Did Heidi Anfinson murder her baby?

Before Heidi Anfinson faced any judge or jury in the death of her son, she had to do something even more wrenching: She had to face her husband.

Mike Anfinson: I would just go like a cat calling for its lost kitten, you know? Just… not understand it.

But after what both describe as the toughest time of their lives, Mike Anfinson decided to stand by his wife. And so did the many friends and family members who attended the trial each day.

Mike Anfinson: We conceived a child together. We’re gonna go through the whole thing. I married her for better or worse—I guess this is the worst times.

The defense's case
To many, the Anfinson case seemed tailor-made for claims that her actions were prompted by post-partum depression, a condition caused by stress and hormonal changes that’s led some mothers to commit acts of violence toward their children.

It is a defense strategy that has had mixed results—and Anfinson’s attorney, Bill Kutmus, wanted no part of it.

Heidi Anfinson’s defense would be that her son’s death was an accident, that he died because of her negligence.

But what happened, she maintained, was not murder.

Bill Kutmus, Anfinson’s defense attorney: Heidi was incapable of performing that kind of dastardly act towards that child. We had evidence replete to indicate that she loved the child.

So the defense began by calling those who knew Heidi Anfinson not as a constantly crying defendant, but as the most popular waitress at Jimmy’s Cafe.

Friends also countered prosecution portrayals of Heidi as cold and unemotional.

Heidi’s doctor also took the stand. He talked about how excited she was about her pregnancy and how happy she was to be pregnant.

So did Jacob’s pediatrician. Both physicians testified they saw no sign of trouble between mother and child either before, or after the birth.

And even the doctor who treated Jacob the night paramedics rushed him to the hospital a week before his death, the night the prosecution implied Heidi may have tried to smother her baby—even that doctor said what he saw, wasn’t that unusual.

Heidi Anfinson: It just makes me nauseous to think that they think I was malicious.

Hoda Kotb, Dateline correspondent: Did you ever abuse Jacob?

Heidi Anfinson: No, I loved Jacob.

While the defense acknowledged Heidi’s negligence in the death of her son, her attorney argued she was neither guilty of murder, nor manslaughter— and said it would be up to the jury to decide if she deserved any punishment at all. Heidi would not take the stand in her own defense.

When Heidi and her husband sat down with 'Dateline,' they wouldn’t talk about some events surrounding Jacob’s death, but they would address the charges made by prosecutors.

Hoda Kotb: Heidi, the prosecution is saying this was no accident. That this was a deliberate act. You drove Jacob to the lake, and drowned him there. Did that happen?

Heidi Anfinson: No.

Hoda Kotb: The prosecution has it all wrong?

Heidi Anfinson: The prosecution has it wrong.

But what about the prosecution’s claims that if Heidi Anfinson truly had found her baby submerged in an infant tub, why didn’t she just call 911, as the Anfinsons had just a week before?

Heidi Anfinson: I’d better not comment on that. Because of my lawyer’s advice.

Mike Anfinson: I believe she panicked that the baby died on her watch and she probably couldn’t accept that. I believe her. I mean, she’s never done anything wrong in her life that I’ve seen.

Polk county attorney John Sarcone believes otherwise.

Kotb: Is it possible that she did just panic? Because you know, people do react different when they’re in a very stressful situations?

John Sarcone, Polk county attorney: My idea of panic is that , you know, you go berserk and you try to get a neighbor, you call a family member, you call 911 or something. You don’t take a 27 minute ride and go out to Saylorville lake and place a child in a marsh and cover him up with rocks.

But the defense argued, no matter what the prosecutor said, that panic takes many forms. And accidents do happen. 

They said the jury shouldn’t believe those experts who claimed a baby could not drown in a tub like this. And produced their own expert.

Peter J. Stephens, former pathologist for Iowa state: Drowning in bathtubs is probably one of the commonest ways in which infants drown.

And the same expert said if Jacob had not drowned in the tub, but in the lake, there would have been much more sediment and sand from the lake than was found in the baby’s lungs.

Next, the defense tried to disprove those damaging claims that Heidi Anfinson slashed her son’s head with a sharp instrument. If the baby’s head had been slashed, the defense argued, why was there no weapon found that could have made the wounds? Why was there no blood found in the car Heidi used to drive the baby to the lake and on the towel Jacob had been wrapped in… and why was the only blood found not the baby’s?

The pathologists however, did not know whose blood it was that was found.

And to back up their claim that Heidi did not slash her baby, the defense called a wildlife biologist who testified the wounds on the baby’s head could have been caused by the talons of some of the birds at Saylorville Lake — birds of prey like eagles or vultures.

The defense pressed on, despite claims by the state that there are few such birds at the lake, and that the wounds on the baby’s head were not consistent with a bird’s talons.

They called back medical examiner Francis Garrity, who’d made many of the most damaging findings about the gashes.

(Court transcript) Defense lawyer: You have conceded at one time, have you not, that several of those wounds could have been caused by the talons of an eagle.

Francis Garrity, medical examiner: By a sharp object, and that would by definition include the talons of an eagle, yes.

Defense lawyer: Well, you even said “talons of an eagle,” correct?

Garrity: Correct, I may have, yes.

And the defense wasn’t through with Dr. Garrity. Because it turns out Dr. Garrity and Dr. Michael Baden, the two top medical experts for the prosecution— the two men the state was counting on to prove its case— disagreed on many key points.

First, about the alleged presence of drinking alcohol in baby Jacob’s blood.

Garrity: The blood was positive for ethanol, drinking alcohol…

Defense lawyer: And you disagree?

Michael Baden, medical expert: Yes.

Next, the two experts disagreed on what might have caused an injury on the baby’s spinal cord. One said it was caused by Heidi Anfinson placing 25 lbs. of rocks on her son.

But the other said the injury could just have been caused by the settling of blood after death. And there was even disagreement about the bacteria one expert said proved the baby died in the lake. 

(court transcript) Bill Kutmus, defense lawyer: I would say more than three-quarters of Baden’s testimony contradicted Dr. Garrity! Both of whom are testifying for the state. A lot of it was junk science and opinions that were reaching conclusions.

But Polk county attorney John Sarcone says the seeming inconsistency isn't damaging.

Kotb: The defense will tell you, “This is just junk science. One expert says one  thing, another expert says another thing. None of it’s reliable.”

Sarcone: We don’t sit here and look for somebody who’s going to be consistent with everybody. They never disagreed about cause of death, and manner of death.

As the defense called its last witnesses and wrapped up its case, Heidi Anfinson could only wonder if she’d soon be going to prison, or going home for good.

Kotb: There was a part of you at one point that said you deserved to go to jail.

Heidi Anfinson: Yes.

Kotb: Why?

Heidi Anfinson: I think I felt like through my negligence that I did deserve some punishment.

Kotb: Do you still feel that today?

Heidi Anfinson: Now, I don’t see how incarceration would be any help. I mean I’m still going through punishment every day.

It was now for the jury to decide whether Heidi Anfinson’s self-imposed punishment for what she called the accidental death of her son was enough.

MORE FROM DATELINE

Dateline Section Front

NBC's People of the Year: Read the interviews The Night Mary Jane Disappeared The Friday the 13th Mystery Mystery at Lost Dog Road Slideshow: Photos in the Bob Duke case When The Smoke Clears   Sneak peek: When The Smoke Clears Slideshow: The Christie Fleming murder Transcript: Dan Brown and Secrets Of The Lost Symbol Through The Pouring Rain Dateline Section Front   Add Dateline headlines to your news reader: