Illinois Man Implicates His Wife in Deaths of Their 2 Infant Girls

ALTON, Ill. —  A man implicated his wife in the deaths of an infant daughter last month and that of another nearly three years ago, but he said he thought the strangely similar fatalities were accidents, authorities said Sunday.

Officials also said that before both deaths the woman had been upset she had not given birth to boys.

Police Sgt. Rick McCain said investigators may have enough evidence to file charges against parents Robert and Paula Sims, but added: “I want to make sure we have all our ducks in a row.”

McCain has said the Simses are the prime suspects in the suffocation death April 29 of their 6-week-old daughter, Heather Lee, but that officials were awaiting the results of FBI tests on evidence before making arrests.

The Simses also are suspects in the 1986 death of their 13-day-old daughter, Loralei, according to Jersey County Sheriff Frank Yocom.

McCain said Sims, 37, told him the night of April 29, when Paula Sims reported Heather had been abducted, that he was “somewhat suspicious” of her story but that both deaths were accidental.

In the latest case, Paula Sims, 30, told police that a masked gunman knocked her unconscious April 29, and that she believed he took Heather. She said her husband was at work.

A fisherman found Heather’s body in a trash can last Wednesday across the Mississippi River in Missouri. The child’s body had been refrigerated since her death about the time Paula Sims reported her abducted, McCain said earlier.

Paula Sims’ account was nearly identical to one the couple gave authorities in Loralei’s case.

The remains of a child believed to be Loralei’s were found about a week after her disappearance near the couple’s home at that time in nearby Brighton.

The couple, who have been staying with Paula Sims’ parents in nearby Cottage Hills, have refused to comment.