Waneta Hoyt

(1965-1971) killed 5 of her 6 children in Oswego, New York by suffocation, claiming they had just stopped breathing. The case came on the advent and discovery of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and one of her children became the first in the nation to be placed on a special monitor at home. The child died anyway, and Waneta said the machine malfunctioned. The trial became a test case on the medical validity of SIDS. The syndrome was determined valid, and Waneta was found innocent. In 1994, however, she confessed to the killings, but later recanted in 1995. A trial in 1995 sentenced her to life in prison.

http://www.sciam.com/1197issue/1197review2.html
http://www.dcmsonline.org/jax-medicine/1997journals/october97/presidentsmessage.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~leelah/index6.html

Book: "The Death of Innocents"
http://sids-network.org/experts/abusereview.htm
http://www.nurseweek.com/features/bkreview/sids.html
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/14/reviews/970914.14buscht.html