A 75-year-old Louisiana woman has been arrested for allegedly beating her 16-month-old son to death over 50 years ago.
Authorities reopened the case after disturbing letters she wrote to her husband at the time came to light during their divorce, revealing her hatred toward the child and detailing ongoing abuse.
Alice Rollinson Idlett was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with second-degree murder for the 1970 death of her son, Earl D. Bunch III, according to court records reviewed by Law & Crime.
Idlett, who was 18 when she gave birth to Earl in September 1968, was living in Louisiana while her husband, Earl Bunch Jr., was stationed in Thailand with the U.S. Army.
While overseas, Bunch received a series of letters from Idlett, which a judge later described as expressing “despair and loneliness” and being “threatening in nature” toward the child. In one letter from November 1969, she admitted to beating Earl, writing, “I just got through whipping that little bastard (sic).
I hate him. That’s the truth.” In other letters, she expressed a desire for his death, saying, “I wish he had never been born,” and, “I’ll kill him before he becomes spoiled. I honestly mean that.”
By early 1970, Idlett’s abuse allegedly turned fatal. On January 19, she brought Earl to the emergency room at West Calcasieu-Cameron Hospital in Sulphur, Louisiana, where he was limp and gasping for breath.
X-rays revealed multiple skull fractures and a broken shoulder. The baby succumbed to his injuries the next morning.
When her husband returned from Thailand for the funeral and questioned her, Idlett claimed Earl had fallen out of bed at his grandmother’s house weeks earlier. At the time, authorities ruled the death accidental.
Years later, in 1983, Bunch filed for legal separation. During the proceedings, Idlett repeatedly asked about the whereabouts of the letters she had written decades earlier, raising her husband’s suspicions.
After rereading them, he launched his investigation into Earl’s death, speaking to the doctor who treated his son. The doctor testified that Earl had extensive bruising, bite marks, and a burn on his body, injuries inconsistent with a simple fall. He described the case as a clear example of child abuse.
Despite the evidence, no arrests were made at the time, and Idlett retained joint custody of the couple’s daughter. However, in 2022, detectives reopened the case at the request of Earl’s relatives.
His remains were exhumed and examined at an FBI forensic lab, where experts concluded his death was a homicide.
Idlett is currently being held at the Calcasieu Parish Correctional Center on a $950,000 bond.
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