Woodward, Louise

Louise Woodward, born in 1978 (age 46–47), is a British former au pair, who at the age of 18 was charged with murder, but was subsequently convicted of involuntary manslaughter (reduced from the jury trial verdict) of eight-month-old baby Matthew Eappen, in Newton, Massachusetts, United States of America. Eappen died from a fractured skull and subdural hematoma, and had a previously unnoticed fractured wrist. Although Woodward was initially found guilty of second-degree murder, Judge Hiller B. Zobel reduced her conviction to involuntary manslaughter during a post-conviction relief hearing, leading to her release after serving 279 days. After her return to the United Kingdom, she began a career in law, and later ballroom and Latin dance teaching. In 2022, a Channel 4 documentary revisited the case, with a civil rights lawyer questioning the validity of the 'shaken baby syndrome' accusation.