The parents of an 11-month-old girl who died in January from blunt force trauma to her abdomen repeatedly told police their daughter showed no signs of distress and suggested the death could have been caused by sudden infant death syndrome, court records state.
The baby, Debra R. Duszynski, likely was kicked or punched in the abdomen about a half-hour after a feeding and immediately died, a forensic pathologist with the Lake County coroner's office determined. The death was ruled a homicide.
Witnesses told police the infant's parents, Robert Duszynski III, 26, and Patricia Widner, 26, were not truthful about where Debra was when she was injured and had been overheard telling their other children what to say to investigators, Lake Criminal Court records allege.
Duszynski and Widner each were arrested on one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. Each posted a $5,000 cash bond and was released from the Lake County Jail.
The couple also are facing charges filed in February alleging they failed to send two of their other children to school. Each pleaded not guilty to two counts of neglect.
Widner and Duszynski brought Debra to Community Hospital early Jan. 2. The baby was pronounced dead hours later.
Gary police initially were told the baby was injured at the home of one of Widner's relatives, court records state.
However, police received an anonymous call that Debra was actually injured at Duszynski's home, according to documents.
Witnesses told police Debra had been seen choking and throwing up and couldn't breathe the night of her death, and that she had been at the home before her parents took her to the hospital.
Police obtained surveillance video showing the family was present at the home the night Duszynski died and confirmed with multiple witnesses that they lived there.
When investigators executed a search warrant at the home Jan. 15, they found piles of trash, food, dirty clothes and bedding in several rooms and a tank sprayer in a bedroom, records state. That bedroom had a strong odor of bleach.
Child Protective Services took custody of the couple's four other children after Debra's death, records show.
Witnesses told police Duszynski mentally and physically abused Widner and the children, but Widner did not disclose any abuse to investigators.
Both Widner and Duszynski told police Duszynski was sleeping on a couch with Debra and their 2-year-old daughter the night before Debra's death. Widner said she left for a time, but returned about 11:30 p.m. and took the baby to her bedroom.
Widner claimed she noticed Debra's lips were blue, and the couple rushed the baby to the hospital about 3 a.m., records state.
Duszynski told detectives he was leaving for work about 3 a.m. when Widner came out of the house screaming the baby's lips were blue, records show.
Duszynski told police Debra previously had been whining while he slept with her and her sister on a couch.
When asked why the baby was whining, he allegedly said, "I might have kicked her or rolled on her," documents state. He repeatedly denied knowing what happened to his child.
Widner told police she "had a bad feeling" that night because the baby "didn't look right," records state. When detectives pressed her about what she meant, she allegedly said it was "mother's intuition."
Widner claimed she had given the baby a mixture of milk and water in a bottle, but became angry when they told her an autopsy showed she had no milk in her system, records allege.
Widner told detectives Debra urinated on herself and Duszynski, but police noted the baby's diaper was dry when she died, according to court records.
Widner had hydrocodone and amphetamine in her system after Debra's death, and Child Protective Services informed police of several reports of abuse toward the children, records state.
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