September 8, 2025 • 21 mins
Police thought they were responding to a fraud case at a home in Bridgend, Wales. But once they stepped inside, they noticed something else—an odor drifting down from the attic. It wasn’t until they pulled open the hatch and began unwrapping a bundle of bags and sheets that the truth came out. What they uncovered would stun not only investigators, but an entire community.
In this episode I retell the case of 29-year-old Egle Žilinskaitė.
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Do you have thoughts about this case, or is there a specific true crime case you’d like to hear about? Let me know with an email or a voice message: https://murderandlove.com/contact
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Thanks for stopping by and remember that it’s All Love and No Murder Yall!
Intro music by:
Shalash by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4899-shalash
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/love-and-murder-heartbreak-to-homicide--4348896/support.
In this episode I retell the case of 29-year-old Egle Žilinskaitė.
************************************************************************************************
Podcast Promo: Darkcast Network
*************************************************************************************************
Do you have thoughts about this case, or is there a specific true crime case you’d like to hear about? Let me know with an email or a voice message: https://murderandlove.com/contact
Find the sources used in this episode and learn more about how to support Love and Murder: Heartbreak to Homicide and gain access to even more cases, including bonus episodes, ad-free and intro-free cases, case files and more at: https://murderandlove.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please take some time to Rate, Share, Subscribe! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for stopping by and remember that it’s All Love and No Murder Yall!
Intro music by:
Shalash by Alexander Nakarada
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4899-shalash
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/love-and-murder-heartbreak-to-homicide--4348896/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now part of the dark Cast Network. Welcome to Indie
podcasts with a Dark Side. On Saturday November twenty six,
twenty twenty two, just before eight pm, GWEN police officers
arrived at an end of Terra's home on Maizy Felon
in wild mail Bridge and Whales. The visit was part
(00:20):
of a fraud investigation into the possible mis selling of
clothes meant for charity. But when officers stepped inside, they
noticed a foul smell that drifted from upstairs, growing stronger
as they climbed higher. One officer compared the odor to
fish food. The odor brought them to the attic, and
(00:42):
when the attic hatch was pulled open, the smell got worse.
The officers described the strengthening smell as resembling quote rotting flesh.
Police found a large bundle of bed sheets containing a
quote dense object. When the office users carefully inspected, they
(01:02):
found that this bundle had multiple layers and it looked
like it was concealing something. It was a tightly tied
trash bag that had another trash bag inside, and inside
of that was a third trash bag. By the time
they reached the third trash bag. Inside they found an
(01:23):
orange bag containing a duvey cover. The duvet cover had
brown stains on it, and the officer instantly realized within
the towels were the remains of a human baby lying
on their right side and their right hand had begun
to decompose. Crime scene investigators were immediately called, and during
(01:43):
a further search, another shock in discovery was made the
body of a second baby concealed in an airing covered
Welcome Lambs, Welcome Too, Love and Murder, Heartbreak to Homicide,
your weekly true crime podcast that tells you stories of
relationships that have turned deadly. I'm Kai and I bring
(02:05):
you these cases with the victim in mind. So along
the way you might hear a little bit of Ranton
and a little bit of Raven, so look out for that.
If you like what we do here, then don't forget
to hit follow or subscribe on whatever platform you're listening from.
And if you want even more bonus episodes, case extras,
ad free listening, and the brand new Deadly Duo series,
(02:26):
head over to our patreons Patreon dot com Ford Slash,
Love and Murder. You can even sign up for free
and you still get some perks if you do, but
when you join one of our bonus tears, you're also
becoming the voice of the victims and helping keep this
show going. Patreon dot com forward slash Love and Murder. Now,
without further ado, grab your butts, grab your delicious glass
(02:49):
of apple juice, and let's get back to this case
of love and murder. Neighbors watched as police quarantined the house,
sealed off the communal backgarden, and erected a forensic tent
that stayed in place for days. One neighbor, twenty five
year old Maria Jones, remembered seeing quote about ten vehicles together,
including forensic investigation vans. Another said quote, they had a
(03:14):
baby in there, but I didn't know there were two babies.
It's devastating. Police immediately arrested twenty nine year old mother
of five egg La zilln Skate. Now I don't know
if her name is said correctly. I had to search
everywhere just for the pronunciation of the first name, at
least because it's a Lithuanian name, so I'm not sure.
(03:35):
I wasn't sure how to say it, and I wasn't
sure how to say the last name. I did find
the first name. Couldn't find the last name in pronunciation,
so you can look on the title of the episode,
or you can even look into show notes so you
can see how it's spelled. And if you want to
correct me on the pronunciation of the last name, thank
you very much. But please don't be offended that I
(03:57):
pronounced it that way because I'm not sure how to pronounce.
So they arrested Egla, and they arrested forty seven year
old van driver Zilvinus Ladovskis. Again I'm not sure how
to pronounce his name, and they arrested another thirty seven
year old man. The Lithuanian couple had been in the
Wild Mill property for about a year before the discovery.
(04:21):
Neighbors said they seemed friendly, but communication was limited because
of language barriers. One neighbor remembered that baby toys had
been delivered in the weeks before the bodies were found.
Another neighbor said she had quote never known the woman
to be pregnant, and remembered that Egla always wore very
baggy clothes. Now while they were living in the house,
(04:44):
what they didn't know was that investigators had been steadily
building a case against them dealing with charity fraud. A
pathologist was brought to the scene to examine the infants,
referred to as Baby A and Baby B. Both were
determined to be quote so severely decomposed male infants who
had reached full term. The remains were transported to the
(05:07):
University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for post mortem examinations
to determine more details about these concealed births. Medical examinations
later confirmed that the two babies were both the biological
children of Egla and Silvinus. They were both full siblings,
but not twins, which you know what that means. They
(05:30):
were born at different times. Severe decomposition made it impossible
to determine an exact cause of death, but experts concluded
it was not unreasonable to believe that they were still
born based on the presence of the placental membranes and
the umbilical cord found with the remains. When investigators were
(05:52):
able to figure out at another address, Eggla gave birth
to Baby A, who was still born. After delivering this alone,
Egglet carefully wrapped and concealed the remains instead of seeking
medical assistance or reporting the birth. When she later moved
to the Bridge and House. In July twenty twenty one,
(06:12):
she brought babies Aid's remains with her. Then, in September
twenty twenty one, while six months pregnant, she gave birth
to baby B at the Bridge and Home. This second
birth also happened without any medical supervision or notification to authorities,
and he was still born as well. Then she hid
(06:32):
this body within the house. After a thorough investigation by
the South Wales Police. Court appearances started on February twentieth,
twenty twenty four. Both Silvanus and Egglet appeared at Cardiff
Magistrate's Court. During this hearing, they were charged with two
counts of concealing the birth of a child and two
counts of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body.
(06:55):
They were then released on a conditional bail, which included
surrendering their paswerports and being ordered not to contact each other.
Now I want to pause here. When do you think
they made it law that you have to tell that
you had a child. I understand why because people could
be having children willy nilly and abusing them and doing
(07:16):
whatever they want. But I'm pretty sure there was a
time when it wasn't the law to report when you
had to report when you gave birth to a child?
You know what I'm saying. And actually, for some reason
before this case, I never thought about it. But I
wonder when they actually made that a law. And this
is will so that'd be different countries like I would
(07:36):
look up for the US when they made that a law,
but just on a whole, I wonder when that was
made a law anyway, random thought back to the case.
Then on April tenth, twenty twenty four, both of them
appeared at Cardiff Crown Court. Agla pled guilty to all
four charges. A guilty plea meant that there was no
need for a trial as a defendant admitted to the charges.
(07:58):
Her case was then adjourned. For Senensen, Silvinus pled not
guilty to the same four charges. A not guilty plead
typically leads to a trial, where the prosecution must present
evidence to prove the defendant's guilt. His trial was scheduled
for November twenty fifth, twenty twenty four. However, on May
twenty twenty five, after the Crown Prosecution had reviewed the evidence,
(08:22):
they decided not to proceed with his trial. With that
judge Tracy Lloyd Clark formally acquitted him of all charges
and that was it for him. On July tenth, twenty
twenty five, Eggla appeared at Cardiff Crown Court by herself
for her sentence in hearing. During this hearing, the court
(08:42):
was able to hear the entire story. Eggla's defense said
that she had a fundamental distrust of authorities based in
experiences in Lithuania and in the UK. She also had
a troubling behavioral pattern, with having a history of den
that she was pregnant when challenged by health workers. She
(09:03):
feared that if officials knew that she was pregnant, her
children would have been taken away. The court heard. The
charge of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a
body typically addressed several types of harm quote the indignity
and degregation caused to the deceased, the misery caused to
the deceased's family and friends, and the impact and ability
(09:25):
to have a decent funeral and burial. Also, such concealment
quote may prevent an appropriate and timely investigation into the
circumstances and cause of death. Her defense lawyer, Matthew Roberts,
explained that Egla was suffering from depression and feared being
blamed for the stillbirths. She also had a difficult relationship
(09:46):
with an alcoholic and emotionally abusive partner. The defense emphasized
that she was lonely and emotionally vulnerable, with her mental
states severely compromised, quote were all over the place. She
didn't know what to do. The lack of support from
her partner bred a household environment where Eggla felt unable
(10:08):
to safely disclose her pregnancies or seek appropriate medical care.
So basically, with all that being said, what they really
said was she mistrusted the person that she was living with,
and she mistrusted the government. So this was her state
of mind. The baby was stillborn. And remember there's such
a thing as postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis. Your hormones are
(10:34):
going wacky, because like, as soon as you have your baby,
your hormones completely change. A lot of people don't understand this.
You know, men are never going to get this, and
even women who've never had babies are going to get this.
And some people, you know, they do go through the
hormone change, but it's not as severe, so they're not
going to understand it either, or they might understand it
a little bit, but you just have to think about
(10:57):
the hormones are going wacky. So sometimes women who just
had a baby are not thinking clearly. And she has
all of this going on. And as I've heard it,
some people who do have like either stillborn births or miscarriages,
they do blame themselves, you know. So she had that also,
(11:17):
and she didn't have any kind of support to turn
to to even talk about these emotions. Then on top
of all of that, you know, she was worried that
if they knew that she had these two babies, and
in her thought process again she thought they would take
away her children. You know. So I guess if you
break it all down like that, I kind of understand
(11:39):
where she was coming from. It's not like she murdered
her children. They were still born. The court was also
told that a funeral for the babies took place in
May twenty twenty five, which provided extended family with some closure.
Judge Lloyd Clark described Eggla's approach as quote a deliberate
decision not to seek assistance, saying that egg had lived
(12:00):
in fear of losing her family and like I said,
the judges saying this now she was afraid that the
government could and would remove her children if necessary. Quote,
I have taken your mental health at the time into account.
Applying the sentence. In guidelines on sentence and Offenders with
mental disorders, the court recognized that, while not excusing her actions,
(12:22):
Eggla's mental health issues represented a mitigating factor that influenced
her behavior. Both court and the prosecution acknowledged that the
deaths themselves were not her fault. The babies were likely stillborn.
What brought her to trial, as the judge said, was
her decision to hide them, wrapping the bodies in blankets
(12:45):
and bags and concealing them in the attic and in
the cupboard and never telling anybody about their existence. That's
why she was in court this day. Judge Lloyd Clark
sentenced her to two years in prison suspended for two years,
along with two hundred hours of unpaid work and a
fifteen day rehabilitation order. She was thirty one years old
(13:07):
by this time, so basically she said, you're sentenced to
two years in prison, but you're also not sentenced to
two years in prison. But then she had the two
hundred hours of community service. I guess in Wales they
call it unpaid work. In the US we call it
community service. And then she had a fifteen day rehabilitation order.
The judge told her, quote while you have committed serious offenses,
(13:30):
the deaths of your children were not your fault, and
you have suffered the loss of two children at birth.
You are not a risk or a danger to the public.
Obviously you have no history of poor compliance with court orders,
as you are of previous good character. The judge also
said that there was quote a realistic prospect of rehabilitation
(13:50):
and strong personal mitigation. Judge Lloyd Clark made it clear
that failure to comply with these requirements would result in
EGLA be a quote return to court when sentence will
be activated unless unjust to do so. Side note. It
was revealed that as soon as the bodies of the
infants were found, Zilvinus broke up with Eggla. I see
(14:11):
where he's coming from. You know what I'm saying. He
got in trouble for something he didn't do. It did
turn out that authorities believed that he had no knowledge
of this, and he didn't help with the cover up.
I see where he's coming from. I wouldn't ask him
to think rationally because he's alcoholic and abusive, but I
would say if he were not those two things and
(14:34):
he were a rational young man, I would tell him
to maybe try and put yourself in her shoes and
don't be so harsh to her. She wasn't thinking in
her right mind. So maybe that's not a reason to
really break up your family. But if you're an abusive prick,
then already you don't care about anybody but yourself. So
(14:55):
now I wanted to do this case because it shows
sometimes the desperate life lengths that people will go through,
and they're faced with fear, isolation, and then on top
of that a mistrust of the system and at the
same time don't have emotional support at home. So you know,
at first, when I read the headline, I was kind
(15:16):
of shocked because the headlines and the articles that I
read it was basically like women hid dead babies for year,
gets acquitted of jail time, And I was like what, So,
you know, the headlines made me think something else, and
then when I read it, I kind of understood what
was going on, and I guess in my when I
put out my episode and the headline, it's going to
kind of be the same because you can't literally say
(15:38):
the entire case in the headline. There's no way to,
you know, take two hundred and fifty words or how
many ever words it is a short headline and put
the entire case in there, So I can't really blame
the publications. That's what I went in reading about this
case with that thought process, like, I can't believe she
got away with it. But then as I went deeper
into the case, I realized what it actually was. A
(15:59):
woman who had no emotional support, who was frightened, had
two still born births, was afraid of losing her other children. Now,
when they said mother of five, I don't know if
they included the two still born births and she had
three live children or if she had five live children.
I'm not sure, but either way, she was afraid that
if this came out, they would blame her for having
(16:21):
a still birth and take her children away, you know
what I'm saying. So it gave me more compassion when
I read further into this case and doing five years
of Love and Murder, I could kind of understand where
the fear of the system can come from because there's
cases where people don't need to be in the system
and they put them in the system. There's cases where
people do need to be in the system or need
(16:41):
help from the system, and the system is ignoring them.
So I can you know, I can understand, So let
me know. What do you think about this case? Do
you think I'm being way too understanding? Now? I did
want to say this. Even though I can understand the
fear of the system and everything that happened, I also
understand that she wasn't in her right mind. But if
(17:02):
she was in her right mind, the thing that I
wouldn't be able to condone is not burying the babies.
That's something that has to be done. You know. I
have other reasons for that, but the one that I'm
going to share is the fact of just how unsanitary
that is, especially if she had other kids around. So
I went looking up how unsanitary it is to have
(17:25):
just like a dead body lying around, and what I
found was actually interesting. According to funeral dot Org, there
was a frequently asked questions section, and one of the
questions were aren't dead bodies full of dangerous bacteria that
can make the living sick? And the answer that funeral
dot org had was no, not Usually, it's important to
(17:46):
know the difference between disease causing microorganisms and the normal,
if unpleasant microorganisms that produce natural decay. To put it plainly,
decomposition is a smell problem, not a health problem. And
then they continued on saying, here's a paragraph the Journal
of Perspectives in Health published by the Pan American Health
(18:07):
Organization that sums it up well. Quote, these microorganisms that
are involved in decomposition are not the kind that caused disease.
And most viruses and bacteria that do cause disease cannot
survive more than a few hours in a dead body.
And apparent exception is the human immunodeficiency virus HIV, which
(18:27):
has been shown to live up to sixteen days in
a corpse under refrigeration. Wow. So that's what I read
in Funerals dot org And I was like really, wow.
I thought, you know, being that it was decomposing and
everything like that, it would be a health hazard. But
although there may not be transmittable bacteria in corpses during decay,
(18:51):
there is leakage gases, and of course, like they said,
the smell, all this around other children living in the house,
so she should have found a way if she was
in her right mind. I'm not saying her, I'm just
saying people in general. I'm not judging her because I
believe she wasn't in her right mind. You know, I
don't know. I think let me say, I think she
(19:12):
wasn't in her right mind. So you can't really do
rational stuff if you're not a rational person. And I'm
not saying that in a derogatory way. I'm saying that
in a factual way. So what I was saying was
a person in general. You know, this is all this
is around other children, other people living in the house.
They should find a way to have at least buried
(19:32):
the bodies. And again I'm trying to say this in
general because I'm not saying her. So what do you
think about this case? Do you agree that she wasn't
in her right mind? Do you think she should have
gone to prison under the whales law? Or do you
think this was handled with the care that you know
I should have been handled with based on her mental
(19:54):
state and everything going on with her. I want to
hear from you, so let me know your comments below.
And that is all I have for you today. Remember
that this podcast is listener funded. Episodes like this one
are sponsored by my lambs on Patreon, and you can
join for free at patreon dot com a Forward Slash
Love and Murder. But for the real extras, the bonuses,
(20:17):
the case files. You can get the entire trial. For
some of these cases that I have, I'll have the
entire video trial in there. Not for this case, but
for some of the cases. You get the episode drops
for free. You get ad free, intro free and outro
free listening, and you become a voice of the victim
and help Love and Murder continue going forward. You can
(20:37):
get all of this by joining the bonus tiers, starting
at only three dollars a month. With the bonus tiars,
you're not just supporting the show, you're helping give the
victims a voice. Patreon dot com Forward Slash, Love and Murder.
Thank you for listening all the way to the end.
Thank you for your support. And as I end each
full episode, I want to remind you that it's all
(21:00):
love and no murder. Y'all. See you in the next episode. Bye.
Now part of the dark Cast Network. Welcome to Indie
podcasts with a Dark Side. On Saturday November twenty six,
twenty twenty two, just before eight pm, GWEN police officers
arrived at an end of Terra's home on Maizy Felon
in wild mail Bridge and Whales. The visit was part
(00:20):
of a fraud investigation into the possible mis selling of
clothes meant for charity. But when officers stepped inside, they
noticed a foul smell that drifted from upstairs, growing stronger
as they climbed higher. One officer compared the odor to
fish food. The odor brought them to the attic, and
(00:42):
when the attic hatch was pulled open, the smell got worse.
The officers described the strengthening smell as resembling quote rotting flesh.
Police found a large bundle of bed sheets containing a
quote dense object. When the office users carefully inspected, they
(01:02):
found that this bundle had multiple layers and it looked
like it was concealing something. It was a tightly tied
trash bag that had another trash bag inside, and inside
of that was a third trash bag. By the time
they reached the third trash bag. Inside they found an
(01:23):
orange bag containing a duvey cover. The duvet cover had
brown stains on it, and the officer instantly realized within
the towels were the remains of a human baby lying
on their right side and their right hand had begun
to decompose. Crime scene investigators were immediately called, and during
(01:43):
a further search, another shock in discovery was made the
body of a second baby concealed in an airing covered
Welcome Lambs, Welcome Too, Love and Murder, Heartbreak to Homicide,
your weekly true crime podcast that tells you stories of
relationships that have turned deadly. I'm Kai and I bring
(02:05):
you these cases with the victim in mind. So along
the way you might hear a little bit of Ranton
and a little bit of Raven, so look out for that.
If you like what we do here, then don't forget
to hit follow or subscribe on whatever platform you're listening from.
And if you want even more bonus episodes, case extras,
ad free listening, and the brand new Deadly Duo series,
(02:26):
head over to our patreons Patreon dot com Ford Slash,
Love and Murder. You can even sign up for free
and you still get some perks if you do, but
when you join one of our bonus tears, you're also
becoming the voice of the victims and helping keep this
show going. Patreon dot com forward slash Love and Murder. Now,
without further ado, grab your butts, grab your delicious glass
(02:49):
of apple juice, and let's get back to this case
of love and murder. Neighbors watched as police quarantined the house,
sealed off the communal backgarden, and erected a forensic tent
that stayed in place for days. One neighbor, twenty five
year old Maria Jones, remembered seeing quote about ten vehicles together,
including forensic investigation vans. Another said quote, they had a
(03:14):
baby in there, but I didn't know there were two babies.
It's devastating. Police immediately arrested twenty nine year old mother
of five egg La zilln Skate. Now I don't know
if her name is said correctly. I had to search
everywhere just for the pronunciation of the first name, at
least because it's a Lithuanian name, so I'm not sure.
(03:35):
I wasn't sure how to say it, and I wasn't
sure how to say the last name. I did find
the first name. Couldn't find the last name in pronunciation,
so you can look on the title of the episode,
or you can even look into show notes so you
can see how it's spelled. And if you want to
correct me on the pronunciation of the last name, thank
you very much. But please don't be offended that I
(03:57):
pronounced it that way because I'm not sure how to pronounce.
So they arrested Egla, and they arrested forty seven year
old van driver Zilvinus Ladovskis. Again I'm not sure how
to pronounce his name, and they arrested another thirty seven
year old man. The Lithuanian couple had been in the
Wild Mill property for about a year before the discovery.
(04:21):
Neighbors said they seemed friendly, but communication was limited because
of language barriers. One neighbor remembered that baby toys had
been delivered in the weeks before the bodies were found.
Another neighbor said she had quote never known the woman
to be pregnant, and remembered that Egla always wore very
baggy clothes. Now while they were living in the house,
(04:44):
what they didn't know was that investigators had been steadily
building a case against them dealing with charity fraud. A
pathologist was brought to the scene to examine the infants,
referred to as Baby A and Baby B. Both were
determined to be quote so severely decomposed male infants who
had reached full term. The remains were transported to the
(05:07):
University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for post mortem examinations
to determine more details about these concealed births. Medical examinations
later confirmed that the two babies were both the biological
children of Egla and Silvinus. They were both full siblings,
but not twins, which you know what that means. They
(05:30):
were born at different times. Severe decomposition made it impossible
to determine an exact cause of death, but experts concluded
it was not unreasonable to believe that they were still
born based on the presence of the placental membranes and
the umbilical cord found with the remains. When investigators were
(05:52):
able to figure out at another address, Eggla gave birth
to Baby A, who was still born. After delivering this alone,
Egglet carefully wrapped and concealed the remains instead of seeking
medical assistance or reporting the birth. When she later moved
to the Bridge and House. In July twenty twenty one,
(06:12):
she brought babies Aid's remains with her. Then, in September
twenty twenty one, while six months pregnant, she gave birth
to baby B at the Bridge and Home. This second
birth also happened without any medical supervision or notification to authorities,
and he was still born as well. Then she hid
(06:32):
this body within the house. After a thorough investigation by
the South Wales Police. Court appearances started on February twentieth,
twenty twenty four. Both Silvanus and Egglet appeared at Cardiff
Magistrate's Court. During this hearing, they were charged with two
counts of concealing the birth of a child and two
counts of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body.
(06:55):
They were then released on a conditional bail, which included
surrendering their paswerports and being ordered not to contact each other.
Now I want to pause here. When do you think
they made it law that you have to tell that
you had a child. I understand why because people could
be having children willy nilly and abusing them and doing
(07:16):
whatever they want. But I'm pretty sure there was a
time when it wasn't the law to report when you
had to report when you gave birth to a child?
You know what I'm saying. And actually, for some reason
before this case, I never thought about it. But I
wonder when they actually made that a law. And this
is will so that'd be different countries like I would
(07:36):
look up for the US when they made that a law,
but just on a whole, I wonder when that was
made a law anyway, random thought back to the case.
Then on April tenth, twenty twenty four, both of them
appeared at Cardiff Crown Court. Agla pled guilty to all
four charges. A guilty plea meant that there was no
need for a trial as a defendant admitted to the charges.
(07:58):
Her case was then adjourned. For Senensen, Silvinus pled not
guilty to the same four charges. A not guilty plead
typically leads to a trial, where the prosecution must present
evidence to prove the defendant's guilt. His trial was scheduled
for November twenty fifth, twenty twenty four. However, on May
twenty twenty five, after the Crown Prosecution had reviewed the evidence,
(08:22):
they decided not to proceed with his trial. With that
judge Tracy Lloyd Clark formally acquitted him of all charges
and that was it for him. On July tenth, twenty
twenty five, Eggla appeared at Cardiff Crown Court by herself
for her sentence in hearing. During this hearing, the court
(08:42):
was able to hear the entire story. Eggla's defense said
that she had a fundamental distrust of authorities based in
experiences in Lithuania and in the UK. She also had
a troubling behavioral pattern, with having a history of den
that she was pregnant when challenged by health workers. She
(09:03):
feared that if officials knew that she was pregnant, her
children would have been taken away. The court heard. The
charge of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a
body typically addressed several types of harm quote the indignity
and degregation caused to the deceased, the misery caused to
the deceased's family and friends, and the impact and ability
(09:25):
to have a decent funeral and burial. Also, such concealment
quote may prevent an appropriate and timely investigation into the
circumstances and cause of death. Her defense lawyer, Matthew Roberts,
explained that Egla was suffering from depression and feared being
blamed for the stillbirths. She also had a difficult relationship
(09:46):
with an alcoholic and emotionally abusive partner. The defense emphasized
that she was lonely and emotionally vulnerable, with her mental
states severely compromised, quote were all over the place. She
didn't know what to do. The lack of support from
her partner bred a household environment where Eggla felt unable
(10:08):
to safely disclose her pregnancies or seek appropriate medical care.
So basically, with all that being said, what they really
said was she mistrusted the person that she was living with,
and she mistrusted the government. So this was her state
of mind. The baby was stillborn. And remember there's such
a thing as postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis. Your hormones are
(10:34):
going wacky, because like, as soon as you have your baby,
your hormones completely change. A lot of people don't understand this.
You know, men are never going to get this, and
even women who've never had babies are going to get this.
And some people, you know, they do go through the
hormone change, but it's not as severe, so they're not
going to understand it either, or they might understand it
a little bit, but you just have to think about
(10:57):
the hormones are going wacky. So sometimes women who just
had a baby are not thinking clearly. And she has
all of this going on. And as I've heard it,
some people who do have like either stillborn births or miscarriages,
they do blame themselves, you know. So she had that also,
(11:17):
and she didn't have any kind of support to turn
to to even talk about these emotions. Then on top
of all of that, you know, she was worried that
if they knew that she had these two babies, and
in her thought process again she thought they would take
away her children. You know. So I guess if you
break it all down like that, I kind of understand
(11:39):
where she was coming from. It's not like she murdered
her children. They were still born. The court was also
told that a funeral for the babies took place in
May twenty twenty five, which provided extended family with some closure.
Judge Lloyd Clark described Eggla's approach as quote a deliberate
decision not to seek assistance, saying that egg had lived
(12:00):
in fear of losing her family and like I said,
the judges saying this now she was afraid that the
government could and would remove her children if necessary. Quote,
I have taken your mental health at the time into account.
Applying the sentence. In guidelines on sentence and Offenders with
mental disorders, the court recognized that, while not excusing her actions,
(12:22):
Eggla's mental health issues represented a mitigating factor that influenced
her behavior. Both court and the prosecution acknowledged that the
deaths themselves were not her fault. The babies were likely stillborn.
What brought her to trial, as the judge said, was
her decision to hide them, wrapping the bodies in blankets
(12:45):
and bags and concealing them in the attic and in
the cupboard and never telling anybody about their existence. That's
why she was in court this day. Judge Lloyd Clark
sentenced her to two years in prison suspended for two years,
along with two hundred hours of unpaid work and a
fifteen day rehabilitation order. She was thirty one years old
(13:07):
by this time, so basically she said, you're sentenced to
two years in prison, but you're also not sentenced to
two years in prison. But then she had the two
hundred hours of community service. I guess in Wales they
call it unpaid work. In the US we call it
community service. And then she had a fifteen day rehabilitation order.
The judge told her, quote while you have committed serious offenses,
(13:30):
the deaths of your children were not your fault, and
you have suffered the loss of two children at birth.
You are not a risk or a danger to the public.
Obviously you have no history of poor compliance with court orders,
as you are of previous good character. The judge also
said that there was quote a realistic prospect of rehabilitation
(13:50):
and strong personal mitigation. Judge Lloyd Clark made it clear
that failure to comply with these requirements would result in
EGLA be a quote return to court when sentence will
be activated unless unjust to do so. Side note. It
was revealed that as soon as the bodies of the
infants were found, Zilvinus broke up with Eggla. I see
(14:11):
where he's coming from. You know what I'm saying. He
got in trouble for something he didn't do. It did
turn out that authorities believed that he had no knowledge
of this, and he didn't help with the cover up.
I see where he's coming from. I wouldn't ask him
to think rationally because he's alcoholic and abusive, but I
would say if he were not those two things and
(14:34):
he were a rational young man, I would tell him
to maybe try and put yourself in her shoes and
don't be so harsh to her. She wasn't thinking in
her right mind. So maybe that's not a reason to
really break up your family. But if you're an abusive prick,
then already you don't care about anybody but yourself. So
(14:55):
now I wanted to do this case because it shows
sometimes the desperate life lengths that people will go through,
and they're faced with fear, isolation, and then on top
of that a mistrust of the system and at the
same time don't have emotional support at home. So you know,
at first, when I read the headline, I was kind
(15:16):
of shocked because the headlines and the articles that I
read it was basically like women hid dead babies for year,
gets acquitted of jail time, And I was like what, So,
you know, the headlines made me think something else, and
then when I read it, I kind of understood what
was going on, and I guess in my when I
put out my episode and the headline, it's going to
kind of be the same because you can't literally say
(15:38):
the entire case in the headline. There's no way to,
you know, take two hundred and fifty words or how
many ever words it is a short headline and put
the entire case in there, So I can't really blame
the publications. That's what I went in reading about this
case with that thought process, like, I can't believe she
got away with it. But then as I went deeper
into the case, I realized what it actually was. A
(15:59):
woman who had no emotional support, who was frightened, had
two still born births, was afraid of losing her other children. Now,
when they said mother of five, I don't know if
they included the two still born births and she had
three live children or if she had five live children.
I'm not sure, but either way, she was afraid that
if this came out, they would blame her for having
(16:21):
a still birth and take her children away, you know
what I'm saying. So it gave me more compassion when
I read further into this case and doing five years
of Love and Murder, I could kind of understand where
the fear of the system can come from because there's
cases where people don't need to be in the system
and they put them in the system. There's cases where
people do need to be in the system or need
(16:41):
help from the system, and the system is ignoring them.
So I can you know, I can understand, So let
me know. What do you think about this case? Do
you think I'm being way too understanding? Now? I did
want to say this. Even though I can understand the
fear of the system and everything that happened, I also
understand that she wasn't in her right mind. But if
(17:02):
she was in her right mind, the thing that I
wouldn't be able to condone is not burying the babies.
That's something that has to be done. You know. I
have other reasons for that, but the one that I'm
going to share is the fact of just how unsanitary
that is, especially if she had other kids around. So
I went looking up how unsanitary it is to have
(17:25):
just like a dead body lying around, and what I
found was actually interesting. According to funeral dot Org, there
was a frequently asked questions section, and one of the
questions were aren't dead bodies full of dangerous bacteria that
can make the living sick? And the answer that funeral
dot org had was no, not Usually, it's important to
(17:46):
know the difference between disease causing microorganisms and the normal,
if unpleasant microorganisms that produce natural decay. To put it plainly,
decomposition is a smell problem, not a health problem. And
then they continued on saying, here's a paragraph the Journal
of Perspectives in Health published by the Pan American Health
(18:07):
Organization that sums it up well. Quote, these microorganisms that
are involved in decomposition are not the kind that caused disease.
And most viruses and bacteria that do cause disease cannot
survive more than a few hours in a dead body.
And apparent exception is the human immunodeficiency virus HIV, which
(18:27):
has been shown to live up to sixteen days in
a corpse under refrigeration. Wow. So that's what I read
in Funerals dot org And I was like really, wow.
I thought, you know, being that it was decomposing and
everything like that, it would be a health hazard. But
although there may not be transmittable bacteria in corpses during decay,
(18:51):
there is leakage gases, and of course, like they said,
the smell, all this around other children living in the house,
so she should have found a way if she was
in her right mind. I'm not saying her, I'm just
saying people in general. I'm not judging her because I
believe she wasn't in her right mind. You know, I
don't know. I think let me say, I think she
(19:12):
wasn't in her right mind. So you can't really do
rational stuff if you're not a rational person. And I'm
not saying that in a derogatory way. I'm saying that
in a factual way. So what I was saying was
a person in general. You know, this is all this
is around other children, other people living in the house.
They should find a way to have at least buried
(19:32):
the bodies. And again I'm trying to say this in
general because I'm not saying her. So what do you
think about this case? Do you agree that she wasn't
in her right mind? Do you think she should have
gone to prison under the whales law? Or do you
think this was handled with the care that you know
I should have been handled with based on her mental
(19:54):
state and everything going on with her. I want to
hear from you, so let me know your comments below.
And that is all I have for you today. Remember
that this podcast is listener funded. Episodes like this one
are sponsored by my lambs on Patreon, and you can
join for free at patreon dot com a Forward Slash
Love and Murder. But for the real extras, the bonuses,
(20:17):
the case files. You can get the entire trial. For
some of these cases that I have, I'll have the
entire video trial in there. Not for this case, but
for some of the cases. You get the episode drops
for free. You get ad free, intro free and outro
free listening, and you become a voice of the victim
and help Love and Murder continue going forward. You can
(20:37):
get all of this by joining the bonus tiers, starting
at only three dollars a month. With the bonus tiars,
you're not just supporting the show, you're helping give the
victims a voice. Patreon dot com Forward Slash, Love and Murder.
Thank you for listening all the way to the end.
Thank you for your support. And as I end each
full episode, I want to remind you that it's all
(21:00):
love and no murder. Y'all. See you in the next episode. Bye.
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