in the family. the saying was that one sids death in a family is sids. two is suspicious and three is homicide. dr. molly depena, who is a sids expert and performed autopsies on three of the noe children agrees that a serial sids case just isn t possible. apparently because it s not a genetic phenomenon, it is a natural, as far as we know, death, they are simply, sudden, unexpected and unexplained deaths. if the children weren t dying from sids, then what or who was killing them? on several occasions, marie noe took her babies to the hospital with breathing problems. but the children were released after doctors found nothing wrong with them. dr. feldman believes this kind of behavior could be a symptom of munchausen syndrome by proxy. the mother sickens the child
up with was dr. depena and dr. halbert fillinger who had recently joined the medical examiner s staff as an assistant medical examiner, got a grant. the grant was that they could offer the noes free medical care in order to allow them to monitor mrs. noe s pregnancy and her childbirth and the child s life after the child was born. but the noes rejected the offer. the noes were told by their doctor, and they told this to me, that they shouldn t get involved with this study because these big highfalutin doctors in the medical examiner s office were going to take their baby away from them. in 1963, theresa, the eighth child was born. she died after only six hours from a blood abnormality. dr. salvatore cuciatta, who delivered theresa, said he also recommended marie noe get additional care and psychiatric treatment beyond what she was getting from her primary care physician, dr. gangemi. but this offer was also rejected.
it was considered an odd case. constance was the first noe baby the doctor performed an autopsy on. the doctor said she found no apparent cause of death. but instead of ruling it crib death, or sids, she said the cause was undetermined. no cause of death is apparent in the conduct of the autopsy. it was just nothing. which, of course, is quite unusual. the first person i called was molly depena. she is a very famous, used to be a very famous pediatric pathologist. she had done a number of the original autopsies when she lived in philadelphia in the 50s and 60s and she d also been the first person to ever let out there had been suspicions about the noes way back when. she recalled the medical examiner at the time. dr. joseph spellman, who is dead, that he believed the noes had been responsible for their children s deaths. the doctor says the diagnosis of crib death just wasn t possible in several children from the same family.
led by doctors hal fillinger and molly depena, the medical examiner s office launched an investigation. interviewing neighbors, family members and as many doctors as they could find. and what they discovered was disturbing. they went to talk to the noes doctor, dr. gangemi. a physician the noes loved. they had no idea what he was telling the medical examiner in his investigation was of the extreme suspicion of the noes. he described her as being possibly schizophrenic, possibly psychotic. and he really had grave questions about her mental capacities. investigators with the medical examiner s office also learned that marie noe claimed to have been raped, at least twice. once when she was pregnant with her first child, and a second time, exactly nine months before the birth of her fourth child. she was found by her husband, tied up in his neckties in their closet and claiming that somebody had come, that jumped out of the closet, surprised
possible. led by doctors hal fillinger and molly depena, the medical examiner s office launched an investigation. interviewing neighbors, family members and as many doctors as they could find. and what they discovered was disturbing. they went to talk to the noes doctor, dr. gangemi. a physician the noes loved. they had no idea what he was telling the medical examiner in his investigation was of the extreme suspicion of the noes. he described her as being possibly schizophrenic, possibly psychotic. and he really had grave questions about her mental capacities. investigators with the medical examiner s office also learned that marie noe claimed to have been raped, at least twice. once when she was pregnant with her first child, and a second time, exactly nine months before the birth of her fourth child. she was found by her husband, tied up in his neckties in their closet and claiming that somebody had come, that jumped out of the closet, surprised