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German mum held in killing of infants
Source: Agencies |
September 28, 2012, Friday
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A woman killed her five infants shortly after giving birth in secret at home and in the woods because each time she got pregnant she worried her husband would leave her if she had any more children, German authorities said yesterday.
The woman, 28, who has been arrested on five counts of manslaughter, made a "comprehensive confession" to the killings after turning herself in as a six-year investigation closed in on her, said Ulrike Stahlmann-Liebelt, the head prosecutor in Flensburg, on the border with Denmark.
Stahlmann-Liebelt said the woman, whose name was not released in accordance with German privacy laws, has two children, aged 8 and 10. But then in 2006 she began hiding her pregnancies, staying away from doctors and hospitals and killing the infants after giving birth to two at home and three in the woods.
"She had the impression her husband would leave her if she had any more children, and that's why she didn't tell anyone she was pregnant, including her husband," Stahlmann-Liebelt said.
"She has said that the family lived at a certain level of prosperity, that it was clear her husband did not want any more children."
Police found the first infant's body dumped in a paper sorting station in 2006 about 15 kilometers away from the town of Husum where the woman lived. The second was found in a parking area off a regional highway, also about the same distance from Husum but in a different direction, in 2007.
After reading news reports that DNA results had confirmed the two children had the same parents, the woman then decided not to dispose the other bodies in public places, a police official said.
She hid the next three infants - whose existence authorities were unaware of until the woman's confession - in boxes in the basement of the building where she lived.
The bodies have now been recovered and autopsies have been carried out, but forensic experts have not yet been able to determine the cause or dates of their death.
The woman, 28, who has been arrested on five counts of manslaughter, made a "comprehensive confession" to the killings after turning herself in as a six-year investigation closed in on her, said Ulrike Stahlmann-Liebelt, the head prosecutor in Flensburg, on the border with Denmark.
Stahlmann-Liebelt said the woman, whose name was not released in accordance with German privacy laws, has two children, aged 8 and 10. But then in 2006 she began hiding her pregnancies, staying away from doctors and hospitals and killing the infants after giving birth to two at home and three in the woods.
"She had the impression her husband would leave her if she had any more children, and that's why she didn't tell anyone she was pregnant, including her husband," Stahlmann-Liebelt said.
"She has said that the family lived at a certain level of prosperity, that it was clear her husband did not want any more children."
Police found the first infant's body dumped in a paper sorting station in 2006 about 15 kilometers away from the town of Husum where the woman lived. The second was found in a parking area off a regional highway, also about the same distance from Husum but in a different direction, in 2007.
After reading news reports that DNA results had confirmed the two children had the same parents, the woman then decided not to dispose the other bodies in public places, a police official said.
She hid the next three infants - whose existence authorities were unaware of until the woman's confession - in boxes in the basement of the building where she lived.
The bodies have now been recovered and autopsies have been carried out, but forensic experts have not yet been able to determine the cause or dates of their death.
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