Baby number one 7 lb 11 oz Richard Allen Noe was born in 1949 and died within the same year. He wouldn't even reach his first birthday. The death certificate would list congenital heart failure as the cause of death. Baby number two was born in 1950 and died before his first birthday. The cause of death was listed as bronchopneumonia. Baby number three was born in 1950, the cause of death was listed as "choking on vomit". Baby number four was born in 1955 and named Arthur Junior after his father. He too would perish, a victim of "bronchopneumonia". Baby number five was born Constance in 1958, she would die as well. Her death was listed as "undetermined - presumed natural". Baby number six was stillborn at the hospital, one of the only two Noe infant children to actually die a "natural" death. Baby number seven was born in 1962 and named Mary Lee. She would live all of six months before she was killed. At the time of Mary Lee's murder, Marie was already three months pregnant with baby number eight. Baby number eight was born, but died a short six hours after birth due to blood abnormalities, the second of the two infants to die natural deaths. Baby number nine was born and named Catherine. This baby would live the longest, but sadly, she too would be killed by her mother a short three months after her first birthday. Baby number ten was born on July 28, 1967 and named Arthur James, referred to as Little Arty. He went home from the hospital at five months old and died three months later. Marie Noe was given a hysterectomy after the birth of Little Arty due to medical reasons. By the year 1968 it was over as quickly as it had begun.

Over a span of eighteen years, Marie Noe would give birth to ten children, only one of which would live to see their first birthday and would die shortly after. It's easy to look at this case from today's point of view and ask yourself, "How could the police NOT know what was going on? How could they actually believe that these children were dying from SIDS, or crib death? Did they really believe that these children died "natural " deaths?"

The answers to those questions are simple, first and foremost, numerous people had suspicions about the deaths of the Noe infants, but forensic testing was not what it is today and there was no substantial proof to bring charges against either Mr. or Mrs. Noe. They were questioned, even given polygraph tests (which both passed) and then released. There was nothing the police could do but sit back and wait for the next baby to die.

The Noe's seemed to drop from the news spot light and their story faded from the front pages until 1997 when the Philadelphia magazine did a story on the Noe's and brought them back into the lime light. In 1999 Marie Noe stood in court and confessed to killing eight of her ten infant children by smothering them to death.

Now the courts are faced with a 70 year old woman who, after 30 years, is confessing to murdering her children. During a plea agreement reached between the prosecuting attorneys office and the Noe's, Mrs. Noe would face no jail time, instead, she would be sentenced to 20 years of probation .... PROBATION, with the first five years spent in home confinement monitored by an ankle bracelet and psychiatric analysis.

I'm sorry, but I fail how to see confining a 70 year old woman to her home as punishment. What kind of message is this sending to society? That you can commit murder and get away with it if you hide it long enough? The woman should have spent whatever days she had left rotting in prison. Her children were given a voice, but she took that voice away from them when she placed her hand over their mouths. Now, 30 years later, the court system did basically the same thing all over again.

If the sentence wasn't bad enough, then what do you call it when the courts don't even enforce that? As of 2001 Marie Noe had yet to be interviewed by any of the experts who were initially contacted. The court appointed physiatrist has yet to interview her, he was still working on the preliminary evaluation of Mrs. Noe.

Our great justice system at work ......