said to Mulvey, "switch places with Bubba."  He went over the script one more time.  "Don't use the word 'murder.'  Don't say 'suffocate.'  'Caused the death of your children.'  Let her tell us the rest."  Mulvey nodded.  She knew the script cold.  "Don't waver," Fitzpatrick urged her.  Courtright knew there was little chance of that.  He could see it in her eyes.

They went back down the hall.  Simpson stayed behind, and paced.  This is it, he thought.  Either she's getting arrested for murder today, or we've got a real tough grind ahead.  Courtright grabbed Bleck and told him the new seating plan.  Fitzpatrick and Tynan went into the room with the one-way mirror and saw Waneta Hoyt for the first time.  Aside from her startling baldness, she looked much as Fitzpatrick had imagined her, ravaged by time.  Tynan, though, was surprised at how pathetic she seemed.  He expected to see the face of evil.  He wondered if it was guilt that made Waneta Hoyt look so wretched.

They watched Mulvey slip into Bleck's chair.  Fitzpatrick's heart raced.  He tried to read Waneta's eyes.  Did she know what was coming?  Would she deny everything?  Ask for a lawyer?  A ride home?  If she did, they'd have to give it to her.  He could do nothing but watch through that little one-way mirror.  It was all in Sue Mulvey's hands.

Mulvey took Waneta's hand in hers.  She laid her other hand on her shoulder.  She looked her in the eye and leaned close.

"Waneta," she said, "we know that what you've told us is not the truth.  We know that you caused the death of your children."

Fitzpatrick saw the blood rush up through Waneta's neck and redden her face.  He strained to hear her response.

"That's not what you said this morning," she said.  "You lied to me."

"No, I didn't lie to you," Mulvey said firmly.  "I told you we've spoken with doctors and we wanted to know how your children died.  Now I'm telling you that these doctors have told us that your children did not die the way you say."

No, Waneta said.  They were wrong.  Her children died of SIDS.  They had breathing problems.  Dr. Steinschneider could tell them.

Mulvey shook her head.  "The medical evidence shows that you did something to cause the children to die," she said.

Waneta fell silent.  She dropped her head.  She began to cry softly.

Mulvey remained frozen in her comforting pose.  Ever so gently, she rubbed Waneta's shoulder.  Sometimes bad things just happen, she said Maybe you had some problems when you were young.  But now it was time to let it out.  Waneta extended her right arm across the table to Bleck and grasped his hand.  Courtright sat stiffly, waiting for the words to come.  In the next room, Fitzpatrick ached for the hammer to drop.  Mulvey's words were barely audible.  Simpson came in, saw the gripping scene through the mirror.  It was good body language.  She wasn't demanding a lawyer.  Tynan left the room and tried to listen through the crack of the door.

For a while, the only sound was Waneta's soft sobs.  Then she fell quiet.

"You've carried this burden so many years," Mulvey said.  She was inches from Waneta's face.  "It's been a long time.  It's better to share it, get the truth out.  We know it's painful, but we'll help you get through it."

Waneta did not answer.  The silence seemed endless.  Then, finally, she spoke.

"My husband won't love me anymore," she said.  "He'll throw me in the gutter.  Everyone will hate me."

"No, that's not true, Waneta," Bleck said.

"From everything you've just told us, I can't see Tim not loving you after all these years," Mulvey said.  "Not after all you've been through."

"That's right," Bleck said soothingly.  "Nobody's throwing you in the gutter.  We'll explain to Tim what's happened."

Waneta seemed to consider this.  She was quiet again, no longer crying.  Then, she broke her silence.

"I've asked God so many times to forgive me," she said.

This Fitzpatrick heard.  Ever so quietly, his heart thumping, he went out into the hall and whispered breathlessly to Tynan, "Did she just say what I think she said?"  Tynan was lit up.  "Yeah, yeah," he said, "she's going for it.  She's going for it."

"Tell us what happened, Waneta," Mulvey said now.  "Just pick one of the children, pick any one of them and tell us what happened."

Another long silence enveloped the room.  And then Waneta began to speak, her head still lowered.

"They just kept crying and crying," she said.  "I just picked up Julie and I put her into my arm, in between my arm and my neck like this"--she demonstrated--"and I just kept squeezing and squeezing and squeezing...."

At this, Courtright felt an instant, enormous release of pressure.

She picked Jimmy next.  Her voice was steady now.  He was bothering her while she was getting dressed one morning, she said, so she killed him.

One by one, in methodical, emotionless detail, Waneta Hoyt admitted to five acts of murder.  Eric.  Julie.  James.  Molly.  Noah.  "I caused the death of all my five children," she was saying a few minutes later, starting again at the beginning, Mulvey prompting her with questions, writing down Waneta's responses by hand:


I suffocated Eric in the living room of Ella Hoyt's house, where we were living at the time.  He was crying at the time and I wanted to stop him.  I held a pillow (it might have been a soft throw pillow) over his face while I was sitting on the couch.  I don't remember if he struggled or not, but he did bleed from the mouth and nose.  After he was dead, I picked him up and went to my neighbor's house....

Julie was the next one to die.  She was crying and I wanted her to stop.  I held her nose and mouth into my shoulder until she stopped struggling....

The next one was James.  I was in the bathroom getting dressed and he wanted to come in.  He came in the bathroom and I made him go out.  He started crying, "Mommy, mommy."  I wanted him to stop crying for me, so I used a bath towel to smother him.  We were in the living room when I did this.  He got a bloody nose from fighting against the towel.  After he was dead, I picked him up and flagged down a garbage truck for help.

The next one was Molly.  She was just home from the hospital overnight and was crying in her crib.  I used a pillow that was in the crib to smother her.  After she was dead, I called Mom Hoyt and Dr. Steinschneider.

Noah was the last child that I killed.  He was home from the hospital and was in his crib and...

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Verlag
Bantam Dell Pub Group
Erscheinungsdatum
1997
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0553100130
ISBN 13 
9780553100136
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
632
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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