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Back in America, though, as the case proceeded through court, it was Deborah Eappen who was popularly demonized, stereotyped as the "do-it-all, want-it-all" workingwoman and part-time mother, becoming an unwitting defendant in the murder of her own baby. The public saw her and her husband Sunil as rich doctors selfishly pursuing their careers to the detriment of their children. Worse, they were said to be cheap. Didn't they know that Woodward was an au pair and not a nanny? Au pairs are young women brought over to the U.S. under a cultural-exchange program and then expected to work as full-time child minders with little supervision. They cost $125 a week, in contrast to about $400 for a trained nanny, but can stay no longer than 12 months and typically have little training in child care. In Newton, the Eappens' upscale leafy suburban neighborhood with a high proportion of professionals, women were critical of the couple's reliance on an au pair to look after Matthew and his two-year-old brother Brendan. "I wondered how she could leave two kids alone with an 18-year-old. One is hard enough," said Amy Ebersole as she pushed her young son in a stroller through the farmers' market in Newton last week. Ebersole said she gave up a Ph.D. program to stay at home to care for her son. "An 18-year-old is just a child. What do you expect?" said Rita Tobias, who employed professional nannies to look after her growing children as she continued her job with a finance company. "You have to set your priorities. If proper child care costs more, you have to find a way to afford it." Calls to radio talk shows were rougher. "Apparently the parents didn't want a kid," said a caller to WRKO talk-show host Howie Carr. "Now they don't have a kid."
In fact both Eappens were still in debt from medical school. Their house was modest by Newton standards. And Deborah Eappen worked only three days a week, coming home at lunchtime to breast-feed her baby when she could, otherwise preparing her milk for Woodward to bottle-feed him. "Everyone has child care in Newton," says Ellen Ishkanian, editor of the local News Tribune, who is sympathetic to Deborah Eappen. "This cuts to the quick. People have to assign some blame" and be able to exclude themselves from the guilt. "If she were a perfect mother, then it could happen to anyone."
In his victim's statement, Sunil Eappen was willing to say that while "I think that Louise has done a brutal thing, I truly hope that she may someday find the peace of God in her life again." Deborah Eappen chose not to address Woodward in court. She had already hinted at a deep rancor. Two days earlier, speaking to Bryant Gumbel on CBS's Public Eye, she recalled how Woodward had "once told me she didn't want to have children," and added, "Part of me really hopes she doesn't have that joy in her life."
--With reporting by Kate Noble/London