DEATH PENALTY Twist for Mom Who Blamed Vaccines for Twins’ Deaths

A young mom claims that her children died from vaccine complications. She even went on a podcast alleging that story. But prosecutors are alleging something else. They say that is a lie that covers up the dark reality of what allegedly happened in her home in Idaho back in 2025. The mom we're talking about, Andrea Shaw, is accused of suffocating her children to death. There are two counts. Each of those counts alleges that you committed a crime of first-degree murder. Now prosecutors have made a major decision as her case moves forward. Why her lawyers, though, are still claiming that authorities got it wrong and that her children truly lost their lives after they were given routine medication. We're on the case presented by Law & Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. Well, as we're in fall, it is the time of year that a lot of people start thinking about getting a flu shot. And the flu shot is one of the shots that Andrea Shaw says that her 18-month-old twins received that caused their deaths. And so far, the attorneys for this Idaho mom have said they're not going to take a plea deal in this case because they feel strongly that their client is innocent. Now, prosecutors obviously feel the other way. They believe she is a cold-blooded killer. And now they say they're going for the death penalty in this case. If you pled guilty or were convicted of first-degree murder, the maximum penalty could be up to life in prison. This is what was said back in July in court when Andrea Shaw made an appearance. She was indicted in July and she was arrested in July. And this case is now going to an entirely new level. Now, I'm going to read for you the document that we have in. It has some chilling words. That prosecutors lay out as to why they believe that this case is not just a murder case, but it's a murder case that should end in the death penalty. And I'll get more to that in just a moment. But I want to talk about Andrea Shaw, who's the mom at the center of this story. She's 23 years old and she lived in Payette County, Idaho. We're talking about a rural community outside of Boise. It's not far from the Washington state border. And in Payette County, she lived in a mobile home with her husband, Nathaniel, and their two children. A boy and a girl. They were just 18 months old when they died. And at the time of her arrest, Andrea Shaw had given birth to a third child. And that child now reportedly is being taken care of by her husband as she's incarcerated. Now, Shaw was arrested in July of this year. But this story goes back to May 2025. That's when officers say they responded to her mobile home for a report of a possible dead child. And her attorney says that she's the one who called 911. And when police got to the mobile home, they found the bodies of Shaw's 18-month-old twins. This is a line from the indictment. Andrea Renee Shaw, on or about May 1st, 2025, did willfully, unlawfully, deliberately, and with premeditation and with malice of forethought, and or in the perpetration of an aggravated battery on a child under the age of 12 years old, did kill and murder the child, D.S., by the act of suffocating her, which resulted in her death. Now, it took police more than a year. To arrest Shaw. And during that time, she went public with what she says happened to her children. Because she says she did not suffocate these kids. She claims they died because they had complications after they were given vaccines. So, Shaw appeared on an internet podcast, Children's Health Defense TV. This was a group that was founded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been critical of vaccines. To say the least. Now, the title of the show that she was on with her husband was, quote, Breaking Toddler Twins Born Together, Died Together Following Vaccinations. And Shaw reportedly said on that show, quote, They had got their shots at the same time by two nurses at the same time, and they got sick. She said that the shots the children received were hepatitis A, influenza, and DTaP. In that interview, her husband, Nathaniel, said, quote, They constantly were trying to pin me and Andrea against each other, trying to get us to say, well, I think she did it, or I think he did it. Adding, quote, It was just straight to interrogation. We know one of you guys did it without having any proof, without even having an autopsy done, and they were just very adamant that we had done it. Andrea said, quote, They said that it wasn't medical and that they figured asphyxiation and that I had supposedly had a postpartum. Postpartum overwhelming blackout and done it to my children. It made me feel crazy. Now, from the defense's point of view, the vaccine argument is not just a cover story. They firmly believe that vaccines and complications from vaccines are the truth of what happened to these two children. And we're going to talk a little bit more about this here in just a moment. It's obviously an issue that gets incredibly political. And. I want you to listen to what the defense attorney for Andrea Shaw had to say. He claims that Andrea was pro vaccine before all of this happened. And he firmly believes that that is the truth, that the complications are the reason that these two 18 month old kids lost their lives. This is what he told East Idaho News in the wake of Shaw's indictment over the summer. We know that they're having a vaccine reaction. Medically, we know that. Not a question about it. We know that they're having a vaccine reaction over the summer. And then throughout the rest of the week, the medical records will show how the kids did. And then they started to have an upturn the night before they died. And then in the morning, her husband had gone to work early. She woke up. She listened for the kids. They had been so sick the last week. She was glad that they were sleeping in and she got a bunch of housework done. And then by, I think, 11 o'clock, when she went to wake them up, she realized that rigor mortis had set in. They were cold. They were stiff. And she started working on. The son. And then she's called the police, called an ambulance, and then started looking at the daughter and she was dead. And at that point, they came to her and pulled her out of the house. So I'm going to have Nate Eaton from East Idaho News. He did that interview has been covering this story from just the beginning. He's going to be here in a moment to talk about the new developments in this case, which is the fact that prosecutors are very confident in their case, that they believe that Andrea Shaw is a killer. And they want to go for the death penalty in this case. That's what they're going to do. And we have. A document with that announcement. And I want to read for you the criteria they say as to why this is a death penalty case. Prosecutors write quote at the time, the murder was committed by the defendant also committed another murder. The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity by the murder or circumstances surrounding its commission. The defendant exhibited utter disregard for human life. The defendant by her. Conduct, whether such conduct was before, during, or after the commission of the murder at hand has exhibited a propensity to commit murder, which will probably constitute a continuing threat to society. Nate Eaton, news director for East Idaho News is with us now. I know you've covered this story really from the beginning. What do you remember about when you first started covering like Andrea Shaw and what this story is all about? I remember actually. We got a news release. It was in the evening from the sheriff's office saying that two, they were investigating the death of two twins, which of course is very unusual. Infant toddler twins, not infant, but 18 months old. And, and, you know, if they had been younger, you might think that maybe SIDS was involved, but to have both kids die of SIDS was a little unusual, very unusual. And then the case went quiet. I mean, we got the word, nobody was charged. Uh, the investigation. The investigation was happening. And honestly, I think many of us kind of forgot about the case because, you know, news happens and you move on to the next story. And then a few months ago when they announced that they were charging her with murder, that's when I think, you know, everybody was, was a little, uh, maybe surprised is the word because it had taken a while for those charges to come out. And also the fact that they were accusing the mother of doing this. Yeah. And, um, we'll talk about, you know, your conversation with her defense in just a moment, but what do you make of that? What do you make of that timeline, um, from when these children passed away to when the point that she was actually charged? Well, I think that so many times investigators want to be thorough. You can't rush it, but we see in other cases, there's, there can be an arrest within a day or two or even hours. I get when, when the scene doesn't have any like visible blood or any, uh, you know, signed of signs of forced entry or anything, plus you've only got four people in the house that we know of the mom, the dad, and the two babies. happens in the middle of the night. It's not really security cameras or anything like that. So it may have been one of those things that they were just waiting on autopsy results, pathology reports, those type of things. And that's what it sounds like it was, the fact that these kids were suffocated according to the authorities. But then it was how did they do it? How did these kids die? How were they suffocated? Again, you've only got the mom and the dad in the house and they've cleared the father to this point. So then it's interviews. So I guess, you know, I think some people were wondering what was taking so long, but now that it's is finally here there there might be some relief on the on the part of those that were hoping for justice for these little kids not not accusing her i mean well she has been accused not saying she did it that will obviously play out but but at least investigators feel like they have a very possible theory as to what happened well and because it's interesting where you do have you know when you see this type of case i mean it's awful and it's horrific and you know prosecutors are now going for the death penalty they're very confident in their case but at the same time like this is a woman who is sticking by her story it seems like you talk to her defense where she believes or at least is you know using this as a defense that her kids went to go get the flu shot couple other vaccines and and that's what caused the death what stood out to you about what her defense attorney had to say well i think the first thing that says that he was willing to be so candid and open in talking uh when this happened a lot of times attorneys don't want to speak to the media or they'll issue a statement he was more than willing to come on and and chat with me and and was very confident in his case and and he had been she retained him right after the kids died and i asked why i said what why when there was uh nothing she hadn't been charged she said well small town people were talking i think she just wanted to to have counsel in case something happened so she retains him right away he's able to meet with her over the past year or so and and meet with family members and and he is very confident that these kids did die because of the vaccines that they got a few days earlier and that i mean he he was insistent that they're going to trial you know a lot of times defense attorneys will come out and they they're representing their clients so they have to be very confident and take their side but he was i don't want to say overly confident but very assured that this is a case that will be proven that she did not kill those kids that she did not kill those kids that she did not kill those kids that she was a loving mother that she was actually pro-vaccine in favor of vaccines before the kids died now she's not and and then when she went to to get their shots um they got sick and and you know i guess he does point to the fact that and he he sent us a couple of the medical records they've been uh quoted in the court documents that the day after the kids died a day the day or two i don't remember which if it was a day or two after she took them into the doctor and said they're sick they're not feeling well they're lethargic they had diarrhea they had other symptoms and the doctor wrote symptoms of post-vaccine illness something along those lines i'm paraphrasing so she did follow up with the doctor a few days after and that's what she's pointing to that look they were sick they weren't acting normal and then unfortunately they passed away now the other argument you could argue chris is that uh sure everybody has a little bit of sickness after they get the flu shot or or other vaccines because that's just normal so yeah i mean he was he was very confident and said he wants to take it all the way to the trial and he is convinced that she did not do this the other argument that we may talk about is she just had another baby and and was nursing this baby when she was arrested and so there was a bail hearing uh to to reduce her her bail her bond um saying that she needed to be with this baby well the state argued no way she killed these two kids allegedly they're saying she did it there's no way she should be around another child and ultimately the judge said we're not lowering the bond she's going to remain in jail and the baby needs to be cared for by somebody else so you add in the fact that she's now the mother of a newborn who had complications and it's just you know one of those stories that she's sticking by what she says happened that she did nothing to her kids the state says she absolutely did and to your point saying that yes she did and she deserves the death penalty yeah and you know for the timeline you know her children died in may of 2025 and she wasn't arrested until july 2026 which is a long time you know even you know when you're going through it you know you want to be thorough but you know it is a good period of time between you know the children's deaths and her arrest um this is taking place in a small town you know small community um you live in idaho uh what can you tell us about kind of the dynamics of where this this case is playing out right now it's a rural area outside of boise it's on the border uh the washington border um of of idaho so uh it it's a small community i would be surprised if they hold the trial there given the fact that that everybody in the community seems to know about it or so it seems uh it's possible they could move the trial to boise which is close enough that's where you know in idaho sadly there's been a lot of high profile cases in the news the past few years that they moved the daybell case there they had moved the trial uh so it's it's a it's a rural community and and there's a lot of rumors chris about this you know and speculation about what happened and why it took the investigators over a year to charge her uh was was you know was there budget issues was there was there issues with the change in investigations you know those type of things come up but what really will ultimately matter is when this goes to trial and what the facts are presented at that trial and if the jury can um you know they'll ultimately decide what happens and and the trial is scheduled to begin in january i don't know if it will be pushed off or not but again this is a this is a defense attorney that is is ready to go and and says that he wants this trial to happen and he you know is confident in the fact that she didn't kill the kids yeah and you think of you know if this goes to trial and if it goes to trial then you know they seem confident that that's the way it's going to go you think of like the battle of experts that is going to you know play out in a way that's going to you know play out um it is interesting just you know watching your conversation with him where you know you think of idaho especially rural idaho um you know more of a conservative state but he said like she was pro-vaccine you know before you know all of this happened um what more do we know about her and her family i know her husband you know was with her you know they did like podcasts talking about you know the dangers of vaccines like prior to her arrest like what more do we know about this family husband was asleep according to the police they he was asleep when the kids died it happened overnight um the trailer was warm they live in a mobile home um it was warm and that this was another thing that that was pointed out that that could the babies have died of um heat you know related type stuff well that might be an option except that the trailer was always that warm there was nothing abnormal about that particular evening in the trailer so they they were able to rule the that out um the uh her family is close nearby to her uh he has family there too they went on this podcast after uh after the kids died and spoke about their experience with vaccines and in fact they were they're involved in a lawsuit she's the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit the american academy of pediatrics against them uh blaming the academy's vaccine recommendations for the deaths of her twins that lawsuit was filed against her and she's the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the vaccine recommendations for the deaths of her twins that was filed months within months of the uh the deaths of those of those children and and i don't it might be a stretch to say she kind of became a spokesperson against vaccines but she clearly was vocal in her thoughts about it and this was a lengthy podcast we were able to track it down and listen to it and and she clearly says that it was those recommended vaccines that harmed her children and ultimately took their lives so the police as i said have cleared the husband and and we don't know how i mean i'm sure that they've interviewed them multiple times the husband and the wife but again this is late at night in a mobile home they're the only people in there but there must have been a maybe they were able to look through the phone records or i'm not sure we don't know that yet but he's been cleared she's been charged and uh they they do have family though that is in the area supporting them yeah and and we'll see what happens next you know it's interesting with you know the death penalty now in play and how confident this defense is that like they are not going to be able to deal um you wonder how that you know potentially could impact that i don't know uh as somebody's covered high profile cases in idaho like how does when the death penalty comes into play i mean every state's a little different when it comes to the death penalty um what does that tell you when you see prosecutors going for that well it's interesting because the last time somebody they attempted to put somebody to death was over a year ago may even be two now guy had been on death row for decades they went in elderly man his last name is creech uh they went to to administer the iv uh and they couldn't get a vein and they tried and they tried and they tried and ultimately they called it off and since then idaho has passed a law that the number one option for the death penalty is the firing squad well there wasn't a facility to have the firing squad and so the state just built one and just finished it up so nobody has been put to death here in years and there's nine people I believe on death row one woman and uh they're waiting to see what happens who will be the first person to actually be put to death with the firing squad it takes a long time in in this state when somebody is sentenced to death for the execution to actually happen most people die on death row and and we have yet that the the Department of Correction released a photo I believe last week of the the chamber where the the firing squad chamber but they've yet to let media in to show us what it looks like so it's one of those issues right now I mean you know given the Pike, everything that's happening in the country that's a little sensitive. As far as the prosecution, though, going for it in this case, we often see that as a bargaining factor, kind of, that they go for it because you only have 60 days to declare the death penalty if you want to seek it. But then you can always take it off the table. So if they do some sort of plea negotiation, plea talk, the prosecutor could take it off and she could get life in prison instead. So it's something that you want to put on the table in the beginning if you feel confident enough in it. And they have listed four reasons why they said that she deserves it. One is that she killed both children at the same time. Two is that it was heinous, atrocious, and cruel. Three is that she had an utter disregard for life. And four is that she poses a risk to the public. So those are the formidating circumstances that they have for her. And we'll see. We'll see if it goes all the way. What will happen if it goes to trial? There'll be a trial. The jury will find her guilty, not guilty. If she's found guilty, then there'll be a second phase. The jury will then determine right away if she should get death or life in prison. Those will be the only two options if she's found guilty. Yeah. And we'll see what happens next. Certainly a major development that prosecutors are going for the death penalty. Nady, in with East Idaho News, always great to have you on Law & Crime. Thanks for doing this. Thanks, Chris. Good to see you. Andrea Shaw is next due in court November 4th. That will do it for On the Case, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time.