Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Police Reopen Infant's Death Case
> PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- One family. Ten babies. Not one
> lived past 15 months.
>
> The mystery has remained unsolved for three decades. Now
> police have reopened a homicide investigation into
> Arthur and Marie Noe, the parents who said eight of
> their children died of ``crib death.'' One was stillborn
> and the other died in the hospital a few hours after
> birth.
>
> Police, coroners and experts in sudden infant death
> syndrome, or SIDS, have doubted the couple's story
> almost from the beginning. They are re-examining the
> case in light of new medical evidence about SIDS, which
> is the phenomenon of infants inexplicably and suddenly
> dying, often during their sleep.
>
> The new theory argues that SIDS is sometimes homicide,
> and refutes an earlier theory that the syndrome runs in
> families.
>
> ``It's been 30 years. Now we might find something
> different,'' police spokeswoman Carmen Torres said
> Tuesday.
>
> The deaths began in 1949 and ended in 1968. The father
> is now 76 and the wife 68.
>
> Efforts to reach the Noes were unsuccessful Tuesday.
> Their telephone number is unlisted and they did not
> answer their door.
>
> In their most recent interview, in January with the
> Philadelphia Daily News, they denied harming their
> children.
>
> ``The last thing we want to see is this thing brought up
> again,'' Noe said. ``It brings up all the pain and
> troubles and heartaches. Maybe it's news to others, but
> it's pain to us.''
>
> Besides the two explained deaths, the other eight babies
> left the hospital in what appeared to be good health.
> The Noes took out insurance policies on six babies.
>
> ``When you have the first death, it's a tragedy. When
> you have the second, it's a medical mystery. But by the
> third, it's a homicide,'' said Montgomery County's
> coroner, Dr. Halbert Fillinger. He said city medical
> examiners suspected foul play from nearly the beginning
> but could never find proof.
>
> Over the last few months, old police and medical records
> have been dug up, and old witnesses have been
> interviewed. A recent magazine article about the couple
> added to the interest.
>
> ``I'm sure (the Noes) are not happy to see all this
> tragedy bubble up again, but I think this is a good
> idea. I still think something must have happened to
> those kids,'' Fillinger said.
>
> SIDS experts still expect police to come up
> empty-handed.
>
> ``Doctors still don't know much more than before.
> There's just a lot more theories going around. But no
> one really knows,'' said Dr. Laurie Varlotta, a SIDS
> specialist at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.
> ``The new SIDS research that police hope will shed light
> on the case probably won't do any good.
>
> SIDS is blamed for the deaths of about 3,500 U.S. babies
> each year, about 2,000 fewer since doctors began
> recommending in 1992 that parents put babies to sleep on
> their backs.
--
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