TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A woman dubbed the “killer babysitter” was turned down for parole on Wednesday.
Her murders of five children more than two decades ago had parents everywhere questioning whether it was safe to leave their kids with a sitter.
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Christine Falling was 19 years old when she pleaded guilty to killing three children, and in exchange, the state didn’t pursue charges involving two other kids who died in her care -- and it didn’t seek the death penalty.
The charges may never have been filed if Falling hadn’t confessed.
“I choked her till she quit breathing and she’d turned purple,” Falling said in December 1982.
As a child, Falling reportedly strangled or dropped cats from high places to test their nine lives. Her stepfather, who adopted her at age 4, was bewildered.
“Because she was a lover of children,” stepdad Jesse Falling said in 1982. “I still say that.”
Christine Falling also later confessed to killing a 70-year-old man on her first day working as his housekeeper.
By law, Falling remains eligible for parole. But prosecutors told the review panel that the so-called “babysitter from hell” deserved no mercy.
“This woman killed five babies, from (ages) 2 months to 4 years old,” Assistant State Attorney Joy Powell said. “She says she just did it the way she saw on TV. She says she doesn’t know why she did it. Sometimes they cried and they made her mad. One time, she just felt the urge.”
No one showed up to speak on Falling’s behalf. And the panel showed no mercy. Falling’s presumptive release date is in 2254, long after she dies.
Falling will receive another hearing in seven years.
Until the final death, the first four children who passed away, as well as the 70-year-old man, were all thought to have died of natural causes.