She met Joe Tinning in 1963 and the couple was married two years later. Together they had three children: Barbara, Joseph, and the youngest, Jennifer, who was sick at birth and died only a few weeks later of meningitis.
Three weeks later on January 20, 1972, Marybeth took Joseph, aged two, to the Ellis Hospital emergency room after he’d had an apparent seizure. He was kept in the hospital for observation, but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him, and he was sent home. Only hours later, Joseph was back to the ER, but this time he died. Tinning told the doctors that she’d placed him in bed to sleep, and when she went back to check on him, he was blue, and tangled in the bed sheets. This was accepted by the hospital as accidental.
Not six weeks later, the mother was back in the E.R. with her four-year-old daughter, Barbara. The mother claimed the girl had gone into convulsions. She was checked out and advised to stay overnight. Tinning, however, wanted to take her home and, you guessed it, just hours later Tinning brought the girl back into the E.R.. Unconscious at the time, she later died. The medical doctor attributed Barbara’s death to Reyes Syndrome. Within three months of each other, all three of the Tinning children had died.
Authors Note: How can one mother have such rotten luck?
Break out the champagne. Marybeth Tinning got pregnant again and in 1973, on Thanksgiving Day, gave birth to a baby boy, Timothy. Three weeks later Timothy was found dead in his crib. The doctors listed it as S.I.D.S., or sudden infant death syndrome.
Nathan Tinning was born two years later on March, 30, 1975, the fifth child born to the couple. When Nathan was only five months old, Marybeth arrived at the Hospital with him dead in her arms. She claimed that she was driving and noticed that the baby was not breathing and rushed to the E.R. Once again, no foul play was suspected and no explanation was given for the child’s death. The Tinnings decided to adopt in 1978, but before the adoption went through Tinning became pregnant again. So, in August, they adopted young Michael who was just a baby, and in October their 6 child, Mary Frances, was born.
When Mary Frances was only four months old, she supposedly had a seizure and was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to save her and she died on February 20. Nothing suspect was reported by the hospital or anyone. Marybeth Tinning then got pregnant again, and on November 19 Jonathan was born.
Authors Note: Isn’t this getting repetitive?
Marybeth Tinning arrived at St. Clare's hospital with Jonathan on March 4, 1980. Jonathan was unconscious, but was revived. Due to the family history of misfortune and babies dying, Jonathan was sent to Boston Hospital where he was thoroughly examined. The doctors could find no valid medical reason why the baby had simply stopped breathing. Jonathan returned home only to be brought back to the hospital three days later, dead, on March 24.
The adopted child, Michael, was now two and a half years old, and on March 2nd of the following year, was carried into his pediatrician’s office wrapped in a blanket, unconscious. Tinning calmly claimed that she could not wake the child, and when the doctor examined him, discovered he was already dead. It was previously believed that there was a genetic origin for the deaths of all the infants, but when their adopted child died too, someone finally took notice.
The police were called in to investigate and found that Tinning had been present every time a child had died. After interrogating her, she confessed to smothering them, and received twenty years to life in prison for the deaths of eight babies.
She is now living at the Bedford Hills Prison for Women in New York, serving out her twenty-year sentence. She had parole hearings in 2007, 2009, and 2011. Each time she was denied parole. Her next hearing is scheduled for January, 2013.
Rosemary and
Fred West (Couple)
Rosemary Letts was born on November 29, 1953 in Devon, England. Frederick West was born on September 29, 1941 in Herefordshire, England.
Rosemary and Fred were married on January 29, 1972 and their daughter Mae was born on June 1. To make money, Fred encouraged his wife to become a prostitute and she had seven children, three of mixed race. Both Rosemary and Fred came from families of incest and on many occasions, her father, Bill Letts, would visit their house to have sex with his daughter.
As they had many children, they hired Caroline Roberts, seventeen, as a nanny. Rosemary had set up a room in the house for her prostitution and called it “Rose’s Room.” To offset any suspicion about all the men coming and going, they told the nanny that she was a masseuse.
Caroline rejected sexual advances from both Rosemary and Fred. She left the house but was brought back, tied up, and raped by the couple. They threatened to lock her in the cellar and let black male customers have their way with her if she did not behave. Fred told her that they had killed hundreds of young girls and that their bodies had never been found.
Realizing they would kill her, Caroline gave in to them sexually without a fight. The next day, she reported the rape to the police, but withdrew her accusation when the case came to court; however, for a reduced charge and a fine of only fifty pounds, the Wetts’ pleaded guilty.
Fred began raping his daughters while Rosemary watched and little Anne Marie, eight, became pregnant. Luckily, the pregnancy was terminated, as it was ectopic. In later years, both Anne Marie and her sister Heather could not take it any longer and left home.
Fred West would film himself raping his daughters until one day his daughter told her friend about it and she in turn told her mother. Her friend’s mother went to the police and on August 6, 1992, the authorities began their investigation which eventually led to the arrest of both Fred and Rosemary. The children were placed in foster care, but the daughter, Heather, could not be located. Social Workers talked with the children and learned that Heather was supposed to be buried under the patio. Based on this information, a search warrant was granted to excavate the garden in search of Heather. What they found was more than they were looking for. Eleven bodies were discovered in total.
On June 30, 1994, Rosemary and Fred West were both formally charged with these murders. Before Fred could be sentenced, he hung himself in his jail cell on January 1, 1995.
Rosemary was tried and convicted of ten murders in October of 1995, and was sentenced to life in prison.
Note: “While in prison, Fred West claimed he killed at least another twenty, including children he killed in a barn.”
Unsolved Serial Murder Cases
It is very frightening when serial murders are happening in a community. Just knowing there is someone stalking the neighborhood, looking for victims, is very frightening. Many of these killers hunt in the same area for years; others travel around spreading their fear in new regions and, luckily, many of them are captured. When the killer is not captured, however, the public is forced to envision when he or she will strike again.
There is sorrow in knowing that a serial killer was never brought to justice for the crimes they committed. There are several unsolved murder cases in the United States alone, not counting all around the globe, that are thought to have been the work of a serial killer. This book will depict several of them, as well as Serial Killers who were captured. Some of the unsolved cases in this book include The Axeman of New Orleans, The Capital City Killer, The Frankford Slasher, The Original Night Stalker, Highway of Tears Killer, The Servant Girl Annihilator, The Zodiac Killer and many more.