An Idaho mother charged with murdering her 18-month-old twins insists routine vaccinations caused their deaths, while prosecutors say she suffocated the children.
Murder charges
A grand jury indicted 23-year-old Andrea Shaw on two counts of first-degree murder, accusing her of killing her 18-month-old twins, a boy and a girl, through premeditation or during aggravated battery.
After a year-long investigation, prosecutors allege Shaw suffocated the children.
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Shaw plans to plead not guilty. Her attorney, Joseph Filicetti, told ABC News, “Mrs. Shaw absolutely denies doing anything even imaginably bad.”
Shaw’s explanation
Shaw disputes that account.
She says the twins died because of reactions to vaccinations they received eight days earlier.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Shaw said she found Dallas and Tyson cold and unresponsive while sleeping in the same bed.
Lawsuit and defense
Shaw is also a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the anti-vaccine nonprofit Children’s Health Defense against the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The suit alleges the twins suffered severe reactions after receiving hepatitis A, influenza and DTaP vaccinations. It accuses the AAP of misleading the public about vaccine safety.
Children’s Health Defense was founded by current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who left the organization in 2024 after being nominated to lead HHS.
Filicetti told the Journal he intends to use those vaccine claims as Shaw’s defense.
“Our explanation would be the vaccines, and that’s what our experts are going to testify to,” he said.
According to the lawsuit, the twins received hepatitis A, influenza and DTaP vaccinations at a routine wellness visit in April 2025. Shaw alleges they developed symptoms the next day, including blue lips, lethargy, diarrhea and sunken eyes, and that an emergency room physician diagnosed them with a post-immunization reaction.
She says she found the children unresponsive several days later.
The lawsuit also claims Shaw warned her children’s pediatrician about a family history of adverse reactions to the flu vaccine.
Medical experts disagree
Medical experts reject that explanation.
Dr. Daniel Sutton, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the Journal that no childhood vaccine has been shown to cause suffocation.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed.
CEO Mark Del Monte said Children’s Health Defense is targeting pediatricians and the AAP for relying on scientific evidence, saying the lawsuit’s claims “have no grounding in reality.”
What’s next
Shaw remains jailed in Idaho on two counts of first-degree murder.
The Payette Police Department described the arrest as “a lengthy and thorough investigation.”
Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 14, when her attorney says he plans to seek bail.
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