A Heartless Mother

In the late 1980s, Ellen Boehm was a divorced mother in St. Louis, Missouri, raising three children: her daughter, Stacy, and her sons, Steven and David. Money was tight. After losing the family house to foreclosure, she moved the children into an apartment complex on South Broadway.

On Thanksgiving 1988, two-year-old David was found unresponsive at home and died two days later. His death was put down to sudden infant death syndrome, and Ellen collected a small insurance payment. By August 1989 she had taken out six policies that insured Stacy and Steven for $100,000 each. On September 13, 1989, Stacy was shocked when a hair dryer ended up in her bathwater; she was treated at a hospital and released. Twelve days later, on September 25, four-year-old Steven was smothered at home and died at a hospital that afternoon.

A second sudden death of a child in the same household drew scrutiny, and a friend of Ellen’s took her suspicions to police. Investigators concluded that Ellen had smothered both boys and had put the hair dryer in Stacy’s bath on purpose, and that the insurance money was the likely motive. Ellen was arrested and admitted the killings. She pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder and received two life sentences. Stacy survived and was placed in state care.