Marybeth Tinning

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Marybeth Tinning


Born	September 11, 1942 Duanesburg, NY, USA
Charge(s)	murder
Penalty	imprisonment of 20 years to life
Status	in prison
Occupation	nurse's aide
Spouse	Joe Tinning

Marybeth Tinning (born Marybeth Roe on September 11, 1942) is an American serial killer.

1 Life before children
2 The death of her children
3 Confession and conviction
4 References

[edit] Life before children

Marybeth Roe was born in Duanesburg, a small town in New York. She and her younger brother both attended Duanesburg High School, where she was an average student. Her father, Alton Roe, worked as a press operator for General Electric.

Over the next few years, she worked in a series of low wage jobs. Eventually, she became a nurse's aide at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. In 1963, she met Joe Tinning on a blind date. The couple married in spring 1965.

[edit] The death of her children

In the first five years of their marriage, the couple had two children, Barbara and Joseph Jr. In December 1971, Marybeth Tinning gave birth to a third child, Jennifer. Barely a month later, however, Jennifer died in a Schenectady hospital of severe infection, which was diagnosed as meningitis.

On January 20, 1972, Tinning took Joseph Jr. (2) to the Ellis Hospital emergency room. She said he had some type of seizure. The child was kept under observation for a time and, when doctors could not find anything wrong with him, was sent home. Several hours later, Tinning and her son returned to the ER. This time, however, he was dead. She told doctors that she had placed him in bed and returned later to find that he had turned blue, and was tangled in his sheets.

Not six weeks later, Tinning was back at the same emergency room with her daughter, Barbara (4). She said the little girl had gone into convulsions. Though the doctors wanted the child to stay overnight, Tinning insisted on taking her back home. Several hours later, she returned with Barbara, who was unconscious. The child later died from unknown causes. All three of Tinning's children had died within 90 days of each other, a highly unusual occurrence, even if it were Reyes Syndrome or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Tinning became pregnant with her fourth child the following year.

On Thanksgiving Day 1973, she gave birth to a son, Timothy. On December 10, just three weeks after his birth, Timothy was brought back to the same hospital — dead. Tinning told doctors she found him lifeless in his crib. Again, doctors found nothing medically wrong. His death was listed officially as SIDS.

Two years later, on March 30, 1975, Easter Sunday, Tinning gave birth to her fifth child, Nathan. On September 2, she showed up at St. Clare's Hospital with the baby in her arms. He was dead. She said she was driving in her car with the baby in the front seat when she noticed that he had stopped breathing. Again, there seemed to be no rational explanation for his death.

In 1978, the couple made arrangements to adopt a child. That same year, Tinning became pregnant again. The Tinnings did not cancel the adoption and chose to keep both children. In August 1978, they received a baby boy, Michael, from the adoption agency. Two months later, on October 29, she gave birth to her sixth child, Mary Frances. In January 1979, the baby apparently developed some kind of seizure. She rushed Mary Frances to the emergency room, directly across the street from her apartment, and the staff were able to revive her. On February 20, however, Tinning came running into the same hospital with Mary Frances, who was brain dead. Once again, Tinning said she found the baby unconscious and did not know what had happened to her.

Once Mary Frances was buried, Tinning wasted no time in getting pregnant. On November 19, she gave birth to her seventh child, Jonathan. In March 1980, she showed up at St. Clare's hospital with Jonathan unconscious. Like her last child, he was successfully revived. Due to the family's history, Jonathan was sent to Boston Hospital where he was thoroughly examined. The doctors could find no valid medical reason why the baby simply stopped breathing. Jonathan was sent home. A few days later, Tinning was back at St. Clare's, this time with a brain dead child. Jonathan died on March 24, 1980.

Less than one year later, on the morning of March 2, 1981, Tinning showed up at her pediatrician's office with Michael, her adopted child, then two-and-a-half years old. He was wrapped in a blanket and unconscious. She told the doctor that she could not wake Michael and had no idea what was wrong. When the doctor examined Michael, he was already dead. Since Michael was adopted, the long-suspected theory that the deaths in the Tinning family had a genetic origin was discarded.

On August 22, 1985, Tinning gave birth to her eighth child, Tami Lynne. On December 19, next-door neighbour Cynthia Walter, who was also a practical nurse, went shopping with Tinning and later visited her home. Later that night, Walter received a frantic telephone call from Tinning. When Cynthia arrived, she found Tami Lynne lying on a changing table. Cynthia testified that the child was not moving and she could not feel any pulse or breathing. At the emergency room, the baby was pronounced dead.

[edit] Confession and conviction

Suspicion mounted against Tinning, who was always alone when the children died, but there was never any evidence of foul play. After a police interrogation, however, Tinning made a confession (which she later retracted) to smothering three children.

On July 17, 1987, Tinning was convicted of second-degree murder, and sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment. She is currently incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Prison for Women (inmate # 87G0597) in New York. She is eligible for parole in March 2007.