Germany Jails Mother Who Froze Newborns

After her 18-year-old son discovered his little sisters in the chest in May while looking for some food, she said, "Take me to the police."

The accused, 44, listened impassively as a judge in Siegen, western Germany, convicted her on two counts of manslaughter. She kept the pregnancies in 1986, 1988 and 2004 secret and gave birth alone. All the children were alive and healthy. The first death was too long ago to prosecute.

She told the court the first child drowned when water from a shower ran into her mouth, the second suffocated when the woman lay on top of her and the third died of a lack of care when the woman passed out after drinking too much alcohol.

Judge Wolfgang Muenker said he did not believe she had been aware of killing the infants, but she could have saved their lives if she had wanted to.