GARY, Ind. — An Indiana couple is facing felony charges in connection with the death of their 11-month-old daughter earlier this year, authorities said.
According to the Times of Northwest Indiana, authorities on Tuesday arrested Robert Duszynski III and Patricia Widner, both 26, of Gary, and charged each of them with child neglect resulting in death. They were taken to the Lake County Jail and released after each posted $5,000 bail, according to court records.
The charges came more than six months after their infant daughter, Debra Duszynski, died from blunt-force trauma, the newspaper reported.
Early Jan. 2, Gary police responded to a Stevenson Street home after the baby died about 4:30 a.m. at a Munster hospital, the Times reported. Despite being told that the child's injury had occurred at the residence, which is the home of one of the baby's relatives, investigators later learned that the incident had taken place at Robert Duszynski's West 29th Place home, according to the newspaper.
Although Robert Duszynski and Widner claimed that the girl had never seemed to be in distress and might have died from SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, a medical examiner later determined that she had suffered a fatal kick or punch to the abdomen, the Times reported. Officials also found amphetamine and hydrocodone in Widner's system after the baby died, authorities said.
Witnesses alleged that Robert Duszynski had abused Widner and the couple's five children, as well, according to the Times.
The new charges aren't the first that the couple have faced during the course of the investigation. The Post-Tribune reported in February that the pair faced two counts each of child neglect after detectives learned that two of their children hadn't been attending school. Following Debra Duszynski's death, the other children were removed from the couple's custody, authorities said.
Cox Media Group
