A woman convicted of smothering her five children more than two decades ago died in prison after battling pancreatic cancer for more than a year.
Waneta Hoyt, 52, died Sunday at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, where she was serving a sentence of 75 years to life for smothering her five children from 1965 to 1971, The (Syracuse) Post-Standard reported Tuesday.After a doctor diagnosed Hoyt with pancreatic cancer last year, Hoyt's lawyer attempted to get her released from prison while she appealed her convictions. But New York does not allow medical parole for anyone convicted of murder, first-degree manslaughter or certain sex offenses.
The frail woman was found guilty in April 1995 of one count of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder for killing her children.
The children, who ranged in age from 48 days to 2 years, were initially thought to have died from sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. The case was used as a study to prove that SIDS runs in families. But an Onondaga County prosecutor reopened the investigation into the deaths in 1992.
Hoyt confessed in 1994 that she smothered her children to stop them from crying. She later recanted in court, saying state police tricked and coerced her into the admission.