Mom accused in baby murders

Ottawa Sun and various newspapers across Canada, By KIM BRADLEY, Sat, January 8, 2005

TORONTO -- A 24-year-old Guelph woman has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of two of her infant sons four years apart. Guelph and Waterloo police re-opened the cases and charged the woman Thursday after receiving new details in late December about the deaths.

The woman is accused of killing her first child in Guelph in September 1998 when he was seven months old. She's accused of killing her third child in Kitchener in December 2002 when he was nine months old. Her other children -- a three-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl -- are being cared for by Children's Aid.

NOTES COMPARED

Because the accused was under 18 at the time of the first death, she cannot be identified.

The children's fathers declined comment yesterday.

Police said two police agencies compared notes after the second child died two years ago, but found no proof of foul play.

The cases were closed after autopsies on both babies came back "inconclusive" and the investigations revealed nothing.

"Any sudden death of an infant sets off alarm bells," said Guelph police Staff Sgt. Russ Malcolmson.

"We always think homicide first, but the autopsies were inconclusive and there was no evidence to suggest foul play."

NEWSPAPER OBIT

A newspaper obituary in 2002 for the second child asked for donations to be made in his memory to Sick Kids' hospital, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome research foundation.

The obituary also mentions the first dead infant.

Police refused to reveal whether the deaths were classified as SIDS.