20 Years Later, Science Helps Free ‘Australia’s Worst Serial Killer’ From Jail

After decades, the case of who was called 'Australia's worst serial killer,' has been solved, acquitting Kathleen Folbigg of murder charges, Australian news agencies stated. The woman spent 20 years in jail, as she was wrongly convicted for allegedly murdering her four infants between 1989 and 1999. Folbigg's children, all aged between 19 days and 18 months old, passed away mysteriously, leading to suspicions against the mother. Prosecutors at her 2003 trial alleged she had smothered them.

But thanks to scientific findings that disclosed that her children died of natural causes, Folbigg was acquitted 10 years ahead of her sentence. According to BBC, the New South Wales Supreme Court held that the evidence originally used to jail Folbigg for a sentence of 30 years was "not reliable," so the 56-year-old was released in June. She was proven innocent on Thursday.

How Science Helped Acquit Folbigg

Folbigg was sentenced to 40 years in prison, which was later brought down by a decade on appeal. But in June, scientific discoveries proved her innocence and she was released by the state government. The case finally closed on Thursday, as the court noted that she was charged on unreliable evidence.

"The system preferred to blame me rather than accept that sometimes children can and do die suddenly and unexpectedly and heartbreakingly," Folbigg said, noting that her proof of innocence was ignored for decades. According to BBC, the case relied on circumstantial evidence and painted her as an unstable mother prone to rage. One of the evidence considered was Folbigg's diary, which was never examined by psychologists or psychiatrists.

In June, a landmark inquiry reopened the case and concluded that her children could have died of natural causes because of incredibly rare gene mutations. The court said that this "substantial and extensive body" of new evidence led to Folbigg's charges being cleared.