October 28, 2024 • 49 mins
Marybeth Tinning murdered each of her children in cold blood. The motive was that she enjoyed the sympathy and attention she received when her children brought to the hospital.The causes of death for Tinning's first eight children was initially thought to be genetic. Even when her sixth child, Michael – who was adopted and not of blood relation – died in 1981, authorities failed to open an investigation.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Kay Shannon, ay Tanya, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I am doing great. How are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
I'm doing good, good, just getting ready for the cold
winter that's a coming.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
But we had to be a day today here.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yead it was I view it was a rusher and high.
I think it was like eighty degrees today.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Oh my goodness. And it was forecasted for like seventy four.
It was hot, it was I was inside most of
the day getting stuff done. But it was a good
day it was.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
And I think now the weather will dip down into
our fall temperatures. I like the fall. I like the too.
I don't mind, even though you know I do miss
a little bit warmer. Today was a little too warm.
I don't like it in eighty degrees. I like it
at seventy.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Oh my gosh, especially October. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I will take an eighty degree October day though, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
No problem. I won't turn it down.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, I won't turn it down. So which you got
for us today?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I got a little story today about a woman named
Mary Beth Tinning now Mary Beth Tinning. She was born
Mary Beth Rowe Roe on September eleventh, nineteen forty two.
In the small town of Dwaynesburg, which is about ten
miles south of Schenectady, New York.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's such a.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Cool city spelling and pronunciation Schenectady, Schenectady. You really gotta
not have marbles in your mouth when you say it.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So. Her mother, she was a stay at home.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Mom, and her dad, Alton Rowe, he worked as a
press operator at General Electric. And she did have a
younger brother and the two had a fairly normal childhood.
Now with that being said, Mary Beth did once claim
that her father had abused her as a child. During
a police interview in nineteen eighty sive, she told one
(02:01):
investigator that her father had beaten her and locked her
in a closet, but later during court testimony, she denied
that her father had bad intentions. She said, my father
hit me with the fly swatter because he had arthritis
and his hands were not much use, and when he
locked me in my room, I guess he thought I
(02:24):
deserved it. So that's her claiman other than that, growing
up was normal for Mary Beth. Aside from her good looks,
she really wasn't remarkable.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
She attended high.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
School where she was an average student, and she really
didn't have much else going on for her.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
While Mary Beth aspired to attend college, it never ended
up happening for her. Instead, she began working a variety
of low paying jobs that didn't require much schooling, nor
did they allow for much growth to build a future
for her.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, some dead on jobs.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, sounds like my twenties.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
She eventually became a nurse's aide at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady,
and while there she was a hard worker, but again,
she was just average. Never really went the extra bile,
you know, just did enough to just do enough. So
in nineteen sixty three, this is when she meets Joe
(03:29):
Tinning on a blind date with some friends. Joe was
kind and shy and kept to himself and out of trouble,
so together they made the perfect mediocre couple. They married
in the spring of nineteen sixty five and seemed to
take life as it came, nothing more and nothing less.
(03:53):
So one would say that they were a normal, hard
working couple trying their best to make a decent and
honest living.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Nothing much stood out about them.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
They were no different than the next newlyweds, that is
until their kids started dying.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh, no right now.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Barbara Barbara was their first child, and she's born in
nineteen sixty seven, just two years after the happy couple
was married. And as far as anyone could see, baby
Barbara was happy.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
And so were the Tinnings.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
From the outside looking in, Mary Beth seemed to be
a good mother, and she could often be seen Dody
gun Barbara whenever they were.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
In public, so it didn't take long for them to
begin growing their little family. In nineteen eighty.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Seven, their second child, Joseph Junior, was born, and all
seemed perfect in the Tinning household. Mary Beth even told
friends and family that she planned to have more children.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
However, no one could see all the.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Problems brewing just beneath the surface, so her and Joe
began having problems as Mary Beth would give him a
hard time behind closed doors and then poses the perfect
wife in front of people. You know, that must have
been something in the sixties, or you know, kind of
look at more so Turner classic movies. Look at those
(05:23):
black and whites, See how you know they kids? Art
imitates life right, put in a Betty Betty Davis film.
See what she says behind closed doors?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And then oh, hello, he like years.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Little did anyone know that this was just the beginning
of what would turn into a full blown killing spree.
Oh no, exactly in nineteen seventy one. October of nineteen
seventy one, Mary Beth's father died of a sudden heart attack.
Then just two months later, in December, Mary Beth gave
(06:04):
birth to her third child, Jennifer. Even with the recent
death of her father, all seemed to be good and
the couple appeared happy. But then just eight days later,
Mary Beth brought an unresponsive Jennifer into the local emergency room. Sadly,
Jennifer was dead on January third, nineteen seventy two, and
(06:29):
after being examined, the doctors ruled that she had died
from hemorrhage meningitis in brain abscesses.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Oh really yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Dealing with the sudden death of her father and now
her daughter was just too much for Marybeth's fragile mental condition.
She was never a happy, well adjusted adult to begin with,
which didn't help matters. She often referred to as strange
(07:00):
by neighbors and family. Mary Beth now has only become
more distant and withdrawn with these horrible events. Now the
couple had no choice but to return to work so
they could support their two other children. So they were
dealing with the tragedy as best as they could now.
Just seventeen days later, on January twentieth, nineteen seventy two,
(07:25):
two year old Joseph Junior was also brought to the
emergency room unresponsive. Mary Beth claimed that he had some
type of seizure. He was kept for observation, but when
the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him, they sent
him home with Mary Beth.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Just a few hours later, Mary Beth returned to the er,
except this time Joseph Junior was for sure dead.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
She had told doctors that she had placed.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Him in bed, only to return later and find his
blue body tangled in the sheets. He was taking a nap,
Mary Bethy told detectives in a later statement, it was
close to his birthday and he had slept and taken
a nap, slept unusually long. Unfortunately I did not go
in to check on him, and when I did, he
(08:13):
appeared to be having respiratory problems of which I did
not cause.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Okay, yusific, you just case on yourself exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, his death was listed as unknown, and there was
never an autopsy performed. He died that night from what
doctor said was a cardio pulmonary arrest, which means simply
he stopped breathing. Really and he's now barely six weeks Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
It's yeah that I don't understand the no autopsy here.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Is it? Because it's the seventies.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I mean, you just it must be the navete even,
you know, like, oh, surely someone's not going to poison
all the title in all.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, right, no, yeah, like okay, this is a little
baby like you know.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yes, not a little baby tragedy.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, but you know what I right, But yeah, like
the age of where people did not take so gross
advantage of someone's vulnerability. Right now, barely six weeks later,
Mary Beth was back at that same emergency room, this
time with her four year old Barbara, who was unresponsive. Jesus,
(09:30):
she told the doctors that Barbara had gone into convulsions.
The doctors told Mary Beth they wanted to keep her
daughter overnight, but Mary Beth insisted on taking her home,
and several hours later, just like the incident with Joseph Junior,
she returned with Barbara, who was unconscious. The child later
(09:52):
died in the hospital bed from unknown causes, and when
police asked Mary Beth about this incident years later, she
barely remembered it.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Really, you don't remember.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
You don't remember Barbara's, Joseph Junior's or I mean, I
guess specifically Barbara's.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, right, I find that to be an untruth.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Me too, girl, Yes, so she told investigators the following
I had a daughter while and while I was sleeping,
she called out to me, and I went in and
she was having a convulsion. I guess I don't even
remember what I just I don't remember if we took
her by ambulance or if we just took her. But anyway,
(10:38):
we got there and they did whatever they did.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Really.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, Barbara ended.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Up dying from what doctors believed to be Rice syndrome,
which is a rare but serious condition causes confusion, dwelling
in the brain, liver damp. However, it was never proven.
And you're right, it's the seventh it's nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, something like that, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
M From the outside looking in, things didn't look so
great on the tinnings part, however, no one seemed to
suspect them of any wrongdoing.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
If anything, people thought that their.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Tragic losses may have something to do with a genetic disorder. So,
whether it was because of Marybeth's quiet nature, which helped
aid her in her role as a caregiver, or the
fact that the Tinnings were seen as pillars in the community,
local police and doctors didn't think twice about digging any deeper.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Plus, they no longer had any kids left to kill,
so life went on as it does.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Didn't you do a story recently, like in the last
month or so where it was children were dying like
this and they thought it was a genetic problem. And
which story was that?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
I don't know, I know, that's I can't remember, but
that's like a good place to hide bodies is to
imply that it's because my family has a genetic disorder.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, yeah, Like, how do you know in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yes, exactly, this is prime where people are like learning
how to take advantage of people's vulnerabilities, and this is
what happens fifty years later, the society we live in today.
The couple remained without child for more than a year
until mary Beth got pregnant again in nineteen seventy three
(12:35):
early nineteen seventy three, and on Thanksgiving Day she gave
birth to Timothy, her fourth child, and she brought Timothy
home and it seemed that things were starting to look
up after all. Timothy could be the addition to the
family that the Tennings needed more than anything to move
on and forward. However, about two weeks after Timothy was born,
(12:58):
on December tenth, Mary Beth brought the unresponsive baby into
the hospital.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
While she seemed like she.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Was becoming a regular at the emergency center, there always
seemed to be a legitimate and justified reason for what
was happening, at least.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
In her eyes.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Right, So yeah, since Timothy showed no outward signs of trauma,
Mary Beth claimed she had found him lifeless in the crib.
He was ruled the victim of crib death better known
as SIDS of such an Infant death syndrome. Now the
locals were talking people. Fortunately number four third time is
(13:39):
not the term. It's the yeah, the fourth, So they're people,
they're talking. People were curious as to how a family
could have such bad look.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
However, those closest to them.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Continued to fully support the Tinnings in their long road
of grief. Joe confided in his brother Andy and told
him that lately his food had been tasting weird. His
brother promptly told him to look into that, but Joe
brushed it off as nothing.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh, it's probably nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, it's nothing. Huh.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Suddenly I feel all of my home food is tasting weird.
In nineteen seventy four, Mary Beth called Joe's brother and
said Joe's dead, and when Andy showed up with his
wife Carol, Joe was lying on the ground with a
bluish purple face and twisted up in the bed sheets,
(14:34):
and Mary Beth stood in the corner repeating, I didn't
do it.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I didn't do it. What these I don't get now.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
I'm pissed now, I'm like, fuck, nineteen seventy whatever, use
your brains.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Okay, come on now, I mean I didn't do it.
This is smoking gunshit, you know, so mind you.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Mary Beth was fully dressed but hadn't even tried calling
the police or ambulance yet. Andy began giving him CPR
while an ambulance was called, and once at the hospital,
was discovered that Mary Beth had given Joe a nearly
deadly dose of barbituates.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
The police were called.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
However, Joe refused to hold his wife accountable.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So he survived this.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
He survived this and was told that she gave him
this humongous.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Dose and he was like, you know what, I'm okay.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I'm okay, I don't die, I'm fine.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, yeah, but did you die? You die?
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Well the police should have known better and investigated the
matter further. Law enforcement at the time was very different
than it was today, and back then, if the victim
didn't want or wish to pursue matters, then the police
and prosecutors usually wouldn't either.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, they're like, I'm done.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I know when Farah faucet the burning bed. Yes, that
story is what changed. I believe the whole will prosecute
on behalf of the assaulted. You don't have to worry
about wanting to We'll do it for you. The state
takes over.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, the state takes over.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Mary Beth became pregnant again with what would be her
fifth child on March thirtieth, nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
It was Easter Sunday.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Nathan was born, and as onlookers waited for the next
tragedy to strike, It simply didn't, at least not until
September Tewod, when Mary Beth rushed an unresponsive five month
old Nathan into the emergency room. She claimed that she
was driving with Nathan in the front seat when he
suddenly stopped breathing. Unfortunately, the doctors weren't unable to revive
(16:52):
him again. The fact that there was no outward trauma
visible coupled with Marybeth's story, the doctors ruled him as
a victim of SIDS.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Wow, the fifth child, Mmm, this is it is It's insane.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Fifth child.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
It's just this is criminal that they're really even for
It's criminal for the decade. Yeah, it's really like they're
just failing these children.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
This is it's for sure now, I know.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
The knowledge of SIDS was still scarce in this day
and age. However, doctors should have at least known that
it wasn't something that was genetic. Therefore, the odds of
multiple babies dying from it and the same family was
not only rare, but would have been the direct result
(17:46):
of neglect or premeditation.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
That's how non genetic SIDS is. It's nothing like genetic.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, therefore, the odds.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Of having multiple babies from this same family, that's not Jeans,
that's premeditation, that's something that's not Jens. So but still,
no serious questions had been raised by local officials regarding
the Tinning family or lack thereof. So years had gone
by and anyone who may have had any kind of
(18:18):
real suspicions about the Tinning family was soon forgotten. Even
the people who were responsible for advocating on the behalf
of the children of New York failed to investigate Marybeth's
background when she applied to adopt a child.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
No Yes.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
In nineteen seventy eight, the Tinnings entered into the adoption process,
which isn't much different than it is today. Interested parties
were required to submit a background check by the state,
which included a complete examination of the adoptee's criminal and
financial records. Since neither Mary Beth or Joe had a
(18:59):
criminal une record and both were gainfully employed, they easily
passed the first round of the adoption process. Wow, so funny,
I was born in New York, right, yeah? And whether
until Cuomo Governor Cuomo when he said that seals could
be opened and that's how I found everybody.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
My sisters and my brother, and that's how.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
But the process is so different, so different, I think
about it, and like them having no criminal record, is
that I can see them passing the first round.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Just anybody, ken if you meet those two things.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, right right, Yeah, there's there's millions of people in
this country that don't criminal records. So okay, not.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Really a red flag here.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
But a social worker went then interviewed the couple and
visited their home to make sure that it was suitable
for a child, and the Tintings also passed this part
of the process.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
US.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Now, while the death of her five children should have
been a huge red flag, Mary Beth assured the social
worker that they were all due to natural causes and
that she had the doctor's records.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
To prove it.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
M you know, this is a lot of like yeah,
I can get them to you later type of time
period too, or just take my word for.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
It, right right, yeah, Like oh they seem like such
a nice people.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, And she.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Said she had the doctors to prove it. I'm sure
she had worked on her story. She's got Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
If she says she's got them, she.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Must she must why would she lie to me?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Would?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Why children? Right? So, Mary Beth explained that while they
wanted nothing.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
More than to have children, she believed that something was
wrong with her and Joe, which prevented this from happening
for them. She ended by saying that she thought it
was wiser and safer to go through the adoption route charmer.
Her words seemed to resonate just enough a boring couple
could eat well, she could, you know, get the waves
(21:08):
needed to charm, you know, get people to do what
you want now. The state of New York agreed to
allow the Tinnings to adapt, and in nineteen seventy eight,
the couple welcome an infant boy, whom they named Michael,
into the world.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
And wouldn't you.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Know it, During the adoption process, Mary Beth found herself
pregnant once again. On October twenty ninth, nineteen seventy eight,
she gave birth to a baby girl named Mary Francis.
Oh I do love two memes. People actually started to
believe that maybe this was the beginning of the Tinnings
(21:47):
having their perfect family, but they would be wrong, because
in January nineteen seventy nine, Mary Beth brought an unresponsive
Mary Francis into the emergency room for what she said,
with some kind of seizure. Thankfully, the doctors were able
to revive the baby girl, who they then sent home
(22:08):
with Mary Beth. But one month later, on February twentieth,
Mary Beth came running back into the hospital with four
month old Mary Francis. This time the doctors were not
able to save her. She was brain dead. I know,
of course. All Mary Beth had to say for herself
(22:28):
was that she found the baby girl unconscious and did
not know what had happened to her. What happened And
this is a broken record.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yes, I'm sure doctors have put notes in. This is
now number six.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Yes, so you have six serial killer.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Man previous exactly cases. There is really nothing to say.
She told investigators years later that I found her in
her crib, one responsive.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I believe Joe was there, I can't remember.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
An autopsy was performed but failed to find a reason
for death, and therefore it deemed SIDS once again. So
on November nineteenth, nineteen seventy nine, the Tinnings welcomed Jonathan
into their family, their eighth child. In March nineteen eighty,
he was brought into the hospital in the same fashion
(23:21):
as his siblings, were unresponsive. Like Mary Francis, the doctors
were able to revive him, but this time they took
into consideration the Tinnings history and took extra precautions. So finally, yes,
on maybe eight. The healthcare professionals were concerned about all
the deaths in the Tinning family, but still thought that
(23:44):
maybe it was genetically related.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
God, we were.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
So this shows how much like it isn't so important
to invest in medicine, in discoveries of medicine. We have
been dealing with things too long, you know what I'm saying,
Jerry's kids, things that while we have been fifty years
really no progress, we're still acting like this is something.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
So now I don't believe it. I be believe we're
so much smarter than this.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
And for this, you know, taking to the eighth child,
I don't. To me, it's starting getting lazy.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, like, you know, not like she's all over the country.
She's probably going into the same fucking hospital. Everything says, yes,
you know, because she's.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Not going to the county hospital. She's not even switching
hospitals and it's the same. But she's got this you know,
running narrative of oh, it's a genetics because they don't
know enough to say no, it isn't yet, so okay now,
The healthcare professionals were concerned about all the deaths in
the Tinning family, but still thought that maybe it was
(24:52):
genetically related, or that maybe it had something to do
with the family home. Either way, Jonathan was sent to
Boston Children's Hospital, where he was examined by the best
pediatricians and experts around. However, the doctors couldn't find a
single valid reason why the infant should suddenly stop breathing,
(25:12):
so as a result, Jonathan was sent home with his mom.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Oh man and yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Of course, still no one had yet to fully suspect
Mary Beth, not even her own husband, and just a
few days later, Marybeth was back at the hospital holding
a brain dead Jonathan on March twenty fourth, nineteen eighty
and even with Jonathan being cleared, that didn't stop healthcare
(25:38):
and law enforcement officials from speculating. The sheer number of
deaths alone was enough for anyone to be suspicious of.
But then a pattern seemed to emerge. It was noted
that most of the children died in the fall, winter
and early spring months, while two were killed on holidays.
(25:59):
These sparks some interest and could suggest that depression played
a role.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Again, they were just merely speculating.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
So on March second, nineteen eighty one, Mary Beth brought
two and a half year old Michael, wrapped in a blanket,
to the pediatrician's office, claiming that the boy had gone
to sleep and that she couldn't wake him up.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
The doctors didn't need to.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Examine the boy for long at all before seeing he
was clearly dead.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
So now the adopted but.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yes, now the adopted child is dead, is.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Now dead, Mary Beth explained to the police.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
When I went in in the morning to get him
up and so we could go to the doctor's, he
was not I mean he's seen. He was responsive to
a point, but he was very limp, and so on
and so forth, and so instead of calling an ambulance, Wow,
this is like verbatim, you know, and so on and
so forth, and YadA yadda.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
YadA ya ya got her baby's death right.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
I went from our house him in the car, literally
threw him in the car and went to Saint Clair's
or I mean I went to doctor Melay's office and
went in there, and by the time one of the doctors,
I guess took me, they said he died of viral pneumonia. Okay,
So now suspicions were even higher, especially since Marybeth brought
(27:18):
her dead son to the family doctor before emergency, like
she would have normally done with every other child.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
She took him right to emergency.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
So later an autopsy found traces of pneumonia, but not
enough to cause death. Since Michael was adopted, the long
suspected theory that the deaths in the Tinning family had
a genetic origin was thrown out the window. Something else
was happening. Only thing was that no one knew exactly
what it was. So on August twenty second, nineteen eighty five,
(27:53):
the Tinnings welcome their ninth and last child into their home,
Tammy Lynn. But just like all of their other children,
Tammy Lynn was faded to meet her demise sooner or later.
On December nineteenth, Mary Beth called her next door neighbor,
Cynthia Walter, who was also a practical nurse, and frantically
urged her to come over right away. When Cynthia showed
(28:16):
up to see what the fuss was about. She witnessed
tammy Lynn lying on a changing table. She testified in
court the following she wasn't moving, she was purple, and
I couldn't feel a pulse or respiration. She was not breathing.
Walter tried to figure out exactly what was wrong, but
there was nothing obvious that she could put her finger on. Meanwhile,
(28:38):
m MS showed up and rushed Tammy Lynn to the hospital,
and when Cynthia asked Mary Beth what happened, she said
that the little girl was tangled in the blanket.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
That's like I think.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
She said that on four of them, at least for sure,
tangled in the blanket. At the emergency room, the baby
was pronounced dead. There was no cause of death appearance
to the emergency room staff, but since they were all
too familiar with the Tanning family history, Mary Beth was
suspect number one. After all, each and every one of
(29:11):
these children have died under her watch.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Your baby dies tangled in a blanket, the first one.
Let's just say yeah, and it continue putting. Now, let's
say this happens now to a second one. You keep
supers in that crib.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
No, I am done with the blankets.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I am super fucking paranoid. Yes, when all these children
pass away and I'm like, I'm on alert and I'm
just gonna put another.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I would even be sleep eat all the oh you
know mother instincts of just being on red alert.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Right, you know? Seven?
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah, my own for my one child, I had, thank
you how many you run in and make sure they're
breathing and make you know what I mean, like, oh
my gosh.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah, when Brooke. I remember when Brooke flipped over, the
first time, I was.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Like, what's happened? You know? Are you okay?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Even though she's like I can't remember how old they
are by six, seven months by then a little bit.
But it's just every bit of movement is you're just
always on red alert.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
You're always on red alert.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
And she's just she's not even acting in a way
that has any like real I don't even know if
this is like a munch housing by proxy. It's not
like she I mean, she's a quiet woman. It's not
like she's getting attention and fawning over this attention she's getting.
It sounds like people are whispering heavily. But yeah, and
(30:44):
as long as they just keep whispering and not stopping her.
She's okay with it. So there was a couple of
other weird things that happened after tammy Lynne's death. When
Cynthia visited the Tinning home the next morning to check
on mary Beth and see she needed anything, she was
met with not someone who she assumed would be heavily grieving,
(31:07):
but Joe and mary Beth just casually sitting at the
kitchen table and eating breakfast as if it was just.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Another normal day. What the fuck is that? Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Then, after Tammulan's funeral, mary Beth had invited people over
her house for a brunch. While there, she was reportedly smiling,
eating and talking with everyone there. She seemed completely unbothered,
not to mention. Friends and family claims she never talked
about the death, and it truly did seem as if
she didn't give a shit. It was just a social event.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
You know, people over. Yeah, yeah, exam, how are you like, right?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
The complete obtuseness of there's no real motherly reactions anywhere here.
An autopsy failed to provide a valid medical rea and
for Sammilyn's death, and as a result, her devise was
listed as SIDS. So this was just crazy and cops
knew it. Police investigators from several departments all got together
(32:11):
to talk about the Tending family mystery and what they
had so far. They went over every piece of evidence
they had, autopsies, medical reports, statements, and anything that could
be re examined and studied. However, even with fourteen years
of paperwork, they knew that a successful prosecution still couldn't
(32:32):
take place without additional evidence, and it was time to
talk to mary Beth again. And on the afternoon of
February fourth, nineteen eighty six, Schenectady Police detective Bob Einfield
and State Police investigator Joseph Carris went to Mariabeth's home
to ask her to come down to the police headquarters
(32:54):
for questioning. Mary Beth didn't have to go with them,
as she wasn't under arrest at the time, but she did.
Later she would claim that she felt forced to go
with the police. Once she had arrived at the Loudonville
State Police building, she was advised of the miranda warning. Nevertheless,
(33:15):
she agreed to talk with investigators now.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
During the trial, she denied ever.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Being read these warnings and her rights and claimed that
the police intimidated her. When talking with investigators, she spoke
about her childhood and the town she grew up in.
She also explained that she grieved over the deaths of
each of her children, which she swore she didn't play
any role in. She said that she chalked them up
(33:40):
either dying from SIDS or a genetic issue, the same
bullshit she's.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Been you know, couting for fourteen years, thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
And as the death of tammy Lynne, mary Beth told
her version of events. She claimed that on the night
of December nineteenth, nineteen eighty five, she put her daughter
to sleep in her crib, just as she normally would,
and she said tammy Lynn was crying a lot that night,
which annoyed her because it made her feel like an
unfit mother. She continued to watch television by herself, and
(34:11):
when she went back to check on tammy Lynn, that's
when mary Beth realized she wasn't breathing, and that's when
she picked up the baby in a desperate attempt to
bring her back to life, but nothing seemed to be working.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
So she woke up her husband and then called for
an ambulance. I just want to pause here and be
a bitch.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Okay, so the stopping breathing, like did I just don't understand,
like you're not learning CPR?
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Are you learning CPR? I mean you can anyone can
say that they can do it.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
But true, that's true. You're right, Like, and I was thinking,
why are you still having more children?
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Like with this yes?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
If I think okay, And I'm really not trying to
be a bit like right now, I'm trying to think,
like what would I do?
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Yes, like maybe I have this desperate need, like you know,
I really really want to be a mom, and you
know I love children. I want to have this big family. Okay,
I've had how many kids? Now eight? And I've adopted
one and all eight biological children along with my adoptive
child now has died. Do I continue to still have
(35:26):
more children? Like I can't believe she made it to eight?
I mean I can considering the shore. But in a
logical world, if I really truly thought that I had
a genetic that my husband deny, like for whatever the
weird gene mix is when we have children, we have
these children that either die from you know, natural causes,
(35:47):
or they die from kids or whatever, Like maybe we
should shouldn't have any kids.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Maybe exactly. And I truly had no hand in that
my children's end of life. Yes, I truly had no hand.
But then you know she they had adopted son. Yeah,
and so they're blows every bit. I mean everything about
it was tissue paper thin.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yes, And I just I'm blown away that it takes
fucking nine children for the police to be like hmm, exactly,
It's like something's wrong, Like, dude, I just this story.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
It's just lazy to me.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
That is like think you know that your police you
know the darkness of men's hearts.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
And I'm like acting like this is Mayberry?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
You know? Is it because these are like nice white
people out in the suburbs, Like I just know what
the culture is in the nine seventies and early eighties,
whatever it is? Is it? Is it? Like you know,
they're just I don't know Schenectady. Is it an affluent area?
Like I'm thinking, is it this is it? You know,
it's upstate New York somewhere, and is it just you know,
(36:53):
these are these are you know, lovely people and whatever?
Like is that why no one's giving a ship? So
I don't understand how can you we're almost in the
double digits. I mean, yeah, a lot of children. These
are babies.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
These are babies.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
These are babies, like I think the oldest may have
been Barbara, like Barbara, Yeah, she was four and a half,
so she was older. Yeah. All the rest are like
infants months old, like not even like a year old.
They don't even make it six months.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
No, exactly, very very short lives and no flags. I mean, oh,
maybe they're talking after number seven. Really you're just talking.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Okay, We're just it's fucking blowing my mind.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
It is this, even the tying frame. I'm not even
giving them a pass on the decade or the year.
I don't give a shit now. Yeah, so police they
didn't believe her story. The worst part about it was
that her version of what went down was really all
they had to go on.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
So there was no other.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Witness and no one to challenge her with respect to
what was true and what was a blatant line.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
So the interview went on for hours, and investigators made
sure to touch upon the deaths of each child. Finally,
after several hours of relentless questioning, Mary Beth finally broke.
I did not do anything to Jennifer, Joseph, Barbara, Michael,
Mary Francis, Jonathan. She said to Barnes and Caris, I
(38:27):
did not do anything to Jennifer, Joseph, Barbara, Michael, Mary Francis, Jonathan.
She said to Barnes and Caris, just these three, Timothy, Nathan,
and Tammy. I smothered them each with a pillow because
I'm not a good mother. I'm not a good mother
because of the other children.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Oh okay, yeah, I'm following you.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
During the interrogation, police called her husband, Joe, down to
the station. When Mary Beth was allowed to meet with him,
Joe told her to just tell the truth. Later in court,
Joe talked of their brief conversation and said that Mary
Beth admitted to him the murders. Mary Beth said, I
killed Tammy very low. She had to repeat it. I
(39:17):
had withdrawn into myself. He said, I was hearing, but
I wasn't reacting. A stenographer was called in by police
and a thirty six page statement was composed documenting Mary
Beth's entire interrogation by investigators, and in it, she admitted
to suffocating three children, but continued to deny having harmed
(39:39):
any of the other children. She insisted that on the
night of Tammy Lynn's death, she was sleeping on the
living room couch, and this is what she told police there.
I was about to doze off when Tammy woke up
and started to cry. I got up and went to
her crib and tried to do something with her to
get her to stop crying.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
I finally she used.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
The pillow from my bed to put it over her head.
I held it until she stopped crying. She said she
took the same pillow and put it on the couch
to give the illusion that she had been sleeping. I
screamed for Joe to wake up. I told Joe Tammy
wasn't breathing. I did do CPR, stupid as it sounds,
(40:20):
but I knew that she wasn't alive anymore. And when
she asked why she had killed Tammy, Mary Beth said
because she was always crying and I couldn't do anything right.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
She was later arrested and charged with the murder of
Tammy Lynn, and Mary Beth's murder trial began in Schenectady
County Court on June twenty second, nineteen eighty seven, and
after a six week trial, the jury deliberated almost twenty
hours over a three day period. On July seventeenth, nineteen
eighty seven, the forty four year old Mary Beth was
(40:54):
found guilty of murder in the second degree and the
death of her daughter, Tammy Lynn a depraved indifference to
human life.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
So Mary Beth.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
She received a sentence of twenty years to life in prison,
and she was taken to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
for women, and she attempted to appeal on the grounds
that her confession was given under duress, but she was denied.
Her attempts at parole began in two thousand and seven,
and she was denied time and time again for having
(41:27):
and or showing no remorse. In two thousand and seven,
she said, I have to be honest, and the only
thing that I can tell you is that I know
that my daughter is dead. I live with it every day.
I have no recollection and I can't believe that I
harmed her. I can't say any more than that.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Denied.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
In January of two thousand and nine, she told the
parole board the following I was going through a bad time.
The parole board said. She was superficial at best.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Denied it was going through a bad time.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I was just going through a bad time. I was
just having a nine bad times.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
In January twenty eleven, she said that at this parole hearing,
after the deaths of my other children, I just lost it.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I became a damaged, worthless piece of person.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
And when my daughter was young, in my state of
mind at that time, I just believed that she was going.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
To die also, so I just did it. Denied.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
In twenty thirteen, she said, it's just I can't remember.
I mean, I know I did it, but I can't
tell you why. There's no reason. In February twenty fifteen
and January of twenty seventeen, she was denied a fifth
and sixth time, still for not showing any remorse or
under any understanding or remorse for taking her child's life. However,
(42:55):
a seventy six year old Mary Beth was eventually released
on parole on August twenty first, twenty eighteen, after having
served thirty one years. Her husband Joseph, who supported her
and believed in her innocence the entire time, was waiting
for her.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
Are you the fucking kidding me?
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Now?
Speaker 3 (43:17):
The Stipulations surrounding her release are that she will be
on parole for the rest of her life, she has
a curfew, and she has to attend domestic violence counseling.
Now I googled her, you know, I have her right here.
She is eighty two years old. She's still still here. Yeah, somewhere,
(43:40):
probably New York, I would imagine.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
But unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
This is crazy And what the fuck is up with Joseph.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Like he has to know that he was she tried
to kill him too. The barbituates you knew the police
told you she tried to kill you, but he also
stood by and believed all of his kids had died
in the way she swore by or just said. And
that is a very spineless and fucked up thing to do.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, right, I don't.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
That's just allowing shit to happen.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Yeah, that's just not not being like fully present in
what's going on in your own life.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
I think, like, yeah, it's not you know, you're not
taking account of Billy, You're not.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
What are you here for?
Speaker 2 (44:30):
I just the story is fucking crazy.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
Like I the number of children, and I get it,
Like you said the seventies, you know you I could
go up to seven eleven with a note I wrote
for a pack of cigarettes for my mother that makes
not smoke.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
It was the wild wild West in the really was ross,
you know what I mean? I just and so was
the rest of the world, Like I just don't know,
wonder the fucking serial killers and shit they didn't find
the Zodiac killer and shit like that, Like that's because
it's just people were naive. I don't know, And I mean,
is it the naivete?
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
I think it's like people don't acknowledge their dark side.
You gotta acknowledge your dark side because guess what, that
dark side is also in every fucking body else. So
you don't think, oh, no, you know peachy roses and sunglasses. No,
I mean, enjoy it while it's there, but know that
this motherfucker might.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Have some deviant shit thought.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
Yeah, and all think the fact like she killed her
three kids because she was a bad mom because her
other six kids died. How does that make sense? How
are you a bad mom that your kids died from
genetic things or whatever? And then you're like, oh, I'm
just gonna knock off my next three kids because I'm.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
A bad mom.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
No, you did it because you are a bad mom,
and you killed them all because you are a bad mom. Yes,
started to cry and you didn't want to hear it,
and so your fucking smothered nine children.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
Yeah you're six month old. Made you feel like a
bad mom. That sounds like a narcissistic fucking personality.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Bullshit, And who hasn't had a baby? Cry?
Speaker 1 (46:17):
My god?
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Crazy?
Speaker 1 (46:19):
I mean, like Brooklyn was so collicky. I remember the same.
I was like I would look in her eyes on
I'm like, how come you're not connecting?
Speaker 3 (46:26):
Yeah, barely, you know, And she's like, yeah, probably because
I can't talk.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
I'm in engrueling gas pain from this iron rich milk.
You know.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
I can't remember you calling your like she will not
stop crying. I was so bad for you because I
was just like, oh.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
I know and earth while I was like total perfect baby.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
All my child, never, she was never colicky, she slept well,
like she just she was a great baby. I mean
she did every moments obviously, you know, you get sick
and whatever. But I felt so bad for you because
it was such a nightmare, Like I just you didn't
fucking smother your baby because now you just, you know, just.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
Keep holding and rocking and shaking and taking it for
a ride.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
And and you were at the fucking end of your rope.
I could hear you know what I mean? Please God, please.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
I showered last. I don't remember, I mean, this, fucking lady.
And then it's unbelievable, the denial. And yeah, for sure
it's a mental thing. But at the same time it
bothers me. You know when someone does horrific things and
then it's like, oh, I wasn't read my rights, I
(47:46):
wasn't done it.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Fuck you, Okay, your rights.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
You should be thankful you live in a country where
you have Miranda.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
Rights exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (47:57):
So, but yes, that is the story, uh the serial
killer mother Mary Bating.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Yeah, thank you. This is crazy. I would just like
to remind everyone before we go to hit the subscriber
follow button.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Yes, if you're listening.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
To please go to our website Crimesoconsequences dot com. We
have merchandise. If you'd like to join our Patreon, we
offer one extra episode a week that is for our
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slash tnt Crimes to join that, or you can go
(48:36):
if you listen on your Apple podcast app, you can
join through there and you get one extra episode a week.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Oh, we would just like there. Let everyone know that.
I think that's all the business, relatively.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Oh the business.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Yeah, so until our next episode.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
Yes, tany, you take care of yourself and our listeners.
You take care of yourselves. We love you, We love you,
and not much.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
See you next time, see you next time.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
Bye bye mm hmm
Kay Shannon, ay Tanya, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I am doing great. How are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
I'm doing good, good, just getting ready for the cold
winter that's a coming.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
But we had to be a day today here.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yead it was I view it was a rusher and high.
I think it was like eighty degrees today.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Oh my goodness. And it was forecasted for like seventy four.
It was hot, it was I was inside most of
the day getting stuff done. But it was a good
day it was.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
And I think now the weather will dip down into
our fall temperatures. I like the fall. I like the too.
I don't mind, even though you know I do miss
a little bit warmer. Today was a little too warm.
I don't like it in eighty degrees. I like it
at seventy.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Oh my gosh, especially October. Right.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I will take an eighty degree October day though, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
No problem. I won't turn it down.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, I won't turn it down. So which you got
for us today?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I got a little story today about a woman named
Mary Beth Tinning now Mary Beth Tinning. She was born
Mary Beth Rowe Roe on September eleventh, nineteen forty two.
In the small town of Dwaynesburg, which is about ten
miles south of Schenectady, New York.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's such a.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Cool city spelling and pronunciation Schenectady, Schenectady. You really gotta
not have marbles in your mouth when you say it.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So. Her mother, she was a stay at home.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Mom, and her dad, Alton Rowe, he worked as a
press operator at General Electric. And she did have a
younger brother and the two had a fairly normal childhood.
Now with that being said, Mary Beth did once claim
that her father had abused her as a child. During
a police interview in nineteen eighty sive, she told one
(02:01):
investigator that her father had beaten her and locked her
in a closet, but later during court testimony, she denied
that her father had bad intentions. She said, my father
hit me with the fly swatter because he had arthritis
and his hands were not much use, and when he
locked me in my room, I guess he thought I
(02:24):
deserved it. So that's her claiman other than that, growing
up was normal for Mary Beth. Aside from her good looks,
she really wasn't remarkable.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
She attended high.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
School where she was an average student, and she really
didn't have much else going on for her.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
While Mary Beth aspired to attend college, it never ended
up happening for her. Instead, she began working a variety
of low paying jobs that didn't require much schooling, nor
did they allow for much growth to build a future
for her.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, some dead on jobs.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, sounds like my twenties.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
She eventually became a nurse's aide at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady,
and while there she was a hard worker, but again,
she was just average. Never really went the extra bile,
you know, just did enough to just do enough. So
in nineteen sixty three, this is when she meets Joe
(03:29):
Tinning on a blind date with some friends. Joe was
kind and shy and kept to himself and out of trouble,
so together they made the perfect mediocre couple. They married
in the spring of nineteen sixty five and seemed to
take life as it came, nothing more and nothing less.
(03:53):
So one would say that they were a normal, hard
working couple trying their best to make a decent and
honest living.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Nothing much stood out about them.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
They were no different than the next newlyweds, that is
until their kids started dying.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh, no right now.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Barbara Barbara was their first child, and she's born in
nineteen sixty seven, just two years after the happy couple
was married. And as far as anyone could see, baby
Barbara was happy.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
And so were the Tinnings.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
From the outside looking in, Mary Beth seemed to be
a good mother, and she could often be seen Dody
gun Barbara whenever they were.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
In public, so it didn't take long for them to
begin growing their little family. In nineteen eighty.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Seven, their second child, Joseph Junior, was born, and all
seemed perfect in the Tinning household. Mary Beth even told
friends and family that she planned to have more children.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
However, no one could see all the.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Problems brewing just beneath the surface, so her and Joe
began having problems as Mary Beth would give him a
hard time behind closed doors and then poses the perfect
wife in front of people. You know, that must have
been something in the sixties, or you know, kind of
look at more so Turner classic movies. Look at those
(05:23):
black and whites, See how you know they kids? Art
imitates life right, put in a Betty Betty Davis film.
See what she says behind closed doors?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And then oh, hello, he like years.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Little did anyone know that this was just the beginning
of what would turn into a full blown killing spree.
Oh no, exactly in nineteen seventy one. October of nineteen
seventy one, Mary Beth's father died of a sudden heart attack.
Then just two months later, in December, Mary Beth gave
(06:04):
birth to her third child, Jennifer. Even with the recent
death of her father, all seemed to be good and
the couple appeared happy. But then just eight days later,
Mary Beth brought an unresponsive Jennifer into the local emergency room. Sadly,
Jennifer was dead on January third, nineteen seventy two, and
(06:29):
after being examined, the doctors ruled that she had died
from hemorrhage meningitis in brain abscesses.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Oh really yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Dealing with the sudden death of her father and now
her daughter was just too much for Marybeth's fragile mental condition.
She was never a happy, well adjusted adult to begin with,
which didn't help matters. She often referred to as strange
(07:00):
by neighbors and family. Mary Beth now has only become
more distant and withdrawn with these horrible events. Now the
couple had no choice but to return to work so
they could support their two other children. So they were
dealing with the tragedy as best as they could now.
Just seventeen days later, on January twentieth, nineteen seventy two,
(07:25):
two year old Joseph Junior was also brought to the
emergency room unresponsive. Mary Beth claimed that he had some
type of seizure. He was kept for observation, but when
the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him, they sent
him home with Mary Beth.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Just a few hours later, Mary Beth returned to the er,
except this time Joseph Junior was for sure dead.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
She had told doctors that she had placed.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Him in bed, only to return later and find his
blue body tangled in the sheets. He was taking a nap,
Mary Bethy told detectives in a later statement, it was
close to his birthday and he had slept and taken
a nap, slept unusually long. Unfortunately I did not go
in to check on him, and when I did, he
(08:13):
appeared to be having respiratory problems of which I did
not cause.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Okay, yusific, you just case on yourself exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, his death was listed as unknown, and there was
never an autopsy performed. He died that night from what
doctor said was a cardio pulmonary arrest, which means simply
he stopped breathing. Really and he's now barely six weeks Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
It's yeah that I don't understand the no autopsy here.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Is it? Because it's the seventies.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I mean, you just it must be the navete even,
you know, like, oh, surely someone's not going to poison
all the title in all.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, right, no, yeah, like okay, this is a little
baby like you know.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yes, not a little baby tragedy.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, but you know what I right, But yeah, like
the age of where people did not take so gross
advantage of someone's vulnerability. Right now, barely six weeks later,
Mary Beth was back at that same emergency room, this
time with her four year old Barbara, who was unresponsive. Jesus,
(09:30):
she told the doctors that Barbara had gone into convulsions.
The doctors told Mary Beth they wanted to keep her
daughter overnight, but Mary Beth insisted on taking her home,
and several hours later, just like the incident with Joseph Junior,
she returned with Barbara, who was unconscious. The child later
(09:52):
died in the hospital bed from unknown causes, and when
police asked Mary Beth about this incident years later, she
barely remembered it.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Really, you don't remember.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
You don't remember Barbara's, Joseph Junior's or I mean, I
guess specifically Barbara's.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, right, I find that to be an untruth.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Me too, girl, Yes, so she told investigators the following
I had a daughter while and while I was sleeping,
she called out to me, and I went in and
she was having a convulsion. I guess I don't even
remember what I just I don't remember if we took
her by ambulance or if we just took her. But anyway,
(10:38):
we got there and they did whatever they did.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Really.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, Barbara ended.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Up dying from what doctors believed to be Rice syndrome,
which is a rare but serious condition causes confusion, dwelling
in the brain, liver damp. However, it was never proven.
And you're right, it's the seventh it's nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, something like that, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
M From the outside looking in, things didn't look so
great on the tinnings part, however, no one seemed to
suspect them of any wrongdoing.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
If anything, people thought that their.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Tragic losses may have something to do with a genetic disorder. So,
whether it was because of Marybeth's quiet nature, which helped
aid her in her role as a caregiver, or the
fact that the Tinnings were seen as pillars in the community,
local police and doctors didn't think twice about digging any deeper.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Plus, they no longer had any kids left to kill,
so life went on as it does.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Didn't you do a story recently, like in the last
month or so where it was children were dying like
this and they thought it was a genetic problem. And
which story was that?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
I don't know, I know, that's I can't remember, but
that's like a good place to hide bodies is to
imply that it's because my family has a genetic disorder.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, yeah, Like, how do you know in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yes, exactly, this is prime where people are like learning
how to take advantage of people's vulnerabilities, and this is
what happens fifty years later, the society we live in today.
The couple remained without child for more than a year
until mary Beth got pregnant again in nineteen seventy three
(12:35):
early nineteen seventy three, and on Thanksgiving Day she gave
birth to Timothy, her fourth child, and she brought Timothy
home and it seemed that things were starting to look
up after all. Timothy could be the addition to the
family that the Tennings needed more than anything to move
on and forward. However, about two weeks after Timothy was born,
(12:58):
on December tenth, Mary Beth brought the unresponsive baby into
the hospital.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
While she seemed like she.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Was becoming a regular at the emergency center, there always
seemed to be a legitimate and justified reason for what
was happening, at least.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
In her eyes.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Right, So yeah, since Timothy showed no outward signs of trauma,
Mary Beth claimed she had found him lifeless in the crib.
He was ruled the victim of crib death better known
as SIDS of such an Infant death syndrome. Now the
locals were talking people. Fortunately number four third time is
(13:39):
not the term. It's the yeah, the fourth, So they're people,
they're talking. People were curious as to how a family
could have such bad look.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
However, those closest to them.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Continued to fully support the Tinnings in their long road
of grief. Joe confided in his brother Andy and told
him that lately his food had been tasting weird. His
brother promptly told him to look into that, but Joe
brushed it off as nothing.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh, it's probably nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, it's nothing. Huh.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Suddenly I feel all of my home food is tasting weird.
In nineteen seventy four, Mary Beth called Joe's brother and
said Joe's dead, and when Andy showed up with his
wife Carol, Joe was lying on the ground with a
bluish purple face and twisted up in the bed sheets,
(14:34):
and Mary Beth stood in the corner repeating, I didn't
do it.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I didn't do it. What these I don't get now.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
I'm pissed now, I'm like, fuck, nineteen seventy whatever, use
your brains.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Okay, come on now, I mean I didn't do it.
This is smoking gunshit, you know, so mind you.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Mary Beth was fully dressed but hadn't even tried calling
the police or ambulance yet. Andy began giving him CPR
while an ambulance was called, and once at the hospital,
was discovered that Mary Beth had given Joe a nearly
deadly dose of barbituates.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
The police were called.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
However, Joe refused to hold his wife accountable.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So he survived this.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
He survived this and was told that she gave him
this humongous.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Dose and he was like, you know what, I'm okay.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I'm okay, I don't die, I'm fine.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, yeah, but did you die? You die?
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Well the police should have known better and investigated the
matter further. Law enforcement at the time was very different
than it was today, and back then, if the victim
didn't want or wish to pursue matters, then the police
and prosecutors usually wouldn't either.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Yeah, they're like, I'm done.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I know when Farah faucet the burning bed. Yes, that
story is what changed. I believe the whole will prosecute
on behalf of the assaulted. You don't have to worry
about wanting to We'll do it for you. The state
takes over.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, the state takes over.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Mary Beth became pregnant again with what would be her
fifth child on March thirtieth, nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
It was Easter Sunday.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Nathan was born, and as onlookers waited for the next
tragedy to strike, It simply didn't, at least not until
September Tewod, when Mary Beth rushed an unresponsive five month
old Nathan into the emergency room. She claimed that she
was driving with Nathan in the front seat when he
suddenly stopped breathing. Unfortunately, the doctors weren't unable to revive
(16:52):
him again. The fact that there was no outward trauma
visible coupled with Marybeth's story, the doctors ruled him as
a victim of SIDS.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Wow, the fifth child, Mmm, this is it is It's insane.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Fifth child.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
It's just this is criminal that they're really even for
It's criminal for the decade. Yeah, it's really like they're
just failing these children.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
This is it's for sure now, I know.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
The knowledge of SIDS was still scarce in this day
and age. However, doctors should have at least known that
it wasn't something that was genetic. Therefore, the odds of
multiple babies dying from it and the same family was
not only rare, but would have been the direct result
(17:46):
of neglect or premeditation.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
That's how non genetic SIDS is. It's nothing like genetic.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, therefore, the odds.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Of having multiple babies from this same family, that's not Jeans,
that's premeditation, that's something that's not Jens. So but still,
no serious questions had been raised by local officials regarding
the Tinning family or lack thereof. So years had gone
by and anyone who may have had any kind of
(18:18):
real suspicions about the Tinning family was soon forgotten. Even
the people who were responsible for advocating on the behalf
of the children of New York failed to investigate Marybeth's
background when she applied to adopt a child.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
No Yes.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
In nineteen seventy eight, the Tinnings entered into the adoption process,
which isn't much different than it is today. Interested parties
were required to submit a background check by the state,
which included a complete examination of the adoptee's criminal and
financial records. Since neither Mary Beth or Joe had a
(18:59):
criminal une record and both were gainfully employed, they easily
passed the first round of the adoption process. Wow, so funny,
I was born in New York, right, yeah? And whether
until Cuomo Governor Cuomo when he said that seals could
be opened and that's how I found everybody.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
My sisters and my brother, and that's how.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
But the process is so different, so different, I think
about it, and like them having no criminal record, is
that I can see them passing the first round.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Just anybody, ken if you meet those two things.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, right right, Yeah, there's there's millions of people in
this country that don't criminal records. So okay, not.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Really a red flag here.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
But a social worker went then interviewed the couple and
visited their home to make sure that it was suitable
for a child, and the Tintings also passed this part
of the process.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
US.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Now, while the death of her five children should have
been a huge red flag, Mary Beth assured the social
worker that they were all due to natural causes and
that she had the doctor's records.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
To prove it.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
M you know, this is a lot of like yeah,
I can get them to you later type of time
period too, or just take my word for.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
It, right right, yeah, Like oh they seem like such
a nice people.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Yeah, And she.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Said she had the doctors to prove it. I'm sure
she had worked on her story. She's got Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
If she says she's got them, she.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Must she must why would she lie to me?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Would?
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Why children? Right? So, Mary Beth explained that while they
wanted nothing.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
More than to have children, she believed that something was
wrong with her and Joe, which prevented this from happening
for them. She ended by saying that she thought it
was wiser and safer to go through the adoption route charmer.
Her words seemed to resonate just enough a boring couple
could eat well, she could, you know, get the waves
(21:08):
needed to charm, you know, get people to do what
you want now. The state of New York agreed to
allow the Tinnings to adapt, and in nineteen seventy eight,
the couple welcome an infant boy, whom they named Michael,
into the world.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
And wouldn't you.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Know it, During the adoption process, Mary Beth found herself
pregnant once again. On October twenty ninth, nineteen seventy eight,
she gave birth to a baby girl named Mary Francis.
Oh I do love two memes. People actually started to
believe that maybe this was the beginning of the Tinnings
(21:47):
having their perfect family, but they would be wrong, because
in January nineteen seventy nine, Mary Beth brought an unresponsive
Mary Francis into the emergency room for what she said,
with some kind of seizure. Thankfully, the doctors were able
to revive the baby girl, who they then sent home
(22:08):
with Mary Beth. But one month later, on February twentieth,
Mary Beth came running back into the hospital with four
month old Mary Francis. This time the doctors were not
able to save her. She was brain dead. I know,
of course. All Mary Beth had to say for herself
(22:28):
was that she found the baby girl unconscious and did
not know what had happened to her. What happened And
this is a broken record.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yes, I'm sure doctors have put notes in. This is
now number six.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Yes, so you have six serial killer.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Man previous exactly cases. There is really nothing to say.
She told investigators years later that I found her in
her crib, one responsive.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I believe Joe was there, I can't remember.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
An autopsy was performed but failed to find a reason
for death, and therefore it deemed SIDS once again. So
on November nineteenth, nineteen seventy nine, the Tinnings welcomed Jonathan
into their family, their eighth child. In March nineteen eighty,
he was brought into the hospital in the same fashion
(23:21):
as his siblings, were unresponsive. Like Mary Francis, the doctors
were able to revive him, but this time they took
into consideration the Tinnings history and took extra precautions. So finally, yes,
on maybe eight. The healthcare professionals were concerned about all
the deaths in the Tinning family, but still thought that
(23:44):
maybe it was genetically related.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
God, we were.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
So this shows how much like it isn't so important
to invest in medicine, in discoveries of medicine. We have
been dealing with things too long, you know what I'm saying,
Jerry's kids, things that while we have been fifty years
really no progress, we're still acting like this is something.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
So now I don't believe it. I be believe we're
so much smarter than this.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
And for this, you know, taking to the eighth child,
I don't. To me, it's starting getting lazy.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, like, you know, not like she's all over the country.
She's probably going into the same fucking hospital. Everything says, yes,
you know, because she's.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Not going to the county hospital. She's not even switching
hospitals and it's the same. But she's got this you know,
running narrative of oh, it's a genetics because they don't
know enough to say no, it isn't yet, so okay now,
The healthcare professionals were concerned about all the deaths in
the Tinning family, but still thought that maybe it was
(24:52):
genetically related, or that maybe it had something to do
with the family home. Either way, Jonathan was sent to
Boston Children's Hospital, where he was examined by the best
pediatricians and experts around. However, the doctors couldn't find a
single valid reason why the infant should suddenly stop breathing,
(25:12):
so as a result, Jonathan was sent home with his mom.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Oh man and yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Of course, still no one had yet to fully suspect
Mary Beth, not even her own husband, and just a
few days later, Marybeth was back at the hospital holding
a brain dead Jonathan on March twenty fourth, nineteen eighty
and even with Jonathan being cleared, that didn't stop healthcare
(25:38):
and law enforcement officials from speculating. The sheer number of
deaths alone was enough for anyone to be suspicious of.
But then a pattern seemed to emerge. It was noted
that most of the children died in the fall, winter
and early spring months, while two were killed on holidays.
(25:59):
These sparks some interest and could suggest that depression played
a role.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Again, they were just merely speculating.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
So on March second, nineteen eighty one, Mary Beth brought
two and a half year old Michael, wrapped in a blanket,
to the pediatrician's office, claiming that the boy had gone
to sleep and that she couldn't wake him up.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
The doctors didn't need to.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Examine the boy for long at all before seeing he
was clearly dead.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
So now the adopted but.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yes, now the adopted child is dead, is.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Now dead, Mary Beth explained to the police.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
When I went in in the morning to get him
up and so we could go to the doctor's, he
was not I mean he's seen. He was responsive to
a point, but he was very limp, and so on
and so forth, and so instead of calling an ambulance, Wow,
this is like verbatim, you know, and so on and
so forth, and YadA yadda.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
YadA ya ya got her baby's death right.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
I went from our house him in the car, literally
threw him in the car and went to Saint Clair's
or I mean I went to doctor Melay's office and
went in there, and by the time one of the doctors,
I guess took me, they said he died of viral pneumonia. Okay,
So now suspicions were even higher, especially since Marybeth brought
(27:18):
her dead son to the family doctor before emergency, like
she would have normally done with every other child.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
She took him right to emergency.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
So later an autopsy found traces of pneumonia, but not
enough to cause death. Since Michael was adopted, the long
suspected theory that the deaths in the Tinning family had
a genetic origin was thrown out the window. Something else
was happening. Only thing was that no one knew exactly
what it was. So on August twenty second, nineteen eighty five,
(27:53):
the Tinnings welcome their ninth and last child into their home,
Tammy Lynn. But just like all of their other children,
Tammy Lynn was faded to meet her demise sooner or later.
On December nineteenth, Mary Beth called her next door neighbor,
Cynthia Walter, who was also a practical nurse, and frantically
urged her to come over right away. When Cynthia showed
(28:16):
up to see what the fuss was about. She witnessed
tammy Lynn lying on a changing table. She testified in
court the following she wasn't moving, she was purple, and
I couldn't feel a pulse or respiration. She was not breathing.
Walter tried to figure out exactly what was wrong, but
there was nothing obvious that she could put her finger on. Meanwhile,
(28:38):
m MS showed up and rushed Tammy Lynn to the hospital,
and when Cynthia asked Mary Beth what happened, she said
that the little girl was tangled in the blanket.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
That's like I think.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
She said that on four of them, at least for sure,
tangled in the blanket. At the emergency room, the baby
was pronounced dead. There was no cause of death appearance
to the emergency room staff, but since they were all
too familiar with the Tanning family history, Mary Beth was
suspect number one. After all, each and every one of
(29:11):
these children have died under her watch.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Your baby dies tangled in a blanket, the first one.
Let's just say yeah, and it continue putting. Now, let's
say this happens now to a second one. You keep
supers in that crib.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
No, I am done with the blankets.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I am super fucking paranoid. Yes, when all these children
pass away and I'm like, I'm on alert and I'm
just gonna put another.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I would even be sleep eat all the oh you
know mother instincts of just being on red alert.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Right, you know? Seven?
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah, my own for my one child, I had, thank
you how many you run in and make sure they're
breathing and make you know what I mean, like, oh
my gosh.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah, when Brooke. I remember when Brooke flipped over, the
first time, I was.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Like, what's happened? You know? Are you okay?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Even though she's like I can't remember how old they
are by six, seven months by then a little bit.
But it's just every bit of movement is you're just
always on red alert.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
You're always on red alert.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
And she's just she's not even acting in a way
that has any like real I don't even know if
this is like a munch housing by proxy. It's not
like she I mean, she's a quiet woman. It's not
like she's getting attention and fawning over this attention she's getting.
It sounds like people are whispering heavily. But yeah, and
(30:44):
as long as they just keep whispering and not stopping her.
She's okay with it. So there was a couple of
other weird things that happened after tammy Lynne's death. When
Cynthia visited the Tinning home the next morning to check
on mary Beth and see she needed anything, she was
met with not someone who she assumed would be heavily grieving,
(31:07):
but Joe and mary Beth just casually sitting at the
kitchen table and eating breakfast as if it was just.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Another normal day. What the fuck is that? Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Then, after Tammulan's funeral, mary Beth had invited people over
her house for a brunch. While there, she was reportedly smiling,
eating and talking with everyone there. She seemed completely unbothered,
not to mention. Friends and family claims she never talked
about the death, and it truly did seem as if
she didn't give a shit. It was just a social event.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
You know, people over. Yeah, yeah, exam, how are you like, right?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
The complete obtuseness of there's no real motherly reactions anywhere here.
An autopsy failed to provide a valid medical rea and
for Sammilyn's death, and as a result, her devise was
listed as SIDS. So this was just crazy and cops
knew it. Police investigators from several departments all got together
(32:11):
to talk about the Tending family mystery and what they
had so far. They went over every piece of evidence
they had, autopsies, medical reports, statements, and anything that could
be re examined and studied. However, even with fourteen years
of paperwork, they knew that a successful prosecution still couldn't
(32:32):
take place without additional evidence, and it was time to
talk to mary Beth again. And on the afternoon of
February fourth, nineteen eighty six, Schenectady Police detective Bob Einfield
and State Police investigator Joseph Carris went to Mariabeth's home
to ask her to come down to the police headquarters
(32:54):
for questioning. Mary Beth didn't have to go with them,
as she wasn't under arrest at the time, but she did.
Later she would claim that she felt forced to go
with the police. Once she had arrived at the Loudonville
State Police building, she was advised of the miranda warning. Nevertheless,
(33:15):
she agreed to talk with investigators now.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
During the trial, she denied ever.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Being read these warnings and her rights and claimed that
the police intimidated her. When talking with investigators, she spoke
about her childhood and the town she grew up in.
She also explained that she grieved over the deaths of
each of her children, which she swore she didn't play
any role in. She said that she chalked them up
(33:40):
either dying from SIDS or a genetic issue, the same
bullshit she's.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Been you know, couting for fourteen years, thank you.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
And as the death of tammy Lynne, mary Beth told
her version of events. She claimed that on the night
of December nineteenth, nineteen eighty five, she put her daughter
to sleep in her crib, just as she normally would,
and she said tammy Lynn was crying a lot that night,
which annoyed her because it made her feel like an
unfit mother. She continued to watch television by herself, and
(34:11):
when she went back to check on tammy Lynn, that's
when mary Beth realized she wasn't breathing, and that's when
she picked up the baby in a desperate attempt to
bring her back to life, but nothing seemed to be working.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
So she woke up her husband and then called for
an ambulance. I just want to pause here and be
a bitch.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Okay, so the stopping breathing, like did I just don't understand,
like you're not learning CPR?
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Are you learning CPR? I mean you can anyone can
say that they can do it.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
But true, that's true. You're right, Like, and I was thinking,
why are you still having more children?
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Like with this yes?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
If I think okay, And I'm really not trying to
be a bit like right now, I'm trying to think,
like what would I do?
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Yes, like maybe I have this desperate need, like you know,
I really really want to be a mom, and you
know I love children. I want to have this big family. Okay,
I've had how many kids? Now eight? And I've adopted
one and all eight biological children along with my adoptive
child now has died. Do I continue to still have
(35:26):
more children? Like I can't believe she made it to eight?
I mean I can considering the shore. But in a
logical world, if I really truly thought that I had
a genetic that my husband deny, like for whatever the
weird gene mix is when we have children, we have
these children that either die from you know, natural causes,
(35:47):
or they die from kids or whatever, Like maybe we
should shouldn't have any kids.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Maybe exactly. And I truly had no hand in that
my children's end of life. Yes, I truly had no hand.
But then you know she they had adopted son. Yeah,
and so they're blows every bit. I mean everything about
it was tissue paper thin.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yes, And I just I'm blown away that it takes
fucking nine children for the police to be like hmm, exactly,
It's like something's wrong, Like, dude, I just this story.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
It's just lazy to me.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
That is like think you know that your police you
know the darkness of men's hearts.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
And I'm like acting like this is Mayberry?
Speaker 2 (36:32):
You know? Is it because these are like nice white
people out in the suburbs, Like I just know what
the culture is in the nine seventies and early eighties,
whatever it is? Is it? Is it? Like you know,
they're just I don't know Schenectady. Is it an affluent area?
Like I'm thinking, is it this is it? You know,
it's upstate New York somewhere, and is it just you know,
(36:53):
these are these are you know, lovely people and whatever?
Like is that why no one's giving a ship? So
I don't understand how can you we're almost in the
double digits. I mean, yeah, a lot of children. These
are babies.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
These are babies.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
These are babies, like I think the oldest may have
been Barbara, like Barbara, Yeah, she was four and a half,
so she was older. Yeah. All the rest are like
infants months old, like not even like a year old.
They don't even make it six months.
Speaker 3 (37:24):
No, exactly, very very short lives and no flags. I mean, oh,
maybe they're talking after number seven. Really you're just talking.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Okay, We're just it's fucking blowing my mind.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
It is this, even the tying frame. I'm not even
giving them a pass on the decade or the year.
I don't give a shit now. Yeah, so police they
didn't believe her story. The worst part about it was
that her version of what went down was really all
they had to go on.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
So there was no other.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Witness and no one to challenge her with respect to
what was true and what was a blatant line.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
So the interview went on for hours, and investigators made
sure to touch upon the deaths of each child. Finally,
after several hours of relentless questioning, Mary Beth finally broke.
I did not do anything to Jennifer, Joseph, Barbara, Michael,
Mary Francis, Jonathan. She said to Barnes and Caris, I
(38:27):
did not do anything to Jennifer, Joseph, Barbara, Michael, Mary Francis, Jonathan.
She said to Barnes and Caris, just these three, Timothy, Nathan,
and Tammy. I smothered them each with a pillow because
I'm not a good mother. I'm not a good mother
because of the other children.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Oh okay, yeah, I'm following you.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
During the interrogation, police called her husband, Joe, down to
the station. When Mary Beth was allowed to meet with him,
Joe told her to just tell the truth. Later in court,
Joe talked of their brief conversation and said that Mary
Beth admitted to him the murders. Mary Beth said, I
killed Tammy very low. She had to repeat it. I
(39:17):
had withdrawn into myself. He said, I was hearing, but
I wasn't reacting. A stenographer was called in by police
and a thirty six page statement was composed documenting Mary
Beth's entire interrogation by investigators, and in it, she admitted
to suffocating three children, but continued to deny having harmed
(39:39):
any of the other children. She insisted that on the
night of Tammy Lynn's death, she was sleeping on the
living room couch, and this is what she told police there.
I was about to doze off when Tammy woke up
and started to cry. I got up and went to
her crib and tried to do something with her to
get her to stop crying.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
I finally she used.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
The pillow from my bed to put it over her head.
I held it until she stopped crying. She said she
took the same pillow and put it on the couch
to give the illusion that she had been sleeping. I
screamed for Joe to wake up. I told Joe Tammy
wasn't breathing. I did do CPR, stupid as it sounds,
(40:20):
but I knew that she wasn't alive anymore. And when
she asked why she had killed Tammy, Mary Beth said
because she was always crying and I couldn't do anything right.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
She was later arrested and charged with the murder of
Tammy Lynn, and Mary Beth's murder trial began in Schenectady
County Court on June twenty second, nineteen eighty seven, and
after a six week trial, the jury deliberated almost twenty
hours over a three day period. On July seventeenth, nineteen
eighty seven, the forty four year old Mary Beth was
(40:54):
found guilty of murder in the second degree and the
death of her daughter, Tammy Lynn a depraved indifference to
human life.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
So Mary Beth.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
She received a sentence of twenty years to life in prison,
and she was taken to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility
for women, and she attempted to appeal on the grounds
that her confession was given under duress, but she was denied.
Her attempts at parole began in two thousand and seven,
and she was denied time and time again for having
(41:27):
and or showing no remorse. In two thousand and seven,
she said, I have to be honest, and the only
thing that I can tell you is that I know
that my daughter is dead. I live with it every day.
I have no recollection and I can't believe that I
harmed her. I can't say any more than that.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Denied.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
In January of two thousand and nine, she told the
parole board the following I was going through a bad time.
The parole board said. She was superficial at best.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Denied it was going through a bad time.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I was just going through a bad time. I was
just having a nine bad times.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
In January twenty eleven, she said that at this parole hearing,
after the deaths of my other children, I just lost it.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I became a damaged, worthless piece of person.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
And when my daughter was young, in my state of
mind at that time, I just believed that she was going.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
To die also, so I just did it. Denied.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
In twenty thirteen, she said, it's just I can't remember.
I mean, I know I did it, but I can't
tell you why. There's no reason. In February twenty fifteen
and January of twenty seventeen, she was denied a fifth
and sixth time, still for not showing any remorse or
under any understanding or remorse for taking her child's life. However,
(42:55):
a seventy six year old Mary Beth was eventually released
on parole on August twenty first, twenty eighteen, after having
served thirty one years. Her husband Joseph, who supported her
and believed in her innocence the entire time, was waiting
for her.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
Are you the fucking kidding me?
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Now?
Speaker 3 (43:17):
The Stipulations surrounding her release are that she will be
on parole for the rest of her life, she has
a curfew, and she has to attend domestic violence counseling.
Now I googled her, you know, I have her right here.
She is eighty two years old. She's still still here. Yeah, somewhere,
(43:40):
probably New York, I would imagine.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
But unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
This is crazy And what the fuck is up with Joseph.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
Like he has to know that he was she tried
to kill him too. The barbituates you knew the police
told you she tried to kill you, but he also
stood by and believed all of his kids had died
in the way she swore by or just said. And
that is a very spineless and fucked up thing to do.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Yeah, right, I don't.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
That's just allowing shit to happen.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Yeah, that's just not not being like fully present in
what's going on in your own life.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
I think, like, yeah, it's not you know, you're not
taking account of Billy, You're not.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
What are you here for?
Speaker 2 (44:30):
I just the story is fucking crazy.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
Like I the number of children, and I get it,
Like you said the seventies, you know you I could
go up to seven eleven with a note I wrote
for a pack of cigarettes for my mother that makes
not smoke.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
It was the wild wild West in the really was ross,
you know what I mean? I just and so was
the rest of the world, Like I just don't know,
wonder the fucking serial killers and shit they didn't find
the Zodiac killer and shit like that, Like that's because
it's just people were naive. I don't know, And I mean,
is it the naivete?
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
I think it's like people don't acknowledge their dark side.
You gotta acknowledge your dark side because guess what, that
dark side is also in every fucking body else. So
you don't think, oh, no, you know peachy roses and sunglasses. No,
I mean, enjoy it while it's there, but know that
this motherfucker might.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Have some deviant shit thought.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
Yeah, and all think the fact like she killed her
three kids because she was a bad mom because her
other six kids died. How does that make sense? How
are you a bad mom that your kids died from
genetic things or whatever? And then you're like, oh, I'm
just gonna knock off my next three kids because I'm.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
A bad mom.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
No, you did it because you are a bad mom,
and you killed them all because you are a bad mom. Yes,
started to cry and you didn't want to hear it,
and so your fucking smothered nine children.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
Yeah you're six month old. Made you feel like a
bad mom. That sounds like a narcissistic fucking personality.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Bullshit, And who hasn't had a baby? Cry?
Speaker 1 (46:17):
My god?
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Crazy?
Speaker 1 (46:19):
I mean, like Brooklyn was so collicky. I remember the same.
I was like I would look in her eyes on
I'm like, how come you're not connecting?
Speaker 3 (46:26):
Yeah, barely, you know, And she's like, yeah, probably because
I can't talk.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
I'm in engrueling gas pain from this iron rich milk.
You know.
Speaker 2 (46:36):
I can't remember you calling your like she will not
stop crying. I was so bad for you because I
was just like, oh.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
I know and earth while I was like total perfect baby.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
All my child, never, she was never colicky, she slept well,
like she just she was a great baby. I mean
she did every moments obviously, you know, you get sick
and whatever. But I felt so bad for you because
it was such a nightmare, Like I just you didn't
fucking smother your baby because now you just, you know, just.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
Keep holding and rocking and shaking and taking it for
a ride.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
And and you were at the fucking end of your rope.
I could hear you know what I mean? Please God, please.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
I showered last. I don't remember, I mean, this, fucking lady.
And then it's unbelievable, the denial. And yeah, for sure
it's a mental thing. But at the same time it
bothers me. You know when someone does horrific things and
then it's like, oh, I wasn't read my rights, I
(47:46):
wasn't done it.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Fuck you, Okay, your rights.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
You should be thankful you live in a country where
you have Miranda.
Speaker 2 (47:54):
Rights exactly exactly.
Speaker 3 (47:57):
So, but yes, that is the story, uh the serial
killer mother Mary Bating.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Yeah, thank you. This is crazy. I would just like
to remind everyone before we go to hit the subscriber
follow button.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Yes, if you're listening.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
To please go to our website Crimesoconsequences dot com. We
have merchandise. If you'd like to join our Patreon, we
offer one extra episode a week that is for our
exclusive Patreon members. You can go to patreon dot com
slash tnt Crimes to join that, or you can go
(48:36):
if you listen on your Apple podcast app, you can
join through there and you get one extra episode a week.
Speaker 1 (48:43):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Oh, we would just like there. Let everyone know that.
I think that's all the business, relatively.
Speaker 1 (48:49):
Oh the business.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Yeah, so until our next episode.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
Yes, tany, you take care of yourself and our listeners.
You take care of yourselves. We love you, We love you,
and not much.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
See you next time, see you next time.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
Bye bye mm hmm
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