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Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need
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support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for
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a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our
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website. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all
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listeners. It was just after midday on Monday, March 1, 1999, when a frantic call came
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through to the New South Wales emergency services line. A panic-stricken woman was on the other
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line. "Um, my baby's not breathing." She exclaimed. The operator asked how old the baby was.
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"20 months." The woman replied, her voice bordering on hysterical. She told the operator to hang on for a
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minute as she was in the middle of performing CPR. A moment later, she reported that she
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couldn't get a heartbeat. The operator asked the woman if she knew what was wrong with her baby.
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The woman responded, but the operator wasn't sure if she'd heard correctly. She asked the woman to repeat herself.
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"I've had three go already." The woman said. >> Craig Folbigg had always wanted children.
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Having been raised in a large and loving family, he looked forward to the day he
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could start one of his own. That desire only intensified after Craig's mother unexpectedly died of a
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stroke when Craig was a teenager and his father subsequently remarried. Craig worked hard to save money and
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carve out a stable life for himself so that he'd be ready to settle down when the time was right.
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In 1985, Craig was enjoying a night out with friends at a Newcastle nightclub when he met a young woman named Kathleen
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on the dance floor. Although Kathleen was 6 years younger than Craig and had only recently moved
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out of home for the first time, he was instantly drawn to her. She had a confidence and cheekiness that
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he found very endearing. The two immediately hit it off and were virtually inseparable from the get-go,
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finding great joy in one another's company. Kathleen saw Craig as her knight in shining armor.
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Not only was he extremely charming with the gift of the gab, Kathleen liked that
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Craig came from a large and welcoming family. Having been raised in a foster family
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herself, she viewed family as the most important thing in life and she shared Craig's dreams of having children.
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The two fell head over heels in love and by 1988, they were married and living in
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their first home, a two-bedroom weatherboard house in the northwestern Newcastle suburb of Mayfield.
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Everything seemed to be falling into place for the newlywed Folbiggs when in May that year, Kathleen discovered she
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was pregnant. Although this wasn't planned, it was very exciting news for them both.
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Kathleen fully embraced her journey into motherhood, making changes to her diet,
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forbidding Craig from smoking inside, and preparing the house for the baby. Her pregnancy proceeded without a hitch.
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She didn't even experience any morning sickness. As her due date grew closer, Craig
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received a compensation payout for a workplace injury he'd sustained, and they were able to pay off their
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mortgage, clearing themselves of all debt before the baby arrived. It was as good a start to married life
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as any couple could have hoped for. After a difficult 18-hour labor, Caleb Bolbig was born on February 1, 1989.
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As the now 21-year-old Kathleen held her baby boy for the first time, she felt a
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great sense of accomplishment, thinking to herself, "I did it. This is what I'm on this
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planet for." Other than some slight respiratory issues that were common in newborns,
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Caleb passed all of his health checks with flying colors. The mother and son stayed in hospital
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for 4 days while doctors monitored Caleb, and while Kathleen recovered from some complications caused by the
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epidural she'd been given. When they were allowed to go home, the new parents set Caleb up in his nursery
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in the sunroom next to their bedroom, and settled into their new routine as a family of three.
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Kathleen had some trouble breastfeeding, so opted to bottle-feed Caleb instead. All was going well, but she was a little
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concerned about the way he was feeding. It looked like he was having trouble breathing through his nose while sucking
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on the bottle, as though he couldn't breathe and drink at the same time. When Caleb was 2 and 1/2 weeks old,
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Kathleen took him to see a pediatrician who concluded that he had a floppy larynx, which was causing stridor upon
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inhalation. In other words, he was a noisy breather. The pediatrician assured Kathleen that
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it was a very common and mild problem that would resolve itself over time. A couple of days later, on Sunday,
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February 19, Craig had the day off from his relatively new job at a local car yard, and he took Kathleen to visit his
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brother who lived in nearby. It was an enjoyable day, and Caleb fell asleep in the car on the drive home.
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At 8:00 p.m., Kathleen dressed Caleb for bed and gave him a bottle before putting
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him down in his cane bassinet in the nursery. Although it was summer, their house was
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drafty overnight, so Kathleen wrapped Caleb in his bunny rug and covered him with a white blanket.
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She and Craig stayed up for a bit longer before kissing Caleb good night and going to bed themselves at around 10:00.
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Caleb typically woke up every 3 or 4 hours overnight, and it was Kathleen's job to tend to him.
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She would wake up the second she heard his cries and feed him in the lounge room before settling him back to sleep
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in his bassinet. Craig had always been an incredibly heavy sleeper, and he never even stirred
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during these nighttime feedings. But at around 2:50 a.m. on Monday, February 20, Craig was suddenly jolted
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awake by the sound of Kathleen screaming. "My baby," she cried. "Something is wrong with my baby."
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Craig jumped out of bed and raced into the nursery. Kathleen was standing over Caleb's
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bassinet, holding her hands to her forehead and screaming. Craig ran to the bassinette and saw
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Caleb lying on his back, still wrapped in his bunny robe, his eyes closed, and his lips blue.
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He frantically picked Caleb up and started giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but as he hadn't been
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formally trained, he wasn't exactly sure what to do. He told Kathleen to call an ambulance
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and then carried Caleb into the lounge room. Caleb's small body was still warm as
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Craig hurriedly laid him on the couch and continued blowing into his mouth. Ambulance officers arrived at the
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Forbigs' home at 2:59 a.m. and asked Craig and Kathleen to leave the room while they worked on their son.
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They established that Caleb was in a state of cardiac arrest and was no longer conscious or breathing.
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For 39 minutes, they did everything they could to try and resuscitate the 19-day-old,
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but it was too late. Caleb was already dead. The ambulance officers told the clearly
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devastated parents to hold their baby boy one last time, while declaring the likely cause of his death to be sudden
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infant death syndrome, commonly known as SIDS. SIDS, which is sometimes referred to as
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cot death, is not technically a cause of death, but is the term used for the unexpected death of an otherwise healthy
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baby when no other cause can be found. Incidents of SIDS typically occur while the baby is asleep, and it is most
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common in those aged between 1 month and 6 months old, with the majority of all cases occurring in the first 12 months
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of life. While certain risk factors, such as premature birth, unsafe sleep practices,
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or smoking during pregnancy can increase the chances of SIDS, there is no way to
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prevent it completely. Little was known about SIDS at the time of Caleb's death, and exactly what
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causes it remains unknown to this day. Kathleen said she'd gotten up to feed Caleb shortly before 2:00 a.m. and he'd
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been completely fine. She put him back to sleep in his bassinet before returning to bed
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herself, but had stirred awake again shortly after. She rose to check on Caleb again, but as
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soon as she entered the nursery, she noticed that she couldn't hear him breathing.
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When she placed her hand on his chest, she couldn't feel it rising. Everything from that moment on was a
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blur. Caleb's autopsy didn't explain his death. The forensic pathologist found him to be
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well-nourished, well-developed, and well-cared for. There were no signs of injury, no
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obstructions in his airways, and no evidence that his floppy larynx played any role in his passing.
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With nothing else to attribute it to, the pathologist confirmed that Caleb Folbigg had died from SIDS.
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Craig and Kathleen did the best they could to accept their tragic loss. They met with a grief counselor and
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tried to accept that nothing they did had contributed to Caleb's death. A representative from a SIDS
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organization told them there was no reason not to try for another baby, explaining that it was incredibly rare
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that such a thing would happen again. Craig and Kathleen both dealt with their grief in different ways.
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While Craig fell into a deep pit of despair and struggled to face the outside world, Kathleen preferred to
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keep herself busy and get on with things. After being advised that there was a higher rate of SIDS among those of lower
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socioeconomic status and that environmental factors could also play a role, the couple got to work renovating
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their house. They made improvements to the rundown and a drafty nursery, bought high-quality bedding, repainted and
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recarpeted the home, and put new blinds in. While all this was going on, Kathleen
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discovered she was pregnant again. The couple was excited, yet apprehensive. They hadn't planned on having another
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baby so soon, but they also felt they'd taken all the right steps to ensure the same thing wouldn't happen again and
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were thankful to have a second chance at a family. On June 3, 1990, just 15 and a half
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months after Caleb's death, Kathleen and Craig welcomed another son, a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy they named
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Patrick. Like his brother, Patrick was born at full term and passed all his health
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checks. He had no problems feeding or breathing. But given what happened to Caleb,
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Patrick underwent a sleep study when he was a week and a half old. It came back entirely normal.
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As far as the doctors were concerned, there was no medical reason for the Folbigg's to worry.
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Craig was ecstatic. Regretful of how little time he'd had with Caleb, he quit his job so he could
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spend as much time as possible with his new son. Instead of sleeping in the sunroom,
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Patrick was given the renovated bedroom towards the back of their house. Although it was a bit further from his
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parents' room, it was warmer and more secure. Again, Kathleen took responsibility for
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the nighttime wakes, and by the time Patrick was 3 months old, he was sleeping well and only waking up once in
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the middle of the night for a quick feed before going straight back to sleep until morning.
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Craig was so relieved by how positively Patrick was thriving that when he was offered a job at the Holden dealership 5
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minutes from their home, he accepted. By Wednesday, October 17, 1990, he'd been in the new job for 3 days and was
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adjusting to his new routine. Patrick was recovering from a slight cold, but was otherwise healthy and
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well. Kathleen put him to bed in his cot at around 8:30 p.m. and Craig went in a
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couple of hours later to kiss him goodnight before retiring to bed himself. As always, Craig slept soundly,
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oblivious to the nighttime activity in his home. But at around 4:30 a.m., he was once
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again awoken by the sound of Kathleen's bloodcurdling scream. Craig threw off his covers and raced
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into Patrick's room. Kathleen was standing over the cot screaming. Patrick was lying on his back with his
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eyes closed, his lips blue, and his body limp. Craig scooped him up and yelled at
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Kathleen to call an ambulance. He held the infant to his ear and to his great relief, he could hear the faintest
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sound of labored breathing. Despite what had happened to Caleb, Craig still hadn't formally learned CPR,
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but the SIDS representative had taught him how to properly give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
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He immediately leapt into action until the ambulance arrived. Patrick was rushed to the hospital where
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Kathleen told the doctors that he had woken up at around midnight as per usual. She'd gone in to give him his before
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settling him back to sleep. Later on, she heard him coughing and went in to check on him, but all
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appeared to be well, so she went back to bed again. It was only when she got up to go to the
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toilet later on that she noticed what sounded like Patrick gasping for air. The doctors administered Patrick with
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oxygen, and to the relief of everyone in the emergency room, his eyes shot open and he started to cry.
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Slowly, his skin returned to its regular color and his oxygen levels returned to
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normal. It was determined that Patrick had suffered what's known as an apparent life-threatening event, or ALTE.
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The doctors could find no reason for it. They conducted various tests and found no evidence of disease, infections, or
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injury to explain his respiratory distress. Whatever the cause, the lack of oxygen
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to Patrick's brain had been catastrophic. While he was recovering in hospital, he
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had numerous seizures, and a CT scan revealed signs of brain damage. The seizures continued over the
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following weeks, leading to Patrick being diagnosed with epilepsy. After further testing, the doctors broke
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the news to Kathleen and Craig that Patrick was also officially blind. From that point onwards, family life
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changed for the Folbiggs. Kathleen devoted her time to shuffling Patrick between various specialist
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appointments, consultations with the Blind Association, and administering his medication.
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She brought him to occupational therapists and sought professional guidance about how to teach him to eat,
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drink, and crawl. She and Craig monitored Patrick closely in case he had another seizure.
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It was hard work, but they were just so relieved that Patrick had survived that they were willing to do whatever it took
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to give him the happy and full life he deserved. As 1990 drew to a close, Patrick was
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admitted to hospital on three separate occasions after having further seizures, but overall, he seemed to be responding
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well to his treatments and was becoming a spirited and determined little boy. The Folbiggs were still adjusting to
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their new normal when the phone rang at Craig's work on the morning of Wednesday, February 13, 1991.
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Kathleen was on the other line screaming. "It's happened again." she cried. Craig thought she meant that Patrick was
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having another seizure, but Kathleen explained that she'd put Patrick down for a nap and had later
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walked past his room only to notice that he was lying on his back. This was odd because she always laid him
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down on his side. She said that at first she thought he'd had another seizure, but then she
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realized he wasn't breathing. Craig immediately raced home beating the ambulance which was delayed due to road
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works in the area. When he walked in, Kathleen was hysterical covering her face with her
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hands and sobbing. Eight month old Patrick was still lying in his cot, slightly warm to the touch.
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His lips were blue and his body was limp. Again, Craig scooped him up and placed
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him on the laundry 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
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where doctors worked at desperately for 20 minutes before declaring the unthinkable.
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Craig and Kathleen Folbigg had lost another child. Unlike with Caleb, the cause of
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Patrick's death was a little clearer. An autopsy determined he had suffered from an epileptic seizure that caused
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obstruction to his airways and cardiac arrest. Patrick's small body was cremated and
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interred with his brother, while his devastated parents tried to come to terms with what had happened.
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Patrick's death took a huge toll on the Folbigg's marriage. Consumed by grief, Craig felt unable to
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function or face the world, and he eventually lost his job. He preferred to spend his time alone
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hanging out in his garage or with the young son of their next-door neighbor. Kathleen blamed herself for what
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happened and felt as though she had failed as a mother. She had no drive to do anything, but she
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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 3 years of their marriage steeped in tragedy, Kathleen, who was only 23 at this point, was eager
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for a fresh start. Wanting to free herself from the constant reminders of her children's
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deaths, she told Craig she wanted to move. She also accepted a job as a sales assistant at Babyco, a retail store that
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specialized in supplies for expectant mothers and newborns. Craig couldn't understand how Kathleen
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could possibly handle being around pregnant women and babies so soon after Patrick's death, but she saw it as
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exposure therapy. The sooner she got out there, the sooner life might return to normal.
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The Folbigg sold their home and moved to Thornton, an inland suburb 25 km northwest of Newcastle.
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As the months passed, Craig still felt no desire to see anyone or do anything. It became a source of contention for the
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couple, with Kathleen insisting they needed to get on with their lives. Eventually, Craig found a new job as a
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used car salesman and did his best to join his wife on social outings. He craved another chance at fatherhood,
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but was so traumatized by what had happened to Caleb and Patrick that he could barely stand the thought.
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If there was one thing he was certain of, he never wanted to hear that scream come out of Kathleen's mouth again.
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By the end of 1991, 10 months had passed since Patrick's death. After all the changes they'd made to
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their lives, Kathleen told Craig she was ready to try for another baby. While she understood the potential for
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pain, she wanted to be a mother more than anything else and was willing to take the risk.
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Despite his innate desire, Craig was full of doubts. There were simply too many unanswered
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questions and he feared what would happen to their marriage if they were faced with another blow.
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They spent a week talking and mulling it over before Craig agreed to give it another shot, as long as they sought
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expert medical advice from the moment the baby was born. Kathleen happily agreed and by February
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of 1992, she was pregnant for the third time. At 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 14,
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the 25-year-old gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Sarah. This time, the Folbiggs weren't taking
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any chances. Craig and Kathleen had both been trained in CPR, and they'd utilized the help of
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the SIDS organization, through which they were given an apnea blanket to use on Sarah.
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The blanket was fitted with an alarm that was designed to go off anytime a lack of movement was detected after a
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set period of time. Sarah's health was closely monitored by doctors. She was subjected to a sleep study at 3
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weeks old that showed nothing of concern. However, a doctor later noticed some slight abnormalities in her breathing
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and prescribed a drug to help open up her airways just to be on the safe side. As the weeks passed, Sarah developed
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normally, but Kathleen was getting very little sleep. Not only was Sarah a catnapper who only
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slept for short periods during the day and woke regularly throughout the night, the apnea blanket incessantly produced
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false alarms that jolted Kathleen out of bed and filled her with anxiety. Being the deep sleeper that he was,
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Craig slept through the false alarms and provided no overnight relief. The first few months of Sarah's life
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were difficult for Kathleen. The car dealership Craig was now working at was an hour's drive from their home,
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and he typically worked a long hours, leaving at 7:00 in the morning and not returning until 7:00 or 8:00 at night.
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This left Kathleen home alone to take care of the domestic duties on very little sleep with a baby who could be
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fussy and strong-willed. She was also finding it difficult to bond with Sarah, terrified of getting
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too close in case she lost her, too. Kathleen felt like she needed a break, but she didn't trust anyone other than
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Craig to look after their daughter. No one else understood how the apnea blanket worked, and she didn't feel safe
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leaving her with anyone unless they were trained in CPR. Eventually, Kathleen started working
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weekends at Baby Co again to regain a little bit of independence. By the time Sarah was 10 months old in
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August 1993, the family had found their groove. With 80% of all SIDS-related deaths
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occurring before the age of 6 months, the Folbiggs felt they could slightly let their guards down.
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They'd stopped using the apnea blanket, and Sarah had taken to co-sleeping with Craig while Kathleen slept in the spare
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room. While they all slept better this way, Kathleen was eager to get Sarah used to
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sleeping in her own bed. She still didn't feel comfortable with Sarah being alone at night, so the
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decision was made to move Sarah's single bed into Kathleen and Craig's bedroom. This way, she'd be close enough to her
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parents for them to monitor her while also learning to sleep independently. On Sunday, August 29, the family enjoyed
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a relaxing day out. They went to the beach, visited Craig's brother, and then took Sarah to the
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playground for the first time. Although she was recovering from a cold with a bad cough, Sarah had an absolute
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ball, and her parents loved seeing her in her element. That night, they completed the usual
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routine, dinner, bath, and playtime before it was time for Sarah to go to bed. Despite the lovely day they'd had,
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nighttimes could still put Kathleen on edge. She'd worked hard to establish a night
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routine with a consistent bedtime, and it frustrated her that Craig didn't take it as seriously as she did.
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He often got Sarah riled up right before bed, making it more difficult to settle
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her down for sleep. That night, Sarah was having so much fun mucking around with her dad that she got
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upset when Kathleen tried to put her to bed. The more Sarah refused to go to sleep,
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the more frustrated Kathleen became. Craig was sitting in the lounge room, and he heard Sarah crying and grizzling
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from the bedroom. He also heard a loud growl come from Kathleen. It was a sound he'd heard before. She
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often made it during times of great frustration, particularly when enforcing bedtime.
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Craig went to check on things and found Kathleen cradling Sarah in a bear hug while patting her hard on the bottom in
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an effort to soothe her to sleep. He told Kathleen to mellow out and let Sarah be.
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This just fueled Kathleen's anger. She told Craig to get out before stomping down the hall and thrusting a
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crying Sarah into his arms, snapping, "You [ __ ] deal with her." Craig was alarmed by Kathleen's
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reaction. He calmed Sarah down, and eventually she fell asleep in his arms on the couch.
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At 11:00 p.m., he settled her into her bed in their bedroom, kissed her good night, and went to sleep himself.
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Kathleen was in bed already, either asleep or ignoring him. Craig had drifted off, but at 1:34 a.m.,
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he was jolted awake by that sound he had never wanted to hear again as long as he
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lived. Kathleen's bloodcurdling scream. Craig immediately sat up. The bedroom light was on and Kathleen
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was standing by the door screaming frantically. Sarah was lying in her bed in a position
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that was unnatural for her, on her back with her arms out straight beside her. Craig raced over.
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Sarah was warm to the touch, but her body was floppy and she wasn't breathing. Craig screamed for Kathleen to call the
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ambulance while he started CPR. The ambulance officers arrived quickly and desperately tried to revive Sarah,
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cutting off her jumpsuit and administering a shot of adrenaline to her thigh in an attempt to kickstart her
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heart. But, she didn't respond. 40 minutes later, they walked into the lounge room where Craig and Kathleen
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were waiting and gave them the news they'd hoped to never hear again. Sarah was gone.
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The Folbiggs were beside themselves. Craig cradled his daughter's tiny body in his arms crying on the couch as he
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tried to wrap his head around the soul-crushing reality that his worst nightmare had been realized for a third
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time. As was protocol, two police officers arrived to assess the situation. Kathleen was too distraught to give many
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details. She said that she'd woken up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet
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and on her way back to bed, she'd glanced over at Sarah and noticed she was lying in an unnatural position.
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Sarah typically slept curled up or with her arms and legs thrown about, but she was on her back with one of her arms
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hanging out of the blanket. Kathleen went to tuck Sarah in only to realize that she wasn't breathing.
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She told the police what had happened to Caleb and Patrick, while Craig informed
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them that Sarah had been considered a high risk of SIDS. Even for the seasoned officers, talking
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to the parents was heart-wrenching. Their grief was so completely raw that the officers found the encounter to be
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quite distressing. Sarah's body was taken to the coroner's court, where a post-mortem performed by
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one of the state's best forensic pathologists found no obvious cause of death. Like her brothers before her, Sarah
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appeared well-nourished and well-looked after. Tests for various diseases came back
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negative, but her lungs did show mild signs of congestion and fluid. This can be caused by heart problems and
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can make it difficult to breathe. Furthermore, her uvula looked congested and was slightly displaced, overlapping
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the flap at the top of her windpipe that prevented food or liquid from entering her lungs.
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Although the pathologist took note of these things, he didn't think they were contributing factors to Sarah's death.
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He determined there was only one logical explanation. SIDS. Sarah's death marked a steep decline for
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Kathleen and Craig's mental health and their marriage. Craig felt utterly consumed by grief.
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Aching desperately for his three deceased children, he had Caleb, Patrick, and Sarah's ashes returned from
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the cemetery and interred into a custom-built ebony table. Craig distracted himself with work,
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spending long hours at the dealership and then busying himself in the garage at home.
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He barely saw Kathleen, who became increasingly withdrawn and distant. The couple moved house several more
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times in search of a fresh start, but no matter where they went or how much time
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passed, their grief followed like a dark cloud. Over time, Kathleen grew frustrated with
00:33:05
the way Craig was handling things. While Sarah's death had left her devastated and even suicidal, she was
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eager to move on with her life as best as she could. While she empathized with Craig, she
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also recognized that their marriage was hanging by a thread and something needed
00:33:23
to change. When Craig refused to see a grief counselor, Kathleen moved out of their
00:33:29
home and into a flat of her own. She had gained some weight, which was impacting her self-esteem, so she joined
00:33:36
a gym and started exercising regularly. This became something she grew to love. Kathleen went out with friends, got a
00:33:46
new job, and tried to bring some joy back into her life. Kathleen and Craig still loved each
00:33:53
other dearly and spoke often. Craig eventually agreed to see a grief counselor, which helped him come to
00:34:01
terms with everything that had happened. Slowly, he felt himself start to get back on track.
00:34:09
While he was impressed by how well Kathleen was doing without him, he missed her dearly and desperately wanted
00:34:15
her back. One night, after a deep conversation about many of the things they'd previously avoided discussing, the
00:34:23
couple decided to give their marriage another chance. This time, things would be different.
00:34:30
They agreed not to have any more children. Kathleen and Craig bought a home in Singleton, a small riverside town 70 km
00:34:41
northwest of Newcastle with the population of around 22,000 people. Then they started afresh.
00:34:49
They continued in their jobs, made new friends, took holidays, and had fun together for the first time in a long
00:34:56
time. While their marriage still had its ups and downs, things were finally looking
00:35:02
hopeful for the Folbiggs. Then in May 1996, 2 and 1/2 years after Sarah died, Kathleen threw a spanner in the works.
00:35:14
She told Craig she wanted to try for another baby. Craig was resolute. The answer was no.
00:35:25
While he still wanted nothing more than to be a father, there was simply no way he could go through that pain again.
00:35:35
Eventually, Craig agreed he would consider the idea, but only if they consulted with experts who could explain
00:35:42
why this kept happening to them and how they could avoid it. They consulted with the SIDS specialists
00:35:49
at the New Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, who concluded that there could be a genetic explanation for
00:35:56
why the three Folbigg children had all died in their sleep. Craig and his siblings were snorers, as
00:36:03
were Sarah and Patrick, and this could be indicative of obstructive sleep apnea.
00:36:10
The Folbiggs were told there had been technological advancements since Sarah's death, with the new sleep studies
00:36:15
available, and there was also a greater understanding of SIDS prevention. As far as the specialist was concerned,
00:36:24
there was no reason for them not to try for another baby. Encouraged by this, the Folbiggs
00:36:31
anxiously tried for several months before Kathleen announced that she was pregnant again.
00:36:38
On Thursday, August 7, 1997, the now 30-year-old gave birth to her fourth child, a daughter they named Laura.
00:36:49
Like her three siblings before her, Laura appeared to be a healthy and happy baby.
00:36:54
She was tested for a wide range of illnesses and abnormalities, but everything came back completely fine.
00:37:02
When Laura was 12 days old, she was taken to the hospital for an overnight sleep study.
00:37:08
The doctor was generally pleased with the results. While Laura showed signs of mild central
00:37:15
apnea, which was normal in infants and would correct itself over time, she showed no signs of the more worrisome
00:37:22
obstructive apnea. Laura was given a monitoring device, which was designed to record and
00:37:29
download her breathing patterns and heartbeat while she slept. The monitor was plugged in next to her
00:37:36
bassinet and connected to her body via electrodes. If there was a change in her breathing
00:37:42
or heartbeat, the monitor would sound an alarm and specify what exactly had caused it to go off.
00:37:50
All of its data, including when it was turned on or off, was recorded and sent back to the sleep unit at the hospital.
00:37:58
Laura never went to sleep without being connected to the monitor, even if it was
00:38:02
just for a short nap. The alarm provided equal parts reassurance and anxiety for Craig and
00:38:11
Kathleen. It would go off if Laura stopped breathing for even a second, and all they had to do was gently check on
00:38:18
her to make sure she responded. The alarm was so ear-piercingly loud that even Craig woke up when it went
00:38:26
off, ensuring a quick response time if anything unexpected happened. But, like Sarah's apnea blanket, it was
00:38:35
prone to false alarms and could cause unnecessary panic. By the time Laura was about 7 months
00:38:42
old, Kathleen felt comfortable enough to stop using the monitor, reassured by the
00:38:47
fact that Laura was growing into a strong, healthy, and happy little girl. When Laura made it to her first birthday
00:38:58
in August 1998, the Forbigs were so thrilled that they threw a huge pool party at their house to celebrate,
00:39:05
inviting all of their family and friends. Laura was an easygoing baby who was hitting all of her milestones and hadn't
00:39:13
had any illnesses aside from the common cold. Subsequent sleep studies showed that
00:39:18
she'd grown out of her apnea and had excellent quality of sleep. With 97% of SIDS deaths occurring before
00:39:27
the age of 1, it seemed like Laura was out of the woods. For the first time, Kathleen really
00:39:34
started to imagine a future with Laura running it. Kathleen and Craig adored Laura. She was
00:39:42
funny, sweet, and good-natured. But, while everything was going well in the parenting department, the Forbigs
00:39:49
marriage was coming apart at the seams. Exhausted by the demands of motherhood, Kathleen craved more time to herself.
00:39:59
She wanted to get back into her exercise routine, but Craig worked long hours and
00:40:04
made her feel guilty every time she left Laura with a friend so she could go to the gym.
00:40:11
Kathleen felt there was little connection between herself and Craig anymore, and she didn't feel like he was
00:40:16
the same person she'd fallen in love with all those years ago. They didn't seem to have anything in
00:40:22
common anymore. The only thing bonding them together was Laura. Towards the start of 1999, the couple
00:40:33
were sleeping in separate bedrooms. Kathleen wrote Craig a letter saying she wanted to end their marriage and that
00:40:41
she planned on taking Laura with her. She laid out a plan for how the two could remain friends and peacefully
00:40:48
co-parent together. Craig was appalled. For all the flaws in their marriage, he was still very much in love with
00:40:57
Kathleen. He sat her down and told her that he couldn't live without her or Laura.
00:41:05
They discussed improvements they could both make to turn the marriage around and promised to be more supportive and
00:41:11
considerate of one another. By the end of February, they were back to sleeping in the same bed and trying
00:41:18
to give their marriage another shot. For all their good intentions, things remained tense between the couple.
00:41:30
Kathleen was having a hard time with the now 18-month-old Laura. It was particularly frustrating when
00:41:37
Laura wouldn't eat or sleep when Kathleen wanted her to. On Sunday, February 28, 1999, Craig
00:41:45
could sense that something wasn't quite right between his wife and daughter. He asked Kathleen about it and she
00:41:52
explained that she had lost it with Laura the night before and accidentally knocked her over.
00:41:58
She said that Laura had, quote, got the shits with her. Kathleen said she was sick of being
00:42:06
cooped up in the house, so Craig suggested they invite some friends around for a swim and a barbecue.
00:42:13
Kathleen happily agreed and called up some friends who came over with their three kids.
00:42:19
It was a lovely afternoon spent out in the sun. Laura was recovering from a cold, but
00:42:25
that didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. Craig took out his video camera and
00:42:31
filmed her as she ran around playfully with a huge smile on her face. The next morning, Craig was getting
00:42:39
ready for work while Laura pottered along behind him. She was sniffly and a bit clingier than
00:42:45
usual and little things were setting her off. When Kathleen woke up, Craig could tell
00:42:52
she was frustrated. She was short with Laura, quickly losing her patience when she wouldn't eat her
00:42:58
cereal. Craig told Kathleen to wise up. If Laura didn't want breakfast, then there was no
00:43:04
point forcing her. Kathleen snapped at him to [ __ ] off. She said Laura acted up when Craig was
00:43:13
around. She grabbed Laura from her high chair and sat her down on the ground, angrily
00:43:19
telling her to go to her father, and then telling Craig, "I can't handle her when she's like
00:43:25
this." Then Kathleen let out a loud growl, causing Laura to burst into tears. As Craig tried to soothe his daughter,
00:43:36
Kathleen snatched Laura off of him and told him to go to work. Craig told Kathleen to calm down, saying
00:43:43
it looked like she was going to punch someone. "If I was going to punch anyone,"
00:43:48
Kathleen replied, "it would be you." By the time Craig was dressed and ready to leave, Laura was happily eating her
00:43:57
cereal in front of the television and Kathleen seemed to have simmered down. Craig left for work, but he was
00:44:05
unsettled by the incident, thinking there was something unhealthy about Kathleen's reaction to Laura's behavior.
00:44:13
He hadn't been at work for long when Kathleen called to apologize for losing her temper.
00:44:19
She put it down to their different parenting styles and said they'd talk about it more when Craig got home.
00:44:26
She then accepted Craig's invitation to come to his office later for morning tea.
00:44:32
Kathleen and Laura spent the morning at the gym, where Laura happily played with
00:44:36
other children in the crèche while Kathleen completed her exercise class. A friend of Kathleen's asked if she
00:44:43
wanted to grab a coffee after class, but Kathleen said Laura hadn't been feeling
00:44:48
well and she should probably get her home for a nap. Afterwards, they stopped in to see Craig
00:44:54
at the dealership. Despite her runny nose, Laura was in good spirits, drawing pictures while
00:45:01
happily sitting on Craig's lap. After about half an hour, At around 11:00 a.m., Craig walked his
00:45:11
wife and daughter to the car, saying he would try and make it home for lunch and
00:45:15
then kissed them goodbye. About half an hour later, Craig was on a phone call in his office when a
00:45:22
co-worker burst in and yelled at him to hang up. He told Craig he needed to go to the
00:45:28
hospital right away. Something was wrong with Laura. Craig raced into his car and sped to the
00:45:39
nearby district hospital, where a member of staff led him into a waiting room. Kathleen was sitting there sobbing
00:45:46
uncontrollably. In the adjoining room, Craig saw Laura lying on a hospital bed surrounded by
00:45:53
doctors and paramedics. It quickly dawned on him that they weren't working on Laura, but appeared
00:45:59
to be be their things away. Craig yelled at them to keep going, screaming, "This is my fourth baby."
00:46:08
The doctor told him it was no use. Laura was already gone. Craig was beside himself.
00:46:17
He turned to Kathleen and asked what had happened and why she hadn't called him.
00:46:23
Kathleen explained that Laura had fallen asleep on the drive home from Craig's work, so she had carefully carried her
00:46:29
inside and placed her into the bed, lying her on her left-hand side. She took off Laura's sandals and covered
00:46:36
her with a blanket before leaving the bedroom door half open. Kathleen then went outside to tend to
00:46:43
the dog and hang up some washing, taking the baby monitor with her. At one point, she heard Laura cough, but
00:46:51
didn't think much of it and continued going about her business. Kathleen said she went back into the
00:46:58
house about 5 or 10 minutes later, only to find that Laura was lying on her back.
00:47:04
Her skin was pale, her lips were blue, and she was cool to the touch. Kathleen grabbed Laura and carried her
00:47:13
to the breakfast bar, where she administered CPR while calling for an ambulance.
00:47:18
She tried calling Craig, too, but his line was busy. The ambulance arrived within 2 minutes,
00:47:25
and officers took over the CPR, noting that Laura's airways were clear, but she wasn't breathing and had no pulse.
00:47:33
They administered three doses of adrenaline, but none of them had any effect. All the while, Kathleen sat in a chair
00:47:41
screaming and crying hysterically. Laura was rushed to the hospital, but declared deceased shortly after
00:47:48
arriving. After Craig formally identified Laura, Kathleen shakily repeated her story to
00:47:57
detectives at the hospital while Laura's body was transported to the morgue. The doctors who'd tried to save her had
00:48:05
found no obvious cause for her death, but at 18 and 1/2 months old, she was no longer considered at risk of SIDS.
00:48:13
It was hoped that an autopsy would shed some light on what had happened. Meanwhile, the detectives examined the
00:48:21
Folbigg's home as was standard practice when dealing with the death of a child. They noted it to be clean and neat with
00:48:29
child safety precautions in place and that the scene appeared to have played out exactly as Kathleen had described.
00:48:40
For the Folbigg's friends and family, news of Laura's death hit particularly hard.
00:48:46
In comparison to Caleb, Patrick, and Sarah, Laura had lived a lot longer and had more time to develop her own unique
00:48:53
personality. Consequently, her loss was felt more deeply. Loved ones rallied around the Folbigg's
00:49:02
as they dealt with their fourth unimaginable tragedy, but Laura's death was the last straw for Craig and
00:49:09
Kathleen's marriage. As the weeks went by, they drifted further and further apart.
00:49:16
The only thing Craig wanted to talk about was Laura, while Kathleen just wanted to forget it all and move on.
00:49:23
For her, Laura's death marked her last chance at being a parent and trying to support Craig while managing her own
00:49:31
feelings was simply too much. All she wanted was to be left alone. Six weeks after Laura died, Kathleen
00:49:41
moved out of the family home and into a flat on the other side of town. Craig was devastated.
00:49:49
Not only had he lost all four of his children, but now his wife of 14 years. He started taking antidepressants and
00:49:58
threw himself into his work, but the amount of loss he'd suffered was crippling.
00:50:03
He'd hoped his separation from Kathleen would be temporary while she worked through her grief, but shortly after
00:50:09
moving out, she made it clear she didn't intend on coming back. On Mother's Day in May that year, Craig
00:50:17
took a card over to Kathleen's flat telling her that no what happened, she would always be the mother of his
00:50:23
children. It didn't elicit the warm response he'd hoped for. Kathleen told Craig that he needed to
00:50:32
stop wallowing in self-pity. "The sooner you realize Laura's dead," she said, "the happier you will be."
00:50:42
Craig tried to move on, but every day was a struggle. He reluctantly accepted that his
00:50:48
marriage might truly be over and started packing up some of Kathleen's things. In a bedside drawer, Craig found one of
00:50:56
Kathleen's old diaries. She'd typically always kept a diary leaving them out where Craig could see
00:51:03
them. While he'd never been tempted to read one of them before, Craig suddenly felt
00:51:09
the urge to look inside. The first entry was from June 1996, 3 years after Sarah had died and 14
00:51:21
months before Laura was born during the period when they were trying to conceive
00:51:26
for a fourth time. In an entry dated June 18, Kathleen had written, "I'm ready this time and I'll know I'll
00:51:35
have help and support. When I think I'm going to lose control like last times, I'll just hand baby
00:51:42
over to someone else. Not feel totally alone. Getting back into my exercise after will
00:51:48
help my state of mind and sleeping wherever possible. I have learned my lesson this time.
00:51:57
Unsure what she meant by losing control, Craig read on until he came across an entry dated August 26, 1999.
00:52:07
Kathleen had written it after she and Craig had both gone to see a clairvoyant. While Kathleen didn't necessarily
00:52:14
believe in psychics, she did consider herself to be a spiritual person and believed in some form of the afterlife.
00:52:22
The entry read, "I now know that even though I'm responsible, it's all right. She accepts and is happy there.
00:52:32
I've always felt her strongly and now I know why. She is with me." Craig wondered who she was talking
00:52:41
about. Was it Sarah? And if so, what did Kathleen mean when she said that she was responsible?
00:52:51
As the couple struggled to conceive, in September Kathleen wrote, "I suppose I deserve never to have kids
00:52:59
again." In late October, she curiously said, "I worry my next child will suffer my
00:53:07
psychological mood swings like the others did." Two months later, after Kathleen
00:53:14
discovered she was pregnant with Laura, she wrote that she was going to change her attitude with this baby and not let
00:53:20
things stress her out to the max. She would try to keep herself in a good mood by asking for help and getting as
00:53:27
much sleep as she could, writing, "I now know that battling wills and sleep deprivation were the causes last
00:53:36
time." Kathleen's choice of words were surprising to Craig. He wondered what those things had to do
00:53:44
with SIDS. On New Year's Day in 1997, Kathleen wrote about the year ahead and reiterated her plan to ask for help when
00:53:55
the baby was born instead of trying to do everything by herself. I know that was the main reason for all
00:54:02
my stress before, she wrote. And stress made me do terrible things. The following month, Kathleen was
00:54:12
reflecting on the deaths of her three other children and questioning whether she was making the wrong choice by
00:54:17
having another baby. She wrote, My guilt for how responsible I feel for them all haunts me.
00:54:26
My fear of it happening again haunts me. My fear of Craig and I surviving if I did haunts me as well.
00:54:35
What sort of mother am I? I have been a terrible one. That's what it boils down to.
00:54:43
Kathleen questioned whether she was just having another baby to prove that there
00:54:47
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?
00:54:56
Yes, I think so. But it's too late to realize that now. What scares me most is when I'm alone
00:55:04
with the baby. How do I overcome that? Defeat that? Two weeks later, she wrote about her
00:55:13
feelings for Craig saying, He should be for me forever. Just because a baby is entering our
00:55:20
lives makes no difference really. One day, it will leave. The others did. But this one's not going in the same
00:55:29
fashion. In April, she wrote, I think this baby deserves everything I can give her, considering I really gave
00:55:39
nothing to the others. I think even my feelings towards this one are already deeper.
00:55:45
Shame, but that's the way it is. Craig's head was spinning as he absorbed Kathleen's words.
00:55:58
So much of what Kathleen had written didn't make any sense. While she did have a tendency to lose
00:56:04
her temper easily when it came to the children, she had always been a caring and devoted mother.
00:56:10
He was confused as to why she was blaming herself and why she spoke about their deaths as though they could have
00:56:16
been prevented. As Craig went on, an entry dated May 16, 1997 gave him serious pause.
00:56:26
In it, Kathleen said that nighttimes and early mornings would be the hardest for
00:56:31
her once the baby arrived because, quote, "That's when wishing someone else was awake with me will matter, purely
00:56:39
because of what happened before. Craig says he will stress and worry, but he still seems to sleep okay every night
00:56:46
and did with Sarah. I really needed him to take over from me. This time, I've already decided if I
00:56:54
ever feel that way again, I'm going to wake him up." The truth was, something had happened on
00:57:02
the night of Sarah's death that Craig had done his best to forget. At around 1:10
00:57:09
on that fateful morning, Craig had woken up to find that neither Kathleen or Sarah were in their beds and the bedroom
00:57:16
door was closed with a light shining through from another part of the house. There was nothing unusual about Kathleen
00:57:24
attending to Sarah in the middle of the night, so he didn't think anything of it
00:57:28
and went straight back to sleep. About 20 minutes later, Craig was jolted upright by the sound of Kathleen's
00:57:36
screams and woke to discover Sarah's lifeless body lying in her bed. Kathleen later explained that she'd
00:57:44
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
00:57:51
minutes, Kathleen put Sarah back to bed after giving her a bottle, fell back asleep, and then woke up again to go to
00:57:59
the toilet when she found Sarah dead. At the time, Craig couldn't understand how something so drastic could have
00:58:07
happened in such a small space of time. But he'd pushed it out of his mind and never mentioned it to anyone.
00:58:18
He had some niggling questions about Laura, too. While Craig had been comforted by the
00:58:24
sleep apnea monitor she was given, Kathleen had stopped using it for Laura's daytime naps within weeks of
00:58:30
bringing her home from the hospital. She explained it was because she was keeping a close eye on Laura during
00:58:36
these times, but Craig had been so worried by how blasé she was about using it that he'd even privately contacted
00:58:44
the sleep clinic to voice his concerns. In a letter to their nurse, Craig wrote about his appreciation for the monitor,
00:58:52
but said, "Strangely, though, I feel that Cathy finds it all tedious and frustrating and
00:58:58
would rather not use it at all, merely entrusting Laura's survival to fate. You would think after all she had been
00:59:06
through as a mother, she of all people would be more diligent with the monitoring."
00:59:11
Craig apologized for being paranoid, stating, "But with every passing day, I fall that
00:59:18
much further in love with this child and could not bear her not being part of my
00:59:23
life." On the day Laura died, he had noticed a couple of other strange inconsistencies.
00:59:31
Kathleen said that she'd removed Laura's sandals in the hallway while carrying her in from the car. Yet, when Craig got
00:59:38
home, he saw the sandals sitting on the couch in the lounge room next to a baby bottle.
00:59:44
Kathleen also said that she'd been in the backyard hanging laundry when she heard Laura cough through the baby
00:59:50
monitor. But, Craig noticed that the baby monitor was still plugged into the wall.
00:59:57
Then, in the days following Laura's death, Craig overheard something that unsettled him further.
01:00:04
Kathleen was talking to herself using three different voices. While these details hadn't sat well with
01:00:13
Craig, he'd convinced himself they meant nothing and tried to ignore them. Now, reading Kathleen's diary, he
01:00:21
couldn't ignore them any longer, especially after coming across an entry from October 14, 1996.
01:00:30
Written while they were still trying to conceive Laura, Kathleen said that she was thinking of giving up on the idea of
01:00:36
having another baby, but wasn't quite ready. She wrote, "I would like to make all my mistakes
01:00:43
and terrible thinking be corrected and mean something though. Obviously, I am my father's daughter."
01:00:53
This comment was significant because of Kathleen's family history. Her father, Thomas Britton, was a
01:01:00
dangerous and brutal man who worked as a hitman and debt collector for a couple of notorious underworld figures.
01:01:07
He also had a dark history of domestic violence. Kathleen's mother had challenges of her
01:01:14
own. She struggled with alcohol and gambling, two addictions that hindered her parenting abilities.
01:01:22
When Kathleen was just 18 months old, her father became incensed at Kathleen's mother after she abandoned Kathleen and
01:01:29
went to live with friends. Thomas confronted her on the street in front of her new house.
01:01:36
When she said she had no intention of coming home, he stabbed her 24 times. As Kathleen's mother bled to death on
01:01:45
the footpath, Thomas kissed her and said, "I'm sorry, darling. I had to do it." With Kathleen's diary entry comparing
01:01:57
herself to her father, Craig could no longer deny the harrowing suspicion that was slowly creeping up on him.
01:02:05
The suspicion that Kathleen had killed their four children. He wrestled with the distressing thought
01:02:12
for days before he couldn't take it anymore. He picked up the phone and called the
01:02:19
police. What Craig Folbigg didn't realize was that over at the Singleton Police Station, an investigation into the
01:02:33
deaths of the four Folbigg children was already underway. Ever since Detective Senior Constable
01:02:39
Bernie Ryan had inspected the Folbigg's home after Laura's death, he hadn't been
01:02:43
able to shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. He had a daughter the same age as Laura,
01:02:50
and while he sympathized immensely with the Folbigg's, the fact that four children in the one family had died from
01:02:56
inexplicable causes seemed highly unusual to him. After Laura's body was transported to
01:03:03
the morgue to be autopsied, Detective Ryan told a colleague to notify the coroner of the family's history.
01:03:11
Professor John Hilton was a forensic pathologist and the director of the Glebe Institute of Forensic Medicine.
01:03:18
He was the one who had performed Sarah's autopsy and concluded that she had died
01:03:23
from SIDS. When he heard that the Folbiggs had lost a fourth child, it gave him serious
01:03:30
pause. Back in 1989, a British pediatrician named Professor Roy Meadow published a
01:03:37
book about child abuse in which he spoke of a theory that came to be known as Meadow's Law.
01:03:44
Meadow's theory was that when it came to the unexplained death of an infant, one
01:03:48
death in a family was a tragedy. Two were suspicious, and three most likely meant murder unless proven
01:03:57
otherwise. Echoing Meadow's sentiments in a textbook published later that year, American medical examiners Doctors
01:04:06
Vincent and Dominic DiMaio looked into the possibility of multiple instances of SIDS occurring in a single family.
01:04:14
They examined a case in which the unexplained deaths of five infants had been attributed to SIDS, only for the
01:04:20
mother to later confess to having smothered each of them. In what came to be known as DiMaio's
01:04:28
rule, the pair concluded, "It is the author's opinion that while a second SIDS death from a mother is
01:04:35
improbable, it is possible and she should be given the benefit of the doubt. A third case, in our opinion, is not
01:04:43
possible and is a case of homicide." Armed with this knowledge, Professor Hilton watched on as his colleague Dr.
01:04:54
Allan Cala performed the autopsy on Laura Folbigg. Dr. Cala conducted a thorough exam and
01:05:01
found no sign of disease or injury that could explain the 18-month-old's death. Laura's lungs had collapsed and showed
01:05:09
slight signs of internal bleeding, but there was every chance this occurred during the attempts to resuscitate her.
01:05:16
The only abnormality he found was mild myocarditis, inflammation around the heart, but this was common in those
01:05:24
recovering from a cold or flu, as Laura had been. Dr. Cala didn't think it had played a
01:05:30
role in her death. He looked for signs that Laura could have been smothered, such as bruising to
01:05:38
her face or injuries under her skin, but found nothing. This didn't necessarily rule the
01:05:45
possibility out. In many other cases where infants had been suffocated to death, there were no
01:05:51
telltale signs. The only difference was that the person responsible had come forward and
01:05:58
confessed. It was such a difficult thing to identify that the American Academy of
01:06:03
Pediatrics had even put forward a set of guidelines to help medical professionals
01:06:08
distinguish SIDS cases from fatal child abuse. Red flags included if the child was
01:06:15
outside the majority age range of between 1 and 6 months, if they had siblings who had also died unexpectedly,
01:06:22
and if those siblings also died while under the care of the same person. Based on Laura Fobbs' age alone, Dr.
01:06:32
Cala ruled out SIDS, instead listing the cause of her death simply as undetermined.
01:06:39
At the request of Detective Bernie Ryan, he also looked into the medical histories and autopsy reports of Caleb,
01:06:46
Patrick, and Sarah. Dr. Cala didn't agree with Caleb's SIDS diagnosis. He had been too young.
01:06:55
Similarly, he thought Sarah had been too old. Sarah's autopsy report also noted that
01:07:02
there had been two small unexplained puncture marks on her chin, and Dr. Cala couldn't rule out the possibility that
01:07:09
they were caused during a smothering event. As for Patrick, Dr. Cala believed his
01:07:16
ALTE could have been caused by him being smothered, and that his death therefore
01:07:21
shouldn't have been attributed to epilepsy. As far as Dr. Cala was concerned, the
01:07:27
deaths of all four Folbigg children should have been recorded as undetermined. While he couldn't medically prove what
01:07:36
exactly had happened to them, he suspected that their deaths had been no accident.
01:07:46
The case was put before the New South Wales Homicide Squad, and Detective Bernie Ryan was assigned to lead the
01:07:52
investigation. He got to work at gathering information about the medical history of each of the
01:07:58
Folbigg children, and researching similar cases that had resulted in criminal convictions.
01:08:05
Multiple doctors who had dealt with the Folbiggs stated they'd never seen any signs of neglect or abuse, and that
01:08:12
Kathleen and Craig had presented as loving and caring parents. However, they agreed that it was
01:08:19
extraordinarily unlikely that one family could experience multiple cases of SIDS,
01:08:25
unexplained deaths, and an ALTE. The pathologist who had issued Patrick Folbigg's death certificate citing
01:08:33
epilepsy as the cause said he would have done things differently had Patrick's other siblings died first.
01:08:42
Detective Ryan became increasingly convinced that the parents were hiding something, but he had no evidence to
01:08:48
back his suspicions. That was until Craig Folbigg called him out of the blue in May of 1999,
01:08:57
wanting to report his own fear that his wife killed their four children. He gave several reasons: the
01:09:04
inconsistencies in Kathleen's stories, the fact that she lost her temper with the children easily, and that she'd been
01:09:11
visibly agitated in the lead-ups to Sarah and Laura's deaths. Craig also revealed that he'd found some
01:09:19
upsetting diary entries that bolstered his suspicions. For Detective Ryan, this was a major
01:09:27
breakthrough. However, he was also aware that the Folbigg's marriage was on the rocks, and was concerned that Craig's
01:09:35
emotions might be doing the talking. Craig took a few days to think about it before going to the Singleton Police
01:09:42
Station for an interview and a formal statement. He also handed over Kathleen's diary
01:09:48
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
01:09:57
birth and during his short 19 days of life. The interview went for so long that Craig said he'd come back later to
01:10:07
finish it off. In the meantime, Detective Ryan read the diary entries for himself, and became
01:10:14
even more convinced that Kathleen had killed her children. Why else would she have written those
01:10:20
things? Chillingly, the diary from the time Caleb was alive had an entry that was
01:10:26
written less than an hour before he was found dead. Dated 2:00 a.m. on February 19, 1989, it
01:10:35
read simply, "Finally asleep." Pleased that the investigation was finally gaining momentum, Detective Ryan
01:10:45
was therefore deeply disappointed when Craig Folbigg returned to the station four days later to announce that he
01:10:52
wouldn't be completing his police interview. It was quite the opposite. He wanted to
01:10:58
retract his statement instead. Craig told the police to forget everything he'd said because none of it
01:11:05
was true. He explained that it had finally dawned on him that Kathleen wasn't coming back
01:11:12
and he'd cast suspicion on her out of spite. In a revised statement, Craig wrote,
01:11:20
"I am deeply hurt and I want Kathleen back. I believe because of this, I contacted
01:11:26
Detective Ryan and told him some things that were not true. I love my wife and still do.
01:11:34
I would never seriously think that she has hurt my children. I know that having four children die is
01:11:41
not common, but nobody knows my wife like I do. I have been with her for 14 years and we
01:11:48
have been literally to hell and back. Having watched Kathy as a mother and seen the joy these children gave her,
01:11:56
then to watch that disappear, I don't and can't believe that Kathy killed my children."
01:12:05
Craig signed the revised statement declaring everything he said in it was true and that if required, he'd be
01:12:12
willing to stand behind it in a court of law. This was a major blow for detectives.
01:12:22
The police still didn't have any concrete medical evidence to prove the Folbigg children had died as a result of
01:12:28
foul play and without Craig's involvement, there was little to go on. But Detective Ryan wasn't prepared to
01:12:36
let it go. He questioned some of the Folbigg's neighbors to see what the couple's
01:12:42
conduct was like after Laura died. The general consensus was that Craig had been a complete emotional wreck, whereas
01:12:51
Kathleen appeared largely unaffected. One neighbor had lost their own child to SIDS years earlier and had been so
01:12:59
grief-stricken that they were unable to leave the house. In comparison, Kathleen had returned to
01:13:05
the gym within days of losing Laura. It turned out that some townsfolk had privately questioned whether something
01:13:14
more sinister could be at play but hadn't dared voice their suspicions in case they were horribly wrong.
01:13:21
But not everyone felt this way. The family GP praised Kathleen's parenting while many of her friends were
01:13:29
adamant that she had always been an incredibly caring and protective mother who was left it devastated by her
01:13:35
children's deaths. They said Kathleen had been so paranoid that something would happen to Sarah and
01:13:42
Laura that she refused to leave them with anyone who wasn't trained in CPR or didn't know how to use the apnea
01:13:49
machines. Those who had spent time with Kathleen and Laura together noted the special
01:13:55
bond the pair seemed to have. Kathleen's foster sister Lee Brown, whom Kathleen had lived with since she was 3
01:14:04
years old, was outraged at the mere suggestion that Kathleen could have been involved in the children's deaths in any
01:14:10
way. She knew that Kathleen had loved being a mother and that the deaths of her children had crushed her.
01:14:19
Lee viewed the police investigation as nothing short of a witch hunt. With Lee's father and Kathleen's foster
01:14:26
father deceased and Kathleen having a strained relationship with her foster mother, Lee was fiercely protective of
01:14:34
Kathleen. It quickly became clear to the police why Craig had decided to retract the
01:14:41
statement he made against Kathleen. Within days of his first visit to the police station, Craig drove to
01:14:48
Kathleen's house to talk to her, only to find her there with another man. Craig had such a strong reaction to this
01:14:55
that he openly accused Kathleen of killing Laura and told her that the police thought so, too.
01:15:02
Kathleen was distraught. She asked Craig how he could think such a thing when he knew how much she loved
01:15:09
them. They talked for hours and eventually Craig realized that he had made a big
01:15:15
mistake. Of course, Kathleen couldn't have harmed their children. After everything they'd been through,
01:15:22
they decided to give their marriage one last shot. With the couple having reunited, the
01:15:29
police would have to rely on outside sources to build their case. After Detective Ryan arranged for
01:15:36
Kathleen's diaries to be analyzed by experts from the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, he decided it was
01:15:43
time to go straight to the source. On the morning of Friday, July 23, 1999, almost 5 months after Laura's death,
01:15:57
Kathleen was called to the Singleton Police Station for her first formal interview.
01:16:03
She went willingly and detailed the events leading up to the deaths of all four of her children.
01:16:09
Straight away, Detective Ryan noticed some inconsistencies. For starters, Kathleen had previously
01:16:17
told him that on the day Laura died, she'd been in the backyard when she heard Laura cough through the baby
01:16:23
monitor. In her interview, she said she left the baby monitor inside because it could be
01:16:29
annoying to carry around. Secondly, Craig had told the police that when Caleb died, he'd found Kathleen
01:16:37
standing above his bassinet with her hands to her head screaming. Kathleen told the police that upon
01:16:44
finding Caleb, she had immediately scooped him up. On the night that Sarah died, Kathleen
01:16:50
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
01:16:57
room. Asked about the inconsistencies between her and Craig's version of events,
01:17:04
Kathleen admitted that Craig could be right in any given situation. She said her memory wasn't great, and
01:17:12
when it came to her children, she chose to remember the good bits and shut out the difficulties.
01:17:18
However, she was adamant that Craig's recollection of the night Sarah died was incorrect, and insisted that she'd never
01:17:25
taken Sarah out of the bedroom. While Kathleen also admitted that she'd become frustrated with the kids at
01:17:33
times, she said she never held on to any anger. She'd just express herself, sometimes
01:17:40
with the so-called growl that Craig had described, and be done with it. She also agreed with Craig's comment
01:17:47
that she'd moved on more quickly after the children's deaths than he did, but she explained this was because she had a
01:17:54
tendency to block things out rather than deal with them. It was something she was working on in
01:18:00
therapy. Detective Ryan asked Kathleen how she felt for the children now, and she
01:18:07
responded that they are somewhere peaceful, happy. "Do you really believe that?" the
01:18:14
detective asked. "I don't know," Kathleen responded. "I don't know. I prefer to believe that."
01:18:28
The detectives then asked Kathleen about her diaries, which she already knew Craig had handed over.
01:18:35
Kathleen explained that she had always kept some form of journal as a way to vent her thoughts and feelings.
01:18:41
The detectives queried what she'd meant when, while trying to conceive Laura, she had written,
01:18:48
"When I think I'm going to lose control like last times, I'll just hand the baby
01:18:52
over to someone else. I have learned my lesson this time." Kathleen said she was referring to the
01:19:00
frustrations she typically directed at herself and Craig when she was having a hard time with Sarah and Patrick.
01:19:08
She had meant that instead of trying to do everything herself, she would ask for
01:19:12
help and try to communicate more. As for the entry that read, "I would like to make all my mistakes
01:19:21
and terrible thinking be corrected," Kathleen said she was referring to the regret she felt about being frustrated
01:19:28
with the amount of time she'd had to devote to Patrick and the occasional battle of wills she'd had with Sarah.
01:19:35
Looking back, she explained, "I thought that was a terrible way of thinking." She admitted that she'd had the
01:19:44
occasional angry thought when dealing with Sarah and Patrick, but that those thoughts were more directed at Craig and
01:19:51
the lack of help she received. When she'd written that she didn't want her next child to suffer from her
01:19:58
psychological mood swings like the others did, she hadn't meant physical suffering, just that they'd pick up on
01:20:05
it when she was upset or in a bad mood. Regarding her entry that she was most scared about being left alone with the
01:20:13
baby, this was because they had all died on her watch. Kathleen was adamant that she never felt
01:20:20
like harming her children or had any feelings of hatred towards them. Any comments she'd made about feeling
01:20:26
guilty or responsible for their deaths were based on the fact that she felt like a failure for not being able to
01:20:32
keep them alive. She explained, "I was still carrying around the thought that I could have done more or should
01:20:40
have done more." For example, what if she just checked on them 2 minutes earlier? Would they still
01:20:47
be alive? Her comment that she'd been a terrible mother was based purely on the fact that
01:20:54
other mothers had numerous children and were probably much more stressed than Kathleen had ever been and their
01:21:00
children were still here while Kathleen's were not. Detective Ryan asked Kathleen what she
01:21:08
meant when she wrote, "Obviously, I am my father's daughter." She explained that her father had been a
01:21:15
{quote} total big loser who ruined the lives of everyone he came into contact with.
01:21:22
Kathleen said she was questioning whether she, too, was a loser who was destined to have a tragic life.
01:21:30
It had been a long and grueling interview with questions increasing in intensity as the hours passed.
01:21:37
It was obvious that they were starting to take their toll on Kathleen. By the time the interrogation reached
01:21:45
the 7-hour mark, the detectives asked Kathleen if she knew what sort of person would kill four children.
01:21:52
Her voice was barely audible as she replied, "I have no comprehension and I don't
01:21:59
even want to think about it." They then put it to her point-blank asking if she was responsible for the
01:22:06
deaths of each of her children. Kathleen's answer was the same for each of them,
01:22:12
a forceful and emphatic no. When the interview ended after almost 9 hours, the detectives told Kathleen they
01:22:24
had search warrants for her new flat and the home she shared with Craig. They were going to search both
01:22:31
properties right away. Of particular interest to them were any other diaries. Kathleen had told the detectives that
01:22:40
she'd stopped her journaling after discovering that Craig had read one of her diaries and she'd subsequently
01:22:45
thrown her old ones away. However, the search turned up another diary from mid-1997
01:22:53
which Kathleen claimed to have forgotten about. It chronicled the time during Laura's
01:22:59
birth and infancy. Various entries raised even more questions than the ones before it.
01:23:07
In the lead-up to Laura's birth, Kathleen wrote that she was already having visions of her baby's future
01:23:13
whereas, quote, with the other three, I never bothered to think about school or the teenage
01:23:19
years. Maybe because I always knew they would never get there. Therefore, I assume I'm actually ready
01:23:27
for the family life now where I wasn't before. She said her desire to have another baby
01:23:34
was due in part to wanting to leave a legacy after her own eventual death and that the problem with the other three
01:23:41
kids was that she hadn't felt that way. Kathleen wrote, felt I didn't deserve to be extended and
01:23:49
that I was condemning them to life with me. That feeling has changed. This time all is well and well it will
01:23:59
go. An entry dated July 6, 1997, just weeks before Laura was born, saw Kathleen once
01:24:08
again talking about her so-called dark moods and how she planned on asking for help when the stress became too much.
01:24:16
She wrote, hopefully preparing myself will mean the end of my dark moods, or at least the
01:24:23
ability to see it coming and be able to say to Craig or someone, "Hey, help. I'm
01:24:29
getting overwhelmed here. Help me out." That will surely be the key to this baby's survival.
01:24:39
A few days later, reflecting on memories she said she had blocked out, Kathleen wrote,
01:24:45
"Heaven help the day they surface and I can recall. That will be the day to lock me up and
01:24:51
throw away the key. Something I'm sure will happen one day." 18 days after Laura was born, Kathleen
01:25:01
made a comment that she was having scary feelings about Laura in that, quote, "I've realized I actually love her and
01:25:09
have bonded with her. Wish to protect her, etc. Maternal instinct is what they call it.
01:25:18
Realize I never had it with the others." Referring to the apnea monitor that recorded Laura's sleep data, Kathleen
01:25:27
wrote, "Monitor is a good idea. Nothing can happen without the monitor knowing, and since I'm not game enough
01:25:35
to not plug it in because they'd want to know why, everything will be fine this time."
01:25:43
By the time Laura was 6 weeks old, the lack of sleep was taking its toll on Kathleen.
01:25:50
She used her diary to vent her frustration that Craig wasn't doing anything to help her during Laura's
01:25:55
overnight wakes and the false alarms triggered by the monitor. She said that she was growing irritable,
01:26:03
calling Craig a selfish prick, and writing, "This is my punishment for the others,
01:26:09
to be continually woken up." When Laura was 2 and 1/2 months old, Kathleen watched a video of Sarah and
01:26:18
then reflected on her feelings in her diary. "Have to be honest," she wrote. "I cherish Laura more.
01:26:27
I miss Sarah, yes, but I'm not sad that Laura is here and she isn't. Is that a bad way to think?
01:26:36
Don't know. Also, she is a far more agreeable child and easy most of the time. I think Laura is beautiful compared to
01:26:46
Sarah. Sarah was cute, but Laura has a special look about her. They are chalk and cheese and truthfully
01:26:54
just as well. Wouldn't have handled another one like Sarah. Laura saved her life by being different.
01:27:04
As the months passed by, Kathleen wrote about the troubles in her marriage and her desire to be alone.
01:27:11
She felt like she'd lost her freedom. Her one enjoyable outlet, the gym, had been taken away because she had to take
01:27:19
Laura with her and couldn't switch off like she used to. Kathleen said that Laura being there put
01:27:27
a dampener on everything. Sleep deprived and feeling like she'd lost her identity, in January of 1998,
01:27:36
Kathleen wrote that she'd lost her temper with Laura. She had yelled so angrily that the
01:27:42
6-month-old wouldn't stop crying. She said that things were so bad that she had nearly purposely dropped Laura
01:27:50
on the floor and left her there. "I feel like the worst mother on Earth," Kathleen wrote.
01:27:57
"Scared that she'll leave me now like Sarah did. I know I was short-tempered and cruel
01:28:03
sometimes to her and she left with a bit of help. I don't want that to ever happen again.
01:28:11
I actually seem to have a bond with Laura. It can't happen again. If that entry wasn't damning enough for
01:28:21
the detectives, one from a couple of months earlier was enough to completely eradicate any lingering doubts they
01:28:28
might have had. In November 1997, writing about Craig's morbid fear that something bad would
01:28:35
happen to Laura, Kathleen said, "Well, I know there's nothing wrong with her, nothing out of the ordinary anyway,
01:28:44
because it was me, not them. Think I handle Laura's fits of crying better than I did with Sarah.
01:28:52
I've learned to walk away and breathe in for a while. It helps me cope and I figure out how to
01:28:59
help her. With Sarah, all I wanted was her to shut up and one day she did. Unbeknownst to Craig and Kathleen, about
01:29:13
a week before Kathleen was interviewed, the police had placed a telephone intercept on their landline and
01:29:19
installed covert listening devices in their bedroom and lounge room. All of their phone calls and personal
01:29:27
conversations were being recorded and monitored. The police hoped that Kathleen's police
01:29:33
interview and the subsequent search warrant would provoke some incriminating conversations.
01:29:40
As soon as the Folbigg's were alone, an emotional Kathleen started telling Craig
01:29:44
about everything she'd just endured at the station. She asked why he had decided to go to
01:29:51
the police in the first place. Craig struggled to find the words, stuttering, "I went there because I was so full of
01:30:00
hate and spite and anxiety and grief and anguish over the the that I'd not only lost my daughter, I'd lost my wife.
01:30:09
I'd lost the two most precious things to me. Professing his deep and undying love for
01:30:17
Kathleen, Craig explained that he didn't know how to properly express his feelings in a way that would convince
01:30:23
her to stay with him. Instead, he thought, {quote} Fine, I'll [ __ ] fix this. You [ __ ]
01:30:32
my life, so I'll [ __ ] yours. I will go and tell some [ __ ] horrible thing about you that the police think
01:30:39
you did anyway. Their conversation continued late into the night. Over the days that followed, the tension
01:30:49
between them seemed to be brewing. Three days after the police interview, Kathleen told Craig she was feeling
01:30:57
stressed out. His response was shocking. I'm feeling stressed out, too, Craig replied.
01:31:07
You know, all night I've been thinking, maybe I killed the kids.