Kathleen Folbigg is an Australian woman who was wrongfully convicted in 2003 of murdering her four infant children.
She was pardoned in 2023 after 20 years in jail following a long campaign for justice by her supporters, and had her convictions overturned on appeal a few months later.
No direct evidence of the imputed crimes was ever found, but in the personal diary discovered by her husband and dutifully handed over to the police, several entries seemed to suggest she might have harmed, and indeed murdered, her children.
Kathleen Folbigg Children: All about Kathleen Folbigg Four Children
Kathleen Folbigg does not have any living children. Her four biological children died between 1989 and 1999. She also had two miscarriages during her marriage with Craig.
Caleb Gibson
Caleb Gibson Folbigg, born on 1 February 1989, was known to breathe noisily and was diagnosed by a paediatrician to be suffering from a mild case of laryngomalacia, something he would eventually outgrow; he was otherwise born healthy.
On 20 February, Caleb died in his sleep, in a room adjoining his parents’ bedroom. During the night, Caleb stirred from midnight until 2 a.m. Found by Folbigg, the death was attributed to cot death. Caleb was 19 days old.
Patrick Allen
Patrick Allen Folbigg was born on 3 June 1990. Craig remained at home to help care for his wife and baby for three months after the birth.
On 18 October, Folbigg put Patrick to bed. Craig was awakened by the sounds of his wife screaming and found her standing at the baby’s cot.
He noticed the child was not breathing and attempted to revive him by cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An ambulance was called and Patrick was taken to hospital.
He would later be diagnosed to be suffering from epilepsy and cortical blindness, though the apparent life-threatening event would go unexplained. He died four months later (February 13, 1991) due to seizures.
On 18 February 1991, Folbigg telephoned her husband at work to report Patrick’s death, saying “It’s happened again!”
Sarah Kathleen
Following their second loss, the couple moved to Thornton, New South Wales, a suburb of Maitland.
Sarah Kathleen Folbigg was born on 14 October 1992, and died on 29 August 1993, aged 10 months.
Laura Elizabeth
In 1996, the couple moved to Singleton. On 7 August 1997, Laura Elizabeth Folbigg was born. On 27 February 1999, Laura died, at the age of 18 months.
