Lincolnshire Day Care Worker Charged with Murder of Toddler

Tragedy struck Minee Subee Day Care in suburban Lincolnshire, IL, earlier this month when 16 month-old Benjamin Kingan died suddenly from a serious head injury. What authorities initially believed to be the result of either a seizure or something congenital is now being treated as a homicide. Melissa Calusinski, of Carpentersville, IL, has been charged with first degree murder and is now held on $5 million dollar bond for her alleged role in the death of the toddler. She is accused of throwing the young boy to the floor because he would not remain quiet. According to Lincolnshire Police, the boy then crawled to his favorite bouncer seat before he became unresponsive and died. Calusinski reportedly admitted to throwing the boy to the ground in a videotaped statement. There were seven other children and one other adult in the room at the time of the incident. The other worker in the room claims to have not seen Calunski throw the child. Day care staff attempted CPR and called 911 at approximately 3:51 p.m – almost a half hour after the incident. The boy was pronounced dead at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville an hour later.

Calusinski, who has been placed on administrative leave by Minee Subee, plans to plead not guilty to the murder charges. The day care facility is licensed to care for up to 145 children between the ages of 6 to 12 years old. A subsequent investigation of the incident has revealed that Minee Sublee had received several complaints regarding Calusinski as a caretaker in the past.