A few years later, Brown was imprisoned in the Eastern State Penitentiary for highway robbery, and died serving his sentence.

His life had been insured in two companies: the John Hancock Financial and the Benevolent Order of Buffalos, each paying Sarah $145 and $85 respectively.

[5] Sarah refused when asked if the bodies could be examined by the coroner, claiming that when one of her previous children supposedly died in an almshouse, doctors had started the post mortem exam process and realised, much too late, that the child was still alive.

[1] The short intervals of the deaths proved suspicious to Coroner Ashbridge, and after an examination with the Health Office, he ordered that the case be investigated.

[5] Spending most of her imprisonment in prayer, suffering from a nervous prostration for a physician to be called in, she confessed to murdering her two children using "Rough on Rats".

[6] When questioned about her motives, Mrs. Whiteling claimed that she had murdered Bertha in order to prevent her from becoming a "sinful and wicked girl", as she had constantly misbehaved and stolen various items, such as pennies and pocketbooks, from her teacher and neighbors.

[7][8][9] While the verdict didn't faze Sarah at all, it shocked the contemporary public in Philadelphia, especially the female population, who went so far as to sign a petition for commutation of her sentence.

[12] On the execution date, Sarah Whiteling appeared to be unmoved by her conundrum, as she believed that God will forgive her sins and that she will go to Heaven to be with her children.