The Lynches, who police said were unemployed and living on disability payments, were denied bail at their arraignment at Justice of the Peace Court in Dover. They were taken to state prisons to await preliminary hearings while police continued their investigations.
Police said the killings appeared to be motivated by Joyce Lynch's desire for a baby. The accused woman's daughter said Lynch had a partial hysterectomy several years ago that severely narrowed her chances of pregnancy.
"At this time, the only motive is that she wanted the baby," state police Superintendent Clifford Graviet said during a news conference yesterday.
Tracy Greenwood, 17, Joyce Lynch's daughter by a previous marriage, said her mother invited friends and relatives to her house just hours after the slayings on Dec. 24 to see the infant, saying the baby had been born the night before.
Greenwood, who said she left home a year ago because she and her mother did not get along, said that her mother told them the birth had occurred at home with the assistance of a midwife.
Joyce Lynch had announced in August that she was pregnant, and over the next few months she bought baby clothes and furniture, Greenwood said in an interview.
Police said they found firearms during a search of the Lynch home. But they released no details of the slayings and said they did not know what linked the Lynches to the Gibsons, who lived about a half-hour's drive away in rural southern Delaware.
"We have no idea why the Lynch family settled on the Gibson family," Graviet said. "The investigation is far from complete."
At present, investigators have "no positive connection between the Gibsons and the Lynches," Graviet said.
Delaware State Police gave the baby to his paternal grandparents, Theresa and Joseph R. Gibson Sr. A pediatrician said that the infant's health was good and that he did not appear to have been mistreated.
"He's doing real well," Joseph Gibson Sr. said.
