Shaw claimed vaccines killed twins on anti-vaccine podcast

Payette police officers responded to a home on May 1, 2025, after receiving a report of a possibly deceased child. Upon arrival, they discovered the two deceased twin siblings in a shared bed, the department said at the time. The case was initially investigated as a homicide, and the Ada County Medical Examiner’s Office was tasked with determining the cause of death. More than a year later, that determination has not been publicly released.

Days after her twins died, Shaw and her husband appeared on a podcast produced by the anti-vaccination organization Children’s Health Defense, which was previously led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now President Donald Trump’s health and human services secretary. On the podcast, Shaw said she was being treated as a suspect. According to Shaw, investigators told her the deaths were not medical and that they had determined asphyxiation, alleging she had experienced a “postpartum overwhelming blackout” and harmed her children.

In a GiveSendGo fundraiser linked to the podcast episode, the family said they had taken the twins to their 18-month well-child visit, where they received routine vaccines, and alleged that both babies died in their sleep a few days later. The fundraiser raised more than $10,000.

Shaw’s attorney, Joseph Filicetti, also alleged to the Boise station KTVB that the twins had died from vaccinations. “They were looking at it as a vaccine death, and that’s still what I believe it to be,” Filicetti said, adding that he had consulted medical experts. When prompted, Filicetti did not provide KTVB with evidence to support these claims.

Citing court documents, KTVB reported that the indictment alleges Shaw suffocated her toddlers. Shaw’s civil lawsuit against the American Academy of Pediatrics, filed with the help of Children’s Health Defense, stated that no alternative cause of death had been identified for either child.

Shaw was arrested without incident in Boise on June 30. She is being held on a $2 million bond. Payette police said last Tuesday that because the case is now before the court, they would have no further comment regarding the facts or evidence, and that future information would come only through the judicial process. Shaw’s next appearance in Payette County District Court is scheduled for July 14.