Brittany Pilkington, of Bellefontaine, Ohio, confessed Tuesday to suffocating her sons so her daughter, 3-year-old Hailey, could receive more attention from her father, Joseph.
"In her mind, she was protecting her daughter from being not as loved as the boys were by their father," Logan County Prosecutor William Goslee said.
The story began last summer when emergency responders couldn't save her 3-month-old son Niall or her 4-year-old son Gavin in April, reported PIX 11. At the time, the two deaths were chalked up as naturally caused deaths and authorities returned Pilkingon's two other children, who had been taken into custody during the investigation: an infant named Noah and Hailey.
However, the third time was the tipping point, and after Pilkington called 911 to report that her last son, Noah, couldn't breathe, she was taken into custody. During the interrogation Pilkington confessed that she "intentionally killed all three of her sons," Goslee said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Following the grim confession, Police Chief Brandon Standley regretted not having heard Pilkington's confession sooner.
"You're all waiting for that last thing to come forward that says that this is what caused the death of child number one and child number two," Standley said. "Unfortunately, we did not get that until today."
Pilkington was charged with three counts of murder and jailed on Tuesday. Her remaining child, Hailey, was taken into custody by a Logan County welfare agency.The confession has now prompted police to revisit the deaths of her other two sons, and investigate the local officials' handling of the case, according to The Washington Post.
However, it isn't just police who are concerned about local official's handling of the case, relatives and onlookers are similarly confused.
Joe Skaggs, Pilkington's uncle, asked, "Why would you give [the children] back after a little boy just died and when you're in the middle of an investigation?"
One commenter on the Columbus Dispatch article stated, "The Logan Country Coroner is criminally negligent. Any Accountability? If this guy did JFK's autopsy, he'd have said natural causes."
Pilkington is reportedly expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
