rockin'robin
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James Klokow had watched enough TV shows to know that police have a lot more tools today to solve tough cases than they did when he was a little boy.
And so, on a summer day two years ago, the 55-year-old Sheboygan, Wis., man walked into his city's police department and told detectives what he believed: that his mother killed his baby sister five decades earlier.
Now Ruby Klokow, 74, stands charged with second-degree murder in the March 1, 1957, death of 7-month-old Jeaneen Marie Klokow. She is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon in Sheboygan County Circuit Court.
The charges, filed last week, came after two police detectives listened to James Klokow's suspicions and then dusted off the files from an original police investigation that declared the death an accident -– the girl's mother said the baby had fallen from a sofa and hit her head.
But this time, in an interview with police detectives, Ruby Klokow "stated she shouldn't have had any children, wished that she never had children, and knew she was 'mean' to them," according to the criminal complaint.
The charge of second-degree murder no longer even exists in Wisconsin. Klokow was charged based on the criminal statutes as written in 1957, police said in a news release. She faces up to 25 years in prison, if convicted. The charge is about the same as a reckless homicide charge today.
At an initial court appearance on Tuesday, Klokow was ordered held on a $10,000 cash bond. Dressed in a red jail jumpsuit, she repeatedly asked the court commissioner to explain what a preliminary hearing is and how to get a lawyer, according to the Sheboygan Press.
"I don't think it's going to make any difference if I have an attorney or not," she added, according to the newspaper.
At the time of Jeaneen's death, Klokow was an overwhelmed mother of four battling her own childhood trauma, she told the detectives in the initial interview last year, according to the criminal complaint.
After interviewing other family members and reviewing a detailed autopsy report of the death, the detectives decided last summer to exhume the remains of Jeaneen and another child, Scott Klokow, who was found dead in his crib in 1964.
A forensic pathologist discovered Jeaneen had three scalp bruises and two brain hemorrhages, which he said were consistent with abuse rather than an accidental fall, the criminal complaint said. The detectives then went back to interview Klokow again.
This time, they said, she admitted she was frustrated that both Jeaneen and James Jr. were crying at the same time, so she grabbed Jeaneen from her stroller and threw her toward the couch, the complaint said. The baby, she said, let out a "different kind of cry" and her eyes looked strange, according to the complaint.
"We have to recognize it was something that happened in 1957 ... and it wasn't intentional, although it was reckless," Sheboygan District Attorney Joe DeCecco told the Sheboygan Press.
53 Years Later, Mother Ruby Klokow Charged in Infant Daughter's Death
And so, on a summer day two years ago, the 55-year-old Sheboygan, Wis., man walked into his city's police department and told detectives what he believed: that his mother killed his baby sister five decades earlier.
Now Ruby Klokow, 74, stands charged with second-degree murder in the March 1, 1957, death of 7-month-old Jeaneen Marie Klokow. She is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon in Sheboygan County Circuit Court.
The charges, filed last week, came after two police detectives listened to James Klokow's suspicions and then dusted off the files from an original police investigation that declared the death an accident -– the girl's mother said the baby had fallen from a sofa and hit her head.
But this time, in an interview with police detectives, Ruby Klokow "stated she shouldn't have had any children, wished that she never had children, and knew she was 'mean' to them," according to the criminal complaint.
The charge of second-degree murder no longer even exists in Wisconsin. Klokow was charged based on the criminal statutes as written in 1957, police said in a news release. She faces up to 25 years in prison, if convicted. The charge is about the same as a reckless homicide charge today.
At an initial court appearance on Tuesday, Klokow was ordered held on a $10,000 cash bond. Dressed in a red jail jumpsuit, she repeatedly asked the court commissioner to explain what a preliminary hearing is and how to get a lawyer, according to the Sheboygan Press.
"I don't think it's going to make any difference if I have an attorney or not," she added, according to the newspaper.
At the time of Jeaneen's death, Klokow was an overwhelmed mother of four battling her own childhood trauma, she told the detectives in the initial interview last year, according to the criminal complaint.
After interviewing other family members and reviewing a detailed autopsy report of the death, the detectives decided last summer to exhume the remains of Jeaneen and another child, Scott Klokow, who was found dead in his crib in 1964.
A forensic pathologist discovered Jeaneen had three scalp bruises and two brain hemorrhages, which he said were consistent with abuse rather than an accidental fall, the criminal complaint said. The detectives then went back to interview Klokow again.
This time, they said, she admitted she was frustrated that both Jeaneen and James Jr. were crying at the same time, so she grabbed Jeaneen from her stroller and threw her toward the couch, the complaint said. The baby, she said, let out a "different kind of cry" and her eyes looked strange, according to the complaint.
"We have to recognize it was something that happened in 1957 ... and it wasn't intentional, although it was reckless," Sheboygan District Attorney Joe DeCecco told the Sheboygan Press.
53 Years Later, Mother Ruby Klokow Charged in Infant Daughter's Death
