Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 15, 1990 TAG: 9004150130
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FORT MYERS, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
Police were sending out their own pictures, a composite sketch of the woman they believed shot a 33-year-old mother in the back of the head and fled with her newborn daughter.
This week, state prosecutors are expected to seek a first-degree murder and kidnapping indictment Kirk against Kirk - known as "Sweetheart" the clown - who concealed her latest miscarriage for months and may have combed birth announcements looking for a baby to snatch.
"In my right mind, I would have never expected anything like this," said Kirk's husband, Craig, who has not been charged. "I feel like it's the crime of the century."
Betty Ann Kirk, 31, is just the latest of dozens of women who have suffered miscarriages and then were arrested on charges of kidnapping a baby.
A bloodhound was used in February to track down a New York City woman who police say was depressed over a miscarriage and took a 3-day-old boy from a hospital maternity ward. In May 1988, a Maryland jury convicted a woman of smuggling a 3-week-old boy from a hospital in a canvas bag. She kept the baby four months.
Kirk lives in North Fort Myers, a 20-mile drive from Sharon Lynn Parker's ranch-style home on a dead-end street in Lehigh Acres.
Parker gave birth to a 7-pound girl March 19 and took out announcements in local newspapers. Several months earlier, she and Kirk had first met at a shopping mall where Kirk appeared as a clown and painted circus faces on Parker's 5-year-old twins. Both women were pregnant at the time.
A neighbor walking her dog March 29 noticed a dark-haired woman pull into Parker's driveway and knock on the front door shortly before 10 a.m., according to a police affidavit. The neighbor kept walking.
About six hours later, Parker's three older children returned from school and found their mother's body slumped in a reclining chair. Their infant sister, Julie Lynn, was missing.
Soon, Lee County sheriff deputies were receiving reports from people who were suspicious of the sudden appearance of Kirk's baby, even though for months she had boasted of her pregnancy. Kirk even shaved the baby's dark hair to effect the look of a newborn.
The day after the slaying, police questioned Kirk, who insisted she had given birth at a Fort Myers clinic and gone home several hours later. Her husband appeared bewildered by the suddenness of the delivery, but said he believed his wife's story and thought the baby was his, according to police reports.
The clinic had no record of a baby girl being born that day, police said.
Later that night, Betty Ann Kirk was stopped driving away from her home, a worn trailer. Her husband asleep, Kirk had sneaked out, leaving behind the baby and a note to her husband.
"I left you some signed checks," it read in part. "I'm leaving you because I love you too much."
Less than 48 hours after the shooting, the baby girl was returned to her father, Gary, who wept at a news conference.
"It was a well-thought-out, well-calculated murder and kidnapping," said Lee County Sheriff John McDougall.
In addition to first-degree murder, Kirk was charged with kidnapping and a felony weapons count. She could receive the death penalty if convicted.
Craig Kirk believes his wife was frustrated over their inability to have children since their 1983 marriage.
He said she had four miscarriages, including the one in December. But this time, she retained a large belly and told no one she lost the fetus, including him, he said.
"She was knitting booties and sweaters and hats and all kinds of stuff," Kirk said.
She had two children from a former marriage who lived with her and her husband. A third child had been taken away by state welfare workers and given up for adoption after her first husband was convicted of aggravated child abuse.
Kirk had helped her daughter sell Girl Scout cookies and once crafted a handmade Halloween costume for a neighbor's girl.
"She always wanted to be around children," her husband said.
by CNB