Heather and Loelei Sims.Photo: FindAGrave (2)
An Illinois woman serving life in prison for the murders of her two infant daughters has been paroled 32 years after her conviction.
On Thursday, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board voted 12-1 to approve the parole of Paula Sims, according tothe Associated Press. Sims has been serving a life sentence for the 1986 and 1989 murders of her then-infant daughters Heather and Loralei Sims.
She was released from Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Ill., last Friday afternoon,KSDK reports.
Speaking to theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sims' longtime attorney Jed Stone described the 62-year-old as “not a violent person.”
“She’s not an evil person. She’s a person who suffered from a mental illness. And that mental illness is gone,” Stone said.
In 2019, Simsunsuccessfully sought a retrial, claiming she suffered from postpartum psychosis, a rare perinatal mood and anxiety disorder that “occurs in approximately 1 to 2 out of every 1,000 deliveries,“Postpartum Support International’s websitestates.
“The onset is usually sudden, most often within the first 2 weeks postpartum,” according to the nonprofit. “Of the women who develop a postpartum psychosis, research has suggested that there is approximately a 5% suicide rate and a 4% infanticide rate associated with the illness. This is because the woman experiencing psychosis is experiencing a break from reality.”
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Heather’s body was found in a park’s garbage can. Investigators learned later that Sims kept the body in a freezer for several days before disposing of it.
AP Photo/Edwardsville Intelligencer, Jeremy Paschall; llinois Department of Corrections/AP/Shutterstock.
Since her conviction, Sims has confessed to both killings. Sims has a third child, a son, who was never harmed.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go tosuicidepreventionlifeline.org.
source: people.com
