Idaho Prosecutors Will Seek the Death Penalty Against a 23-Year-Old Mom Charged With Murder in the Deaths of Her 18-Month-Old Twins, Whom Prosecutors Say Were Smothered

Andrea Renee Shaw went on an internet show run by an anti-vaccine group a few days after her 18-month-old twins, Tyson and Dallas, were found dead in their shared bed on May 1, 2025. She has said vaccines killed them. Prosecutors in Payette County, Idaho, say she smothered them, and they have now told the court they will ask a jury to sentence the 23-year-old mother to death if she is convicted.

Shaw is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. She pleaded not guilty on Aug. 18 and is being held without bond. Her trial is set to begin Jan. 11.

What the death penalty notice says

The notice of intent to seek the death penalty was filed on Friday, Oct. 16, East Idaho News reported. It lists four aggravating circumstances that prosecutors plan to argue: that more than one murder was committed at the same time, that the killings were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity,” that they showed “utter disregard for human life,” and that Shaw’s conduct “will probably constitute a continuing threat to society.”

Those categories come straight from Idaho law. Under Idaho Code Section 19-2515, a death sentence is possible only after a first-degree murder conviction and only if at least one statutory aggravating circumstance is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. A jury must agree unanimously that an aggravating factor exists and that death should be imposed. If jurors cannot agree, or find that mitigating circumstances make death unjust, the sentence is life without parole.

Prosecutors also had a deadline to meet. Idaho Code Section 18-4004A requires the state to file its notice within 60 days after a defendant enters a plea to first-degree murder, unless the court extends that window with the agreement of both sides. Without a notice, a death sentence cannot be imposed. The state can still withdraw the notice at any time before sentencing.

Prosecutors point to smothering; the coroner listed the cause as undetermined

The case turns on a medical question that the two sides answer very differently. In court filings, Payette County Prosecutor Mike Duke wrote that an autopsy showed symptoms consistent with smothering and that suffocation “is the only conceivable explanation” for the deaths, according to the Associated Press. A grand jury indictment returned in July says the twins died of suffocation at Shaw’s hands.

The county coroner and the pathologists who examined the toddlers, however, listed the cause of death as undetermined. The coroner’s findings were consistent with hyperthermia, or overheating. The AP reported that the coroner did not testify before the grand jury, and it is unclear whether jurors heard about his findings.

Prosecutors have said the children’s room often reached 100 degrees. They have argued that the twins had survived high temperatures in that room before and that their time of death did not line up with the hottest part of the day.

Shaw’s vaccine claims and her defense

The twins received hepatitis A, influenza and DTaP vaccines eight days before they died. The day after those shots, Shaw took them to an emergency room, where a doctor attributed their tiredness and fever to a reaction to the vaccines. The children were given Tylenol and a popsicle and sent home, the AP reported.

Fever, fussiness, tiredness and soreness are among the common side effects of the DTaP vaccine, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says most side effects are mild to moderate and last one to three days. CDC reviews of reports to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System for DTaP have found no unexpected health concerns. Medical experts consider all three vaccines safe, effective and recommended for young children.

The hepatitis A vaccine, which the CDC recommends for all children beginning at age 1, has a similar profile. The agency’s hepatitis A vaccine safety page lists soreness, low fever, feeling unwell and reduced appetite among typical reactions, usually lasting one to two days, and says the body of scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the vaccine’s safety.

Parents sorting through competing claims online can read more about what doctors say gets lost in vaccine headlines and what doctors are saying about new vaccine guidance.

A few days after the deaths, Shaw appeared on an internet show hosted by Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who left its leadership in December 2024 to join the Trump administration. Shaw is also the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed by Children’s Health Defense and others against the American Academy of Pediatrics, blaming its vaccine recommendations for the twins’ deaths. The academy has asked the court to dismiss that case.

Shaw’s attorney, Joseph Filicetti, called the death penalty notice outrageous and said the defense will ask the court to dismiss the case. He has argued that there is no motive, no backstory and no confession, and that the twins died from a medical event rather than a crime.

Next dates in the Payette County case

Shaw is scheduled for a pretrial conference on Dec. 8, followed by trial on Jan. 11.

If a jury finds her guilty of first-degree murder, jurors would then decide her sentence in a separate proceeding, where prosecutors would have to prove at least one of the four aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. Shaw remains presumed innocent, and the question of how Tyson and Dallas died will be at the center of what jurors are asked to decide.

Get stories like this by email. Sign up for The Parent Diaries Letter.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Ian Poellet – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons