Marybeth Davis (born c. 1952) is an American former registered nurse who was convicted in 1997 of the murders of her two children. She was released from prison in 2007 after accepting a plea deal and confessing to the crimes.
Background
Davis was born around 1952 and worked as a registered nurse. She was married to Gary Davis, with whom she had two children: a son, Seth, and a daughter, Tegan. The family resided in Lewisburg, West Virginia.
Case History
In September 1981, Davis's infant son, Seth, suffered massive brain damage, which prosecutors believed was caused by an injection of a large amount of insulin. He survived but remained in a near-vegetative state and was moved to a mental institution, where he spent the rest of his life. On March 11, 1982, Davis's three-year-old daughter, Tegan, died of a caffeine pill overdose. An autopsy performed by Dr. Anne Hooper found hundreds of capsules inside Tegan's digestive tract, and the manner of death was determined to be homicide.
Trial and Conviction
In 1997, Davis was tried for the murder of Tegan and the injury of Seth. Prosecutors argued that Davis suffered from factitious disorder imposed on another (formerly known as Münchausen syndrome by proxy), a condition in which a caregiver falsifies illness in a child to gain attention and sympathy. Davis maintained her innocence, suggesting that her son suffered from Leigh syndrome or a growth hormone deficiency, and that her daughter had been diagnosed with Reye syndrome shortly before her death. Despite these defenses, she was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Plea Deal and Release
Seth Davis died on October 10, 2002, at the age of 21; his death was also recorded as a homicide. In 2007, after signing a plea deal for two counts of attempt to injure by poison and giving a one-word confession, the then-55-year-old Marybeth Davis was released from prison on time served.
