‘They framed her’: 10 years after Melissa Calusinski was accused of Lincolnshire day care killing, effort to clear her name persists

Chicago Tribune

When Melissa Calusinski found Benjamin Kingan unresponsive in his bouncy chair at a suburban day care center on Jan. 14, 2009, his death later that day was a mystery.

It wasn’t yet clear that it would also become — in the eyes of the law — a murder.

It also wasn’t clear that the case would attract national attention. Or that — now a decade later — the events surrounding the Deerfield toddler’s death would continue to be debated: Was it intentional or accidental? Did Benjamin die of a skull fracture caused by Calusinski, a worker at the center, or of a pre-existing condition? Was her confession true or coerced? Did authorities withhold from Calusinski’s defense attorneys an X-ray of Benjamin that undermined their case? Read more >>