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She was convicted of killing her four children. Could a gene mutation set her free?

Kathleen Folbigg has spent 19 years in prison and was dubbed ‘Australia’s worst female serial killer’. Now, an inquiry into her case will look at clinical genetics in a whole new way.
  1. Nicky Phillips
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A collage illustration showing Kathleen Folbigg.

Illustration by Jasiek Krzysztofiak. Portrait: Danny Casey/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock; Fingerprints: Popup/Shutterstock; DNA: Science Photo Library/Alamy; Columns: Adam Szuscik/Unsplash; Teddy: Laårk Boshoff/Unsplash

Around lunchtime on a warm March day in 1999, Kathleen Folbigg went to check on her sleeping 18-month-old daughter and found her pale and unresponsive. Folbigg, alone in her house in Singleton, Australia, called an ambulance while she tried her best to resuscitate the child. “My baby’s not breathing,” she said, pleading for them to hurry.

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Nature 611, 218-223 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03577-9

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