Testimony Raises New Questions in Day Care Death

Melissa Calusinski accused of killing young boy two years ago

Paul and Cheryl Calusinski haven't touched or hugged their daughter in more than two years, but they have renewed hope that the 24-year-old will soon be released from the Lake County Jail.

"It's been really, really rough. I mean, going to the jail and visiting my daughter behind a glass and knowing that what she has told us throughout the two years she's been there and that she's innocent and she didn't do this crime," said Paul Calusinski from his Carpentersville home Thursday evening.

His daughter, Melissa Calusinski, is accused of delivering the fatal blow that killed 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan while he was under her care at the Mini-Subbee day care center in January 2009.

She's being held based on previous findings that put the time of death from 30 minutes to three hours from the time of impact. But in court on Wednesday, the forensic pathologist testified that he doesn't recall telling detectives about any time frame, which could easily put the blame on someone else.

"The forensics will clear my daughter. It will be the science that clears my daughter completely," the confident yet reserved father said, adding that no one seems to be able to find the damning testimony in any court documents.

"There's nothing said in there about any kind of a window. Nothing. Zero," he said.

Calusinski contends that Kingan was sick in the days before his death.

"On that Monday, before the incident happened, the child came to school.  He was vomiting profusely, meaning it was projectile.  He was real, real sick," said Calusinski. 

The boy was out of school Tuesday, but returned on Wednesday.  He was found dead in his chair later that day.

The family said they hope that a judge will decide to impeach the testimony of detectives during a hearing on Feb. 18.

They say that the young woman won't make any plea deals becuse she's innocent.  They said her previous admittance to wrongdoing resulted from detectives twisting her statements.

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