Lindsey Lowe, Tenn. Woman, Sentenced To 51 Years In Newborn Twin Deaths

By Travis Loller - HuffingtonPost.com

April 26, 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee woman convicted of murdering her newborn twins was sentenced Friday to a minimum of 51 years in prison, despite her family pleading with the judge who said he found the 26-year-old untruthful and selfish.

Lindsey Lowe was convicted last month of felony murder, premeditated murder and aggravated child abuse. The murder charges carry an automatic life sentence.

At a Friday hearing in Gallatin, Sumner County Criminal Court Judge Dee David Gay sentenced Lowe to the maximum 25 years on each of the aggravated child abuse charges. However, Gay ordered the sentences for murder and child abuse to be served at the same time, not tacked on.

The courtroom was packed with Lowe's friends and family, several of whom gave emotional testimony on her behalf.

Lowe, wearing a blue prison shirt and handcuffs, also read a statement expressing her regret. She did not testify at trial.

She gave birth to the twin boys in the bathroom of her parents' home in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Hendersonville, about 20 miles northeast of Nashville on the night of Sept. 12, 2011. She told police she smothered them and placed them in a laundry basket so that her parents would not hear their cries. Lowe's parents found one of the babies two days later and alerted police.

Lowe said she still doesn't fully comprehend what happened that night, but said she takes responsibility for her actions.

"I cannot explain why I put my babies in a laundry basket, or what was going through my mind," she said.

At trial, Lowe's attorney said she did not smother the babies and suggested they might have died of hypothermia or suffocated in the toilet while Lowe was passed out after the birth.

Friends and family testified at the hearing that Lowe was a loving friend and daughter who had always been helpful and dependable. Friend Liz Kee, who grew up with Lowe, said she would trust Lowe with her life.

In ordering the maximum sentence on the child abuse charges, Gay said he found Lowe to be untruthful and selfish and called it a tragedy that so many people believe her version of events.

Gay said Lowe's statement in a letter to the judge claiming she did not know she was pregnant was "not credible," and he chided her for writing that the babies' father had date-raped her.

"Just how in the world is that relevant?" he asked. "And is it supposed to devalue the lives of these children?...There are real serious problems in you taking responsibility for what you did."

Gay quoted Focus on the Family founder James Dobson saying, "Our children are the true wealth of any nation" and added that we cannot become "a child-killing society that views children as burdens rather than blessings."

Gay said Lowe's selfishness was reflected in her cheating on her fiance in the affair that led to her pregnancy and her "completely neglecting the work of creation in her body."

He also read off a list of web searches for pornographic websites made on Lowe's computer in the month before she gave birth, suggesting that it showed where her priorities lay.

Despite his admonitions, Gay said he could not sentence Lowe to serve the sentences consecutively because he could not find that she posed a danger to society, one of the necessary legal factors.

Newborn Twin Deaths: Lindsey Lowe Convicted of First Degree Murder For Neonaticide

By Maria Vultaggio

March 20, 2013

A Tennessee jury found 26-year-old Lindsey Lowe guilty Tuesday of first-degree premeditated murder of her newborn twin sons, the Daily Mail reported.

The jurors deliberated for two hours before Lowe was found guilty on two counts each of felony first-degree murder and felony premeditated murder. She was sentenced to two life terms for her crimes.

Police are still trying to identify the father, the Associated Press said, and Lowe never went to a doctor during her pregnancy. When Judge Dee Gay announced Lowe’s bond was revoked and she was to be placed in immediate custody, the woman turned to her hysterical family members and mouthed, “I'll be all right. I love you all,” and was soon taken out of the courtroom, the Daily Mail reported.

Lowe was reportedly emotional throughout the trial, but remained stone-faced when she was convicted of killing her twin boys, after a pregnancy that she kept secret from family and friends.

Jurors were shown a video where Lowe told authorities she had given birth to the twins alone in a bathroom at her parents' house on Sept. 11, 2011. She smothered them soon after.

One baby's body was found two days later in a laundry basket at her parent’s home in Hendersonville, 20 miles northeast of Nashville. Police discovered the second body under a bloody sheet when they arrived at the house to investigate.

Lowe was engaged when she became pregnant but had an affair with another man, jurors were informed.

According to a picture posted by the Daily Mail, Lowe was a bridesmaid in a wedding where she wore a blue strapless dress just one day before giving birth. Her sister, Lacey, testified that she undressed in front of women in the bridal party and no one suspected she was pregnant. When family members noticed Lowe getting larger, they attributed it to her fluctuating weight.

Hendersonville Police Detective Steve Malach testified she hid her pregnancy as to not upset her fiancé and add to the burden of a family member’s illness.

During the interrogation video, Lowe said “maybe” she smothered the babies when she put her hands over their mouths.

“I was just trying to keep them quiet,” she said on the video.

The detective also testified that after police searched the home it was clear she had not made any plans for the children’s birth.

According to the defense, Lowe blocked the pregnancy out her mind and didn’t know she was giving birth until one of the babies dropped into the toilet.

“Lindsey Lowe was pregnant, but she refused to accept it, her mind refused to accept it,” defense attorney John Pellegrin told the jury.

Psychiatrist Dr. William Kenner testified for the defense that Lowe had blocked out her pregnancy and then due to blood loss from giving birth she suffered from shock and delirium.

But Prosecutor Ray Whitley painted a different picture. He countered the defense by presenting evidence of Internet searches on Lowe’s iPhone where she searched for information on how to induce labor and she also reportedly looked for pornography involving pregnant women.

Women with unwanted pregnancies have several options, including a safe haven law that allows for newborns to be dropped off at police stations and hospitals.

Lindsey Lowe jury hears father tell of finding deceased baby

Woman accused of killing twin newborns doesn't take stand; deliberations expected to begin Tuesday

By Tena Lee Gannett - Tennessean.com

March 19, 2013

Lindsey Lowe won’t take the witness stand on her own behalf, jury members learned on Monday — the last day of testimony in the Hendersonville woman’s first-degree murder trial.

While the jury was out of the courtroom, Lowe waived her right to testify, saying she didn’t feel she could emotionally handle it.

Lowe, 26, was tearful but did not exhibit the emotion she had been scolded for showing last week when Criminal Court Judge Dee David Gay told her she was acting like a child and would not be allowed in court if she didn’t get her emotions in check.

The woman is on trial charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of her newborn twins. Prosecutors say Lowe gave birth to the babies in the bathroom in the home she shared with her parents and sister. She is accused of then killing the babies and hiding them in the home.

Lowe’s choice not to speak on her own behalf came after testimony from both her father and sister. The defense wrapped up its case on Monday, and the jury is expected to start deliberations today.

Both Mark and Lacey Lowe said neither suspected Lindsey was pregnant.

Mark Lowe, a manager at an automotive dealership, described his daughter as a model daughter who was involved in a swim team and dance as a young girl, and who attended Goodpasture Christian School and Western Kentucky University, where she majored in interior design.

'Shock' at discovery

“Any parent would be very fortunate to have a daughter like Lindsey,” he said of his older daughter, who grew up attending City Road United Methodist Church, where she still sings in the praise band and choir.

He said the day the babies were discovered, his wife, Paula, found one infant and called him with “some panic in her voice” to come upstairs. He saw the dead infant and was “in shock,” he said. About 15 minutes passed before he did anything, he said, and then he called an attorney friend and then a pastor.

He then called Hendersonville police. He said he asked them to take his daughter, who was at work at the time, to the hospital. He said he also asked for his daughter to be allowed to have an attorney.

The night the twins were born, he and his wife both checked on Lindsey and were told she had a stomach bug and didn’t need their help, Mark Lowe testified.

Lacey Lowe, who is three years younger than her sister, said the two were “like best friends.” During her testimony, several photos taken at a wedding the weekend before were shown on a screen. Lindsey, a bridesmaid in the wedding, was seen dancing in the same dress she had been fitted for six months earlier.

Doctor's rebuttal

In the day’s last testimony, prosecutors called Dr. John Hutson, a forensic psychologist from Cordova, Tenn., to rebut the testimony of two mental health experts previously called by the defense.

Hutson, who interviewed Lowe in November 2012, said he diagnosed Lowe with major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He said the PTSD was caused by the Sept. 12, 2011, incident, not childhood trauma, as the other experts had said.

He also said he didn’t believe Lowe suffered from a dissociative disorder, the previous doctors’ diagnosis. He said if Lowe had been dissociating when she had the babies she would have screamed and asked for help when it was offered. She also wouldn’t have been able to clean up the bathroom or herself, Hutson said.

Earlier in the day, Gay denied a second request by defense attorneys for a mistrial.

John Pellegrin said the defense was being held to a different standard than the one for prosecutors, and that many of his motions had been hurried along. He also said Gay’s reproach of Lowe last week went too far.

Defense Rests Case In Lindsey Lowe Murder Trial

NewsChannel5.com

March 18, 2013

GALLATIN, Tenn. – The defense team in the Lindsey Lowe murder trial rested its case without getting any of its many motions granted. They also decided to keep Lowe off the witness stand, while letting her family serve as character witnesses.

Lowe did take the stand briefly Monday to explain she was waiving her right to testify, and understood what it meant.

"I just don't feel like I can emotionally handle it," Lindsey Lowe said Monday afternoon.

It was the first time anyone had heard Lowe speak outside of her police interview shown to the court last week.

On Monday morning, the jury saw photos of Lowe only days before she gave birth. They also heard testimony from her father and sister.

During questioning of Lindsey Lowe's younger sister, Lacey, the defense presented photos of Lowe that were taken when she was a bridesmaid during a wedding in Lebanon, Kentucky, on September 10, 2011. That was two days before she gave birth to newborn twins inside her parents' Hendersonville home.

Lacey Lowe said Lindsey's weight always fluctuated, and that she did not think anything about it when Lindsey started gaining weight.

Lacey Lowe testified that her sister changed clothes in front of other women at the wedding, and no one ever suspected she was pregnant. She said she found out about her sister's pregnancy from a police chaplain.

Lacey also said Lindsey told her she had an upset stomach the morning after she gave birth.

Judge Dee Gay also ruled against another mistrial motion filed by the defense, and also ruled against allowing jail phone calls between Lowe and her family in the days after her arrest. The defense wanted them to be allowed to show her mental state after her arrest.

Earlier, Lindsey Lowe's father, Mark, testified that "any parent would be fortunate to have a daughter like Lindsey." He also said he was in such shock after finding a dead baby inside his home that he waited 15 minutes to call for help.

He first gave some background on Lindsey, saying she shares a birthday with her younger sister, who is 23. He said she graduated from Western Kentucky University with a degree in interior design, but moved back home and got a job at a dental office because she couldn't find a job in her field. She was a member of Alpha Delta Pi at WKU, as a legacy to her mother at Middle Tennessee State University.

Mark Lowe also said Lindsey met her former fiance, Jonathan Brooks, at WKU, saying they grew apart during their years long engagement. He also said he had no idea she had an affair with Jeremy Smith, the father of the twins, but called his daughter and Brooks' relationship "dysfunctional."

He also corroborated an earlier statement by the defense that Lowe had shared a bed with a sorority sister the night before she delivered, and that no one knew she was pregnant.

Mark Lowe went on to say that Lowe slept on an upstairs den couch, instead of her bedroom, the day following the delivery of the twins, saying she was ill.

He said he and his wife were in shock when they found the body of one of the babies inside a laundry basket on September 14, 2011. He said he called a family friend, a pastor, before calling police. When he did call police, he recalled "finding newborn that didn't appear to survive birth."

Mark Lowe said that he asked for daughter to be taken to the hospital before questioning, and to have a lawyer present when she talked to police, but he claims he was told no.

His 26-year-old daughter, Lindsey Lowe, is being tried in Gallatin on two counts of premeditated murder.

Prosecutors have said that she told police that she smothered the twins so her parents would not hear their cries.

On Friday, testimony for the day ended early after Judge Dee Gay revealed that Lowe's defense attorney John Pellegrin had a death in the family.

Last week, prosecutors showed pictures of Lowe's home after the babies were discovered. Details of the autopsies of her babies were also released, which the Medical Examiner said were both healthy and alive when they were born.

On Thursday and Friday, Lowe's defense tried to show the jury that she was in such bad shape after giving birth that there was no way she could have premeditated their murder.

The defense had two different doctors testify. They told the jury that Lowe suffers from major depression and other mental issues which prevented her from fully understanding what was going on during and after her pregnancy.

They said she is a sweet, loving person incapable of intentionally killing her own children. But prosecutors jumped very quickly on this one to prove otherwise, and they revealed Google searches found on Lowe's iPhone were for topics such as "how to make yourself go into labor", "free videos of pregnant sex" and more.

Jurors were ordered to avoid all news coverage of the trial during the weekend. They also weren't supposed to watch TV crime shows.

Lowe told police that she gave birth to the twins in the toilet of the bathroom she shared with her sister at their parents' Hendersonville home on September 12, 2011.

During an interview with police two days after the birth that was earlier shown to jurors, she said she suffocated the babies after their birth and put them in a laundry basket next to her bed. Her mother found one of the babies two days later, and her father called police.

Last Monday, a jury of seven men and five women was seated. Three male alternates are also listened to arguments.

Jurors are not sequestered, meaning they are able to go home every night, as long as they abide by the rules. The trial will not continue on the weekend.

Online Extra: Woman accused of killing newborns won’t testify

ColumbiaDailyHerald.com

March 18, 2013

GALLATIN — A woman accused of killing her newborn twins told a court on Monday that she was waiving her right to appear as a witness in her own defense, because she could not handle taking the stand and testifying before a jury.

Lindsey Lowe waived those rights while under oath and on the witness stand, but out of the presence of the jury. Her lawyer asked her if she understood what she was doing and then asked her why.

“I just don’t feel like I can emotionally handle it,” she said, while fighting back tears.

The 26-year-old is accused of smothering her twin boys after giving birth in the bathroom in the family’s upper-middle-class neighborhood home on the night of Sept. 12, 2011. The Lowe home is in Hendersonville, about 20 miles northeast of Nashville.

She is charged with premeditated murder, felony murder and aggravated child abuse for each child in the trial that began last week.

Jurors are expected to hear closing arguments on Tuesday and could begin deliberating then.

Earlier in the day Lowe’s father took the stand and testified that he was he was so stunned when he saw a dead baby inside his home that that he just froze.

“I was pretty much in shock,” Mark Lowe told the jury. “It was probably 15 minutes before I did anything.”

The father said nobody in the family had any idea that his daughter was pregnant and that he was completely unaware that she had given birth to the twin boys in a bathroom in his home.

He described his daughter, who attended Goodpasture Christian School and later received a college degree from Western Kentucky University, as a good girl who never gave her parents trouble.

Lowe’s mother discovered one of the twin boys inside a laundry basket on Sept. 14 and called for her husband. Marke Lowe said he called a family friend, a pastor and then police.

Prosecutors have said that Lindsey Lowe told police that she smothered the twins so her parents would not hear their cries. Her defense has said that is an idea that was planted by police because Lindsey Lowe was in no position to being interrogated after giving birth to the twins with no medical help.

Lindsey Lowe was engaged at the time, but the father of the twins was another man. The prosecution has argued that the babies would interfere with her plans to marry her fiancé.

Her lawyers have said that Lindsey Lowe wanted to block out the idea of being pregnant, and said she didn’t even know she was giving birth until one of the babies came out in the toilet.

Jurors on Monday were shown pictures of Lindsey Lowe at a wedding days before she gave birth. Lacey Lowe, the defendant’s sister, testified that Lindsey Lowe, who was a bridesmaid, undressed in front of other women in the wedding party and she didn’t appear to be pregnant.

Before wrapping up, the defense accused Sumner County Criminal Court Judge Dee David Gay of being biased against Lindsey Lowe and asked him to declare a mistrial. Defense attorney John Pellegrin told the judge that he was hurrying the defense and claimed the judge showed bias when last week he told his client that he would not have her sitting there “acting like a child” after the woman became upset in court.

Courtroom proceedings ended on testimony from a Cordova psychologist who was called by Sumner County District Attorney General Ray Whitley as a rebuttal witness. Psychologist John Robert Hutson testified that Lindsey Lowe was suffering from severe depression at the time that she gave birth, but he felt like she could form the intent to commit premeditated murder. Hutson said Lowe suffered from severe depression when the twins were born and he was afraid she might hurt herself a year after giving birth. He said the woman’s depression dated back to after her mother was diagnosed with brain cancer.

His testimony contradicted a defense psychiatrist who told the jury that Lindsey Lowe lacked the mental capacity to commit of premeditated murder. Hutson also disagreed that Lindsey Lowe suffered from a dissociative disorder.

Police say Lindsey Lowe told them about second baby

Woman charged in death of her newborn twin boys

By Tena Lee Gannett - Tennessean.com

March 13, 2013

GALLATIN — A Hendersonville police officer was overcome with emotion Tuesday as he testified about finding a dead baby under bloody towels in the home of a 25-year-old woman charged with killing her newborn twins.

Prosecutors say Lindsey Lowe had an affair with someone other than her fiance and planned the deaths of her children so no one would find out.

In his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Ron Blanton told a Sumner County jury that there were no diapers, formula or any preparations for a baby’s arrival. He said no one knew Lowe was pregnant, including her parents and a sister who also lived at home.

Lowe, now 26, has pleaded not guilty to two first-degree murder charges, two charges of felony murder and two charges of aggravated child abuse.

John Pellegrin, one of Lowe’s defense attorneys, said Lowe grew up in a close and loving family that was active in City Road United Methodist Church in Madison.

He said Lowe suffered from a “dissociative state of mind.” He said she was a bridesmaid in a wedding the previous weekend.

“She was pregnant but she refused to accept it,” he said. “She literally pushed it out of her mind.”

Pellegrin described Lowe giving birth on a toilet in the home she shared with her parents and said her memory of the events is “sketchy.”

He said that while she was giving birth, she thought “some internal organ” had come out. “She doesn’t know what’s happening.”

Pellegrin said she put the babies in a laundry basket next to her bed. He did not offer a theory as to how they died.

Officers testify

After opening statements, several Hendersonville police officers testified, including Master Patrol Officer Jeremy Fentress, who retrieved the infants.

Fentress became emotional on the stand, pausing before telling how he pulled back a plaid sheet, and then bloody towels, to discover the first infant.

Officer James Garrett later testified that officers didn’t know until after Lowe was interviewed by Detective Steve Malach that there were two babies in the basket. He told how he and Fentress pulled out the first baby to find it still connected by an umbilical cord to a second infant at the bottom of the basket. Garrett said the second baby was cool to the touch. He said he placed the babies back in the basket next to each other.

Lowe did not turn to watch a screen that projected photos of the ashen bodies of the dead infants.

She cried when prosecutors played a tape of her father calling police on the morning the babies were found.

Detective surprised

Malach, the lead investigator on the case, gave the day’s last testimony.

He said that after hearing of the death of an infant, he went to the pediatric dentist’s office where Lowe worked to talk with her. He said her mood changed from jovial to serious when he told her he “found the laundry basket.”

“My mission was to sit down and talk with Lindsey Lowe and find out what happened,” he said.

He said he drove Lowe to the Hendersonville police station and they talked about her wanting to start an interior design business.

Once at the police station, Malach said Lowe told him she knew from the beginning that she was pregnant and that she had been engaged to a man named Jonathan Brooks for about three years. She told him she had twice had an affair with a man named Jeremy Smith. Malach said Lowe told him that no one knew about the pregnancy and that she didn’t want to disappoint Brooks or her parents.

“As I was talking to her, she corrects me and she said there were two babies,” Malach said. “I had no clue.”

Malach then relayed that information to his superior officer. “I knew I needed to get out of that room and make sure that second baby wasn’t still alive.”

Malach then detailed how Lowe told him she had killed the infants by placing her hand over each of their mouths until each baby stopped crying.

Jurors are expected to hear Lowe’s videotaped confession today.

Trial Under Way For Woman Accused Of Killing Newborn Twins

NewsChannel5.com

March 12, 2013

GALLATIN, Tenn. - The high-profile trial of a Hendersonville woman accused of smothering her newborn twins is under way, and both sides agree that the defendant made no preparations for the babies' births.

Lindsay Lowe has been charged with two counts of premeditated murder, two counts of felony murder, and two counts of aggravated child abuse.

In court on Tuesday, attorneys described how the 26-year-old sought no prenatal care and bought no diapers or other supplies before giving birth to the boys at home on September 12, 2011.

Prosecutors suggested in their opening statements that Lowe's lack of preparations showed she never intended for the babies to live. District Attorney Ray Whitley said she cleaned up bathroom where she delivered because she shared it with her sister.

Lowe's defense attorney John Pellegrin said in his opening statement that the case is more than a case about an "evil mother." Lowe cried while Pellegrin painted her as a "good girl" who met her fiance at Western Kentucky, and was never in trouble.

But defense attorneys argued that Lowe had blocked the pregnancy from her mind, saying she didn't even know what was happening when she started to give birth.

Attorney John Pellegrin said Lowe thought "an organ" was coming out of her when she gave birth to the first baby on the toilet, and felt a baby's head and ear coming out. He said Lowe did not understand what was going on even when she gave birth to the second twin. She later put the two deceased babies in a laundry basket next to her bed. Her mother found one of the babies in a laundry basket when Lowe went to work, and her father called 911.

She was a bridesmaid in a wedding in Kentucky just days before giving birth, and did not understand why she started lactating.

Lowe told police she smothered the babies after they were born, but defense attorneys suggested that idea was planted by police.

The first witness called to the stand by the prosecution was the 911 dispatcher who took the call from Lowe's father. Lowe sobbed while they played the call for the court.

After a short sidebar, the prosecution then called the first officer who responded to the home following the 911 call. The state brought out a diagram of the Lowe family home to help demonstrate what was found at the home. The officer teared up when he recalled seeing Baby Boy Lowe #1 deceased.

He testified that the white laundry basket where the twins were found was to the right of Lowe's bed, beneath her bedroom window.

He added that officers on scene as well as Lowe's parents had no idea there was a second baby in the laundry basket until the detective who interviewed Lowe called and told them.

The prosecution showed pictures of the bathroom where the babies were born, as well of pictures of the babies after they were found in the laundry basket.

Detective Sgt. Jim Vaughn, testified that both babies were left in the basket, which was taken away from the Lowe home in an ambulance.

Prosecutors will likely argue that Lowe killed the infants, in part, to conceal an affair that led to her pregnancy. At the time she was engaged to John Brooks, but DNA on the infants found he was not the father.

Defense attorneys have argued that Lowe was mentally ill.

Prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty.

Last week, a judge again ruled Lowe's confession admissible along with text messages between her and Jeffrey Smith, the babies' father.

Smith, who lives in Kentucky, spoke to NewsChannel 5 by phone recently. He has been subpoenaed to testify on behalf of the prosecution at the upcoming trial. Smith told NewsChannel 5 that he did not know Lowe was pregnant, and that he will explain at the trial how he met Lowe. He also said he is actually a twin, and initially did not believe detectives when they called to tell him about the twins.

Lowe was released on bond shortly after her arrest in 2011.

On Monday, a jury of seven men and five women was seated. Three male alternates will also listen to arguments.

Jurors will not be sequestered, meaning they can go home every night, as long as they abide by the rules. The trial will take about five days now that the jury is seated. The trial will only go to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

NewsChannel 5 Obtains Copy Of Lindsey Lowe's Entire Confession

By Nick Beres - NewsChannel5.com

February 28, 2013

GALLATIN, Tenn. – How and why would a mother kill her own newborn twins? In this exclusive report we hear from Lindsey Lowe in her own words.

Police said Lowe confessed on videotape to smothering her twin newborns in the bathroom of her family's Hendersonville home just moments after they were born.

She pleaded not guilty, but police said she confessed. NewsChannel 5 reporter Nick Beres obtained an exclusive copy of Lowe's entire statement.

It has been a crucial piece of the prosecution's case, and it's what Lowes' attorneys have tried, unsuccessfully, in recent days to get excluded from her murder trial.

The confession revealed details that officials said were intimate and chilling.

Police questioned Lowe after the discovery of the dead infants:

Detective: We're going to talk freely, all right? And we're going to try to make heads or tails of what's going on in a bad situation. How long did you know you were pregnant?

Lowe: Probably almost the whole time.

Detective: Okay. Did you go to a doctor at all?

Lowe: No.

Detectives asked Lowe why she didn't tell her fiancé Jonathan Brooks about the pregnancy. She admitted to cheating on him with another man who turned out to be the father.

Lowe: I really didn't tell anybody. My family is very conservative Christian people and I was just very -- I don't know. I just didn't want to disappoint anybody.

The detective asked about how she gave birth in a bathroom at home.

Lowe: I didn't know what to do. I was -- I guess I went into shock. I was scared.

Detective: I mean, you had to have -- the baby had to come out. How did that happen?

Lowe: Just came out.

Detective: Where did it land?

Lowe: In the toilet. I just didn't know what to do.

Detective: So you wrapped them in a towel and you did what?

Lowe: I just put them in that basket. I didn't know what to do.

Detective: What was your plan?

Lowe: I don't know. I don't know.

The detective then pressed Lowe on what she did to the babies.

Lowe: I guess... I don't want to call it smother. I was just trying to like keep them quiet.

Detective: How were you doing that?

Lowe: Just put my hand down there over the mouth.

Detective: I know. I know. It's okay. You knew it couldn't breathe, right?

Lowe: Nods head.

Detective: Essentially you know you killed the baby.

Lowe: Nods head.

Detective: You didn't want to.

Lowe: Nods head.

Detective: But you did?

Lowe: Yeah.

Detective: They were clearly alive and then you clearly killed them. Is that correct?

Lowe: Yes sir.

The prosecution has said they will argue Lowe's statement confirms she committed first degree murder. Legal analysts said they expect the defense may argue Lowe panicked and didn't mean to kill the infants.

Lindsey Lowe's trial has been scheduled to begin on March 11. You can watch gavel-to-gavel coverage on television on NewsChannel5+, online at NewsChannel5.com and over a mobile device on our NewsChannel5 Mobile apps and mobile site.

The district attorney announced in November that they would not seek the death penalty. Each count of murder carries the possibility of a life sentence.

Police: Mother Admitted To Killing Twin Newborn Boys

By Kim Gebbia - NewsChannel5.com

September 15, 2011

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. – Police said a Hendersonville mother has admitted to killing her twin newborn boys by suffocating them after they were born at her home so her parents wouldn't hear them crying.

According to the court affidavit, 25-year-old Lindsey Lowe knew she was pregnant when she gave birth to the full term baby boys. She said she told no one about the pregnancy and never saw a doctor.

Lowe was a graduate from Western Kentucky University, a dental office employee and this past weekend, a bridesmaid in a sorority sister's wedding.

Her coworkers at a Nashville dentist office didn't even know she was pregnant.

"So many lives are ruined, it's a tragedy for everybody," said co-worker Susan Harris.

They said they are shocked and saddened by the news and the disturbing details revealed in a confession to police.

"We are all shocked and saddened and pray for her and her family," said another co-worker Michelle Stainback.

On Monday around 10:30 p.m. Lowe told police she gave birth to a baby in the toilet. When the baby started to cry, Lowe was apparently concerned her parents would hear.

Lowe admitted to police she held her hand over the baby's mouth to keep it from crying – and kept her hand in place for several minutes until the baby was dead.

Minutes later the second baby was born in the same way. When it was delivered, Lowe told police both babies were together in the toilet.

The affidavit said Lowe told police the second child was crying, but not as loud. She said she put her hand over the baby's mouth like the other and waited for the child to die. Lowe told police the second baby died quicker than the first.

Lowe then told police she placed both dead babies in a laundry basket and covered them with towels to keep them from being discovered.

Her father, Mark Lowe, found one of the babies in the laundry basket on Wednesday and called police. The second baby was later found.

Officials arrested the woman at her place of work. They said during an interview with police, Lindsey Lowe admitted to killing the babies by suffocating them.

Lowe was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. She was being held without bond and undergoing a medical evaluation.

"This brings us down to that question that everyone is asking, why? And I can't give you the answer for," said Lt. Scott Ryan with Hendersonville Police.

While that is still unclear, Lowe's had an outpouring of support on her Facebook page. Others used it as a podium for their anger at the death of two innocent babies.

Something that is difficult for most to understand.

"I have tried to put myself in that position over and over last night and you know don't know what they are thinking, what they are going through. But if there is anyone out there going through this you hope that they would reach out to someone," Harris said.

Investigators said the babies both appeared to be full term and weighed about 5 to 6 pounds each. Their bodies were taken to the state medical examiner's office in Nashville for autopsies.

Friends tell us Lowe has been engaged to her college boyfriend since 2008. Police were working to determine the identity of the father and conducting paternity tests.

Lowe has her first bond hearing Monday morning, and her first court hearing is scheduled for September 28.