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Rare
glimpse into child killer's mind
In
appearance before parole board, Marybeth Tinning said
prior child
deaths ''damaged'' her
By
ROBERT GAVIN Staff writer
Published
12:00 a.m., Friday, February 11, 2011
ALBANY
-- In her most expansive interview to date, notorious
child killer,
Marybeth
Tinning, told the
state parole board last month she was a "messed up
person" who
smothered her 4-month daughter with a pillow because
she feared the
infant would die.
"After
the deaths of my other children ... I just lost it,"
Tinning told the
board Jan. 26. "(I) became a damaged worthless piece
of person and when
my daughter was young, in my state of mind at that
time, I just
believed that she was going to die also. So I just
did it."
Tinning,
68, formerly of Schenectady, is serving 20 years to
life at Bedford
Hills Correctional Facility in
Westchester County for killing her daughter, Tami
Lynne , on Dec. 20, 1985. On Feb. 5 she was denied
parole for the
third time since becoming eligible for release
in 2007.
Tami
Lynne was among nine of Tinning's children, including
an adopted son,
who did not live beyond the age of 4. Authorities
suspected Tinning's
first child died naturally -- but that she killed the
other eight.
The Times
Union obtained
transcripts of the Jan. 26 parole hearing at Bedford
Hills in which
Tinning reveals her guilt in the murder more than ever
before. In 2009,
her only explanation for her grisly crime was that she
was "going
through bad times" when she committed the murder.
And
in 2007 she was admonished by the board for a lack of
remorse.
On
Jan. 26, parole commissioner, Mary
Ross, asked Tinning:
"This charge involved the murder of your 4-month-old
child who was
smothered with a pillow, is this right?"
"Yes,
ma'am," Tinning replied.
"Did
you do that?" Ross asked.
"Yes,
ma'am, I did," Tinning answered.
Ross
later asked Tinning what she thought when her children
were dying.
Tinning
replied: "Two things that I wanted in life was to be
married to someone
who cared for me and to have children and, other than
that, I can't
give you a reason."
She
said sudden infant death syndrome caused the deaths of
her
other children.
In
the interview, Ross noted Tinning has certificates of
achievement from
nonviolence and anger management programs and that she
now works for a
chaplain. Ross and parole commissioner, Jared
Brown, also cited
letters of support for Tinning from people she has
worked with in
prison, as well as from Georgetown Law School, with
some describing her
as the "most loving, most generous, caring person that
they have
ever met."
At
one point Ross asked Tinning, "When you look back at
your actions ...
what insight do you have into it or yourself?"
Tinning
replied: "When I look back I see a very damaged and
just a messed up
person and I have tried to become a better person
while I was here,
trying to be able to stand on my own and ask for help
when I need it,
others when they need it. ... (S)ometimes I try not to
look in the
mirror and when I do, I just, there is no words that I
can express now.
I feel none. I'm just, just none."
Tinning,
noting she worked with AIDS patients in prison, said
she would like to
volunteer with such patients if released -- and that
some places have
told her husband, Joseph, they would be willing to use
her.
She
said she would live with her husband if released. He
visits once a
month but it is "getting harder," she told the board.
Tinning
was also suspected of trying to poison her husband,
but
never charged.
On
Feb. 5, the parole board's decision found Tinning's
release would be
incompatible with public safety and would diminish the
seriousness of
her crime.
She
is eligible for parole again in January 2013.
The
parole board's ruling stated: "This decision is based
on the following
factors: You stand convicted of the serious offense of
murder in which
you caused the death of your infant daughter by
smothering her with a
pillow. This was a heinous crime. You were in a
position of trust and
violated that trust by taking the life of an innocent
child."
Reach Robert
Gavin rgavin@timesunion.com.
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