Florida

Christine Falling

Basic Facts

Full Name: Christine Laverne Falling (born Christine Laverne Slaughter)

Lived: March 12th, 1963 – Present day.

Date Apprehended: July 1982

Victims: 6

Criminal Penalty: Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

Christine Falling was one of the youngest female serial killers in U.S. history. She was described as being ‘not bright, nor clever and not pretty’. However, she still got away with murder several times over.

She was the youngest in what was described as an unusual family. Her father was 65-years-old at the time and her mother was only 16. Falling’s family were very poor and because of this, she did not receive the necessary childhood support she needed in her early life. She was considered to be “mentally retarded” due to her lack of support and education and also suffered from epilepsy. When her parents could no longer afford to support her, she spent parts of her childhood in various orphanages. When she stayed in these orphanages, she was known to kill small animals, particularly cats. When asked about it, Falling said it was to test out the theory they had nine-lives so she would cause the animals to fall from big heights.

At just 14-years-old, in 1977, Falling was forced by her parents to marry a 20-year-old man named Goober Falling – where she got her name from. But the marriage only lasted 6 weeks due to daily arguments and altercations ultimately ending in divorce. However, other reports suggest she was adopted by a family named ‘Falling’ and took their name. After this, Falling became seriously ill. In the next 2 years it was said she was hospitalised over 50 times, suffering from hallucinations, menstrual bleeding at irregular levels and complained of ‘red dots’ that appeared before her eyes. At the age of 16, Falling was diagnosed as incapacitated on medical instructions.

After she had recovered, Falling decided she needed to start earning money so began working as a babysitter for her neighbours, family and friends. On February 25th, 1980 a 2-year-old was sent to the doctor’s office and was diagnosed with meningitis caused by traumatic brain injuries. Falling, who had been babysitting the child, said that the girl had fallen out of her crib. The 2-year-old later died from internal injuries. The attending physician who diagnosed the child did not believe Falling and recommended that the police check on her. The physician wrote this concern in a notebook to the police, but it ended up being lost on its way to the police department so Falling was never investigated.

Shortly after the death of the 2-year-old, Falling moved from Perry to Lakeland, Florida. Here she continued to babysit and two months later, a 4-year-old boy died in her care. The autopsy concluded that myocarditis [myocarditis – inflammation of the heart] was the cause of death. However, they doubted whether this alone caused the boy’s death, but nothing came of it. Three days later, the boy’s funeral took place and Falling was asked to babysit his cousin, another 2-year-old. The boy died that day, doctors diagnosing a viral infection.

In July, Falling left Lakeland and returned to Perry in Northern Florida, her hometown. She could no longer find babysitting work so began working as a nursing assistant. A 77-year-old died in his kitchen the same day that Falling began caring for him. That same year, Falling’s half-sister lost her 8-month old baby to the hands of Falling too. Falling had gone with her niece and half-sister to get the 8-month old's vaccinations. On the way home, Falling’s half-sister had to run into the supermarket. She left her daughter in the car with Falling and when she returned, Falling informed her she had stopped breathing. Doctors suspected Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

On July 2nd, 1982 Falling would murder for the last time. A 10-week old boy died in her care and at the autopsy, the doctors found internal injuries that would have been caused by strangulation alone.

Falling confessed to killing the 5 children, she was afraid of getting the death penalty so excepted a plea deal. She explained on tape why and how she killed each of the children, confessing to murdering 3 of them just because she heard voices in her head telling her to “kill the baby”. She admitted to suffocating the children with pillows and blankets saying, “the way I done it, I seen it done on TV show, I had my own way, though. Simple and easy. No one would hear them scream”.

Falling was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years before the chance of parole for 3 of the murders. Her application for parole was rejected though she will be given another hearing in 2024.