Anna Hlatky: The Monessen Twin Killings
Background
Anna Hlatky was a 36-year-old mother living with her husband and children in Monessen, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In 1928, investigators discovered that four newborn infants had been killed and secretly buried behind the Hlatky family home. The victims were two sets of twins born during separate pregnancies in 1927 and 1928.
Hlatky is sometimes described as a serial killer because the deaths occurred in two separate incidents over more than a year. However, contemporary court records reported that she was ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter rather than murder. The surviving records are limited, and the names and sexes of the four infants were not published.
The First Twin Killings
Hlatky gave birth to her first set of twins at home during July 1927. The exact day of their birth and death could not be established. In a confession later introduced in court, Hlatky stated that the twins were born in the morning, approximately half an hour apart. At least one of the babies was alive after birth because she heard the infant crying.
According to her confession, Hlatky deliberately kept the newborns beneath the bedcovers so that they could not breathe. She left their bodies on the bed before wrapping them in old sweaters and a blanket. The bundle was then placed inside a household boiler and hidden in a bedroom cupboard.
After an odor developed, Hlatky instructed her daughter Margaret to dig a hole in the backyard. Margaret reportedly did not know what the bundle contained. Hlatky told her to bury it and pour disinfectant over the ground to hide the smell. She gave the girl a nickel for completing the task.
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