Marybeth Tinning Michaela Traylor

Born September 11, 1942 Born in Duanesburgh, NY Father, Alton Roe, worked at General Electric Attended Duanesburgh High School (Montaldo) Average student with few friends Did nothing special during childhood(Montaldo)

 Felt mistreated by her family  Spent much of her childhood alone  Claims her aunt verbally abused her  Claims her dad locked in her room for days(Galdo) Family Life

 Aspired to go to college, but began working unskilled jobs  began working as a nurse’s aide at Ellis Hospital (Montaldo)  Everyone says she was just OK at her job After High School

 Moderately attractive  5’4” with short blonde hair and blue eyes  Kept a tidy and proper appearance Appearance

 Never had a boyfriend in High School  Met Joe Tinning on a blind date in 1963  Two got along reasonably well  Married in 1965 (Galdo) Love life

 Worked at General Electric with Marybeth’s dad.  Quiet and soft man (Galdo)  Wasn’t prone to anger  Took life in strides (Montaldo) Joe Tinning

 Suspected of killing 8 of her 9 children  Admitted to smothering 3 of the eight, but only the last murder was proven.  Happened over the course of 14 years The Crime

Joseph Tinning 2 Yrs Old Killed 1/20/1972 Hospital suspected Reye’s Syndrome, but no cause of death (“Marybeth Tinning”)

Mary Frances Tinning 4 and a half years old Killed 3/02/1972 Reportedly had Reye’s Syndrome as well (“Marybeth Tinning”)

 Not suspected of her murder  Died 1/02/1972  Died from meningitis(Montaldo) Jennifer Tinning

 3 weeks old  Killed 12/10/1973  Reportedly had Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS)  Marybeth later admits to smothering him(“Marybeth Tinning”)  Timothy Tinning

 5 Months old  Killed 9/02/1975  Smothered  “Died while in the car” (“Marybeth Tinning”) Nathan Tinning

 4 Months old  Killed 2/22/1979  Hospital reported SIDS  (“Marybeth Tinning”) Mary Frances Tinning

 4 Months old  Killed 3/24/1980  Hospital reported cardiopulmonary arrest (“Marybeth Tinning”) Jonathan Tinning

 2 and a half years old  Adopted  Killed 3/02/1981  Hospital reported viral pneumonia (“Marybeth Tinning”) Michael Tinning

 4 Months old  Killed 12/20/1985  Smothered with pillow  Marybeth found guilty of her murder Tami Lynne Tinning

 Tried to poison Joe Tinning with a lethal dose of phenobarbital.  Stole money from her sister in law, Carol. She agrees to see a psychiatrist, but manages to escape from the hospital without anyone knowing (Galdo) Early Signs

 Before her son Nathan was born she told a coworker she was pregnant and reportedly said “God had told her to kill this one, too”  Supposedly burned down her and Joe’s trailer(“Marybeth Tinning”) Early Signs Cont.

 Police and others became more suspicious after Tami Lynne died(Montaldo)  Brought Marybeth and Joe in for questioning  After hours of testing she admitted she wouldn’t hurt any of her children besides Nathan, Tami Lynne, and Timothy Suspicion

 Forensic Pathologist  Asked questions about SIDS  Marybeth claimed the kids turned blue, Baden said that doesn’t happen with SIDS  No way multiple kids in the same family died of SIDS  Suspected smothering  Main reason why Marybeth was further questioned(Montaldo) Dr. Michael Baden

 Claims she was a bad mother  Thought kids were going to die eventually anyway  Claimed the Lord told her to do so (Galdo) Reasoning

 Currently 72  serving her 20 to life sentence at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Westchester, NY  Denied parole in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013  No new evidence (“Marybeth Tinning”)   Present Day

 Not scientifically or in terms of procedure  Shows that a closer look must be taken  Proved this easily could have been prevented if someone cared to look closer into what was happening Has it changed forensics?

 This case is deeply disturbing to me. What disturbs me the most is that this isn’t the first parent to commit such acts to his or her own children for a long period of time and get away with some/all of what has been done. This easily could have been avoided if someone had cared enough to pay attention and run tests. The father should be persecuted too because there is no way he was oblivious for 14 years.

 Montaldo, Charles. "Marybeth Tinning." About.com. N.p., 31 July Web. 11 Feb  Galdo, Mark. "Baby Killer." CrimeLibrary. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb  "Marybeth Tinning." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 11 Feb  Egginton, Joyce. "Marybeth Tinning." Radford.edu. Radford University, n.d. Web. 11 Feb Citations