The Strange Case of Heidi Anfinson
Submitted for your perusal, largely without comment: this report from MSNC on the case of Heidi Anfinson and her baby, Jacob. According to Heidi and Mike Anfinson, Mike went away for a day of four-wheeling with friends. He came home to find his wife sleeping alone, the baby gone - missing, stolen, as they believed. But after mom led police to baby Jacob’s body, prosecutors went after Heidi Anfinson on murder charges. Anfinson’s story switched from “stolen baby” to “accidentally drowned in tub, so I tossed him in the lake”. Forensics experts testified that a brain lesion indicated someone may have attempted to kill Jacob earlier, and that there was so much alcohol in the tot’s system that it was a contributing factor in his demise.
Defense experts, however, rallied to Heidi’s defense, questioning eveyr bit of evidence the prosecution had offered - even the alleged alcohol in the baby’s system. The result: A mistrial, with 11 jurors voting for some form of “throw away the key”, and only one holding out for involuntary manslaughter. The next jury wasn’t so torn. Four days later, they brought back a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree, for which she was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Anfinson, however, sticks to her innocence, and has graduated to blaming post-partum depression for Jacob’s death.
Read the evidence for yourself. Make up your own mind. Personally, when I read this story, I see a mom weaving a tapestry of lies about the horror she’s wrought.
Tags: baby, des+moines, iowa, mother, murder, post+partum+depression
1 opinion for The Strange Case of Heidi Anfinson
beth
Jan 17, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Oh, come’on….I am so tired of all the excuses! Please dont let this woman out to have more children! It seems all they have to do is say that it was someone elses fault, or some kind of mental illness. Hey, if you dont want the kid, someone out there will and they will take good care of that child. Is anyone out there responsible for their own actions?