Dying Dreams

Though former television reporter Becker managed to interview Paula Sims, who was convicted of murdering her baby girl, this troubling tale is more sordid than insightful. In 1986, in the small Illinois town of Brighton, young mother Paula Sims reported that her 13-day-old daughter was stolen by a masked man with a gun. Baby Loralei's body was soon found in the nearby woods. But while police were skeptical of Paula's story and while she and her husband, Robert, failed lie detector tests, investigators had no real case. Becker traces Paula's unsavory history, including her childhood molestation by her grandfather. After having a second baby in the nearby town of Alton and finding herself pregnant a third time, Paula considered divorce from the dominating Rob but feared him. In 1989, Paula reported six-week-old Heather kidnapped. The baby was found in a trash can, and Paula was convicted of murder. She pleaded no-contest to obstructing justice in the earlier case, but prosecutors had no case against Rob. Interviewing Paula, Becker finds a haze of factors that contributed to Paula's damaged psyche, and psychologists suggest she may have suffered from postpartum psychosis. (May)