Kaban ni D_BystandeR: SA KAULAHIAN, NABUTYAG ANG HIWI NGA BINUHATAN

On March 1, 1957, a 7-month-old girl named Jeaneen Marie Klokow died at home. Investigators in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, ruled that she'd fallen off her mother's couch by accident. For decades that was that. Except she had been killed. 

Now,  decades later, medical advances and nagging consciences have resulted in her mother's admitting to second-degree murder.  "It's really an incredible thing," Sheboygan County District  Attorney Joe DeCecco said in a telephone interview after the  plea last week. And he would know: Prosecuting someone nearly 56 years after the fact required improvisation. Ruby Klokow, 76, was formally convicted of what she had recently confessed to in front of detectives who had revived the case: she had abused her daughter to death. Except the second-degree murder charge under which she was found guilty no longer  exists under Wisconsin law. The crime scene was long gone too; the County Sheriff's Department occupies that land now, case  files were also missing. "Half the people that were around then were dead now," DeCecco said. The other half were mostly too old to remember what happened. But some memories hadn't eroded. Infant-abuse cases can be among the toughest to prosecute. There are often no witnesses other than the suspect,  and investigators usually must try to distinguish between an accident and something more malicious. In this case, a 2008 tip from James Klokow Jr., one of Ruby Klokow's sons, captured investigators' interest. James Klokow knew forensic science had advanced. He had been bothered by memories of brutality, which he shared with Sheboygan investigators - of being locked in the basement and getting so thirsty that he drank water off the floor; of hearing a grandmother's confession that he had been thrown against a wall as a child; of watching his mother beat his brother's toes with a hammer. He also told investigators that his mother had blamed him for his sister's death; his mother had claimed that he'd been crying in another room upstairs, and that while she was dealing with him, little Jeaneen fell off the couch. Police interviewed surviving relatives and as unflattering account of Ruby Klokow, whose attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Judith Post told investigators of the night long ago when she was baby-sitting her sister's children, Ruby and her husband, James, who is now deceased, came home and were arguing. Judith stated ... that Ruby snatched Jeaneen out of Judith's arms and tossed Jeaneen towards James saying something like 'Here, catch her,'" Detective Paul Olsen wrote in a charging document. "James caught the baby and threw her back to Ruby, with Ruby throwing the baby back to James, who failed to catch the baby, who fell to the hardwood floor." Post told investigators she thought her sister had gone to jail in 1959 for killing the baby. Police confirmed Ruby Klokow had served time - but for adultery, a legal relic of that era. Detectives ultimately got Klokow to confess to flingling Jeaneen at a couch and causing her death in 1957. The original autopsy found that Jeaneen suffered two brain hemorrhages, a partially collapsed lung and three scalp bruises. Two medical experts who reviewed the old autopsy reports and exhumed the body said there was no way Klokow's original story - that the baby had simply fallen off the couch - could be true. But even with a confession, DeCecco's prosecution had to be creative because laws had changed since 1957. "We all thought it was important she should be charged," said DeCecco. But he was scared of actually taking Klokow to trial. "The jury's going to be looking at a grandma, not a vicious 21-year-old," he said. According to court charging documents, Klokow had already expressed remorse over the baby's death. 

"When asked why she didn't tell police what really happened, she stated she was scared and didn't want to go to prison," Olsen wrote. "She stated she felt terrible inside all these years. Ultimately, prosecutors and Klokow reached a deal to avoid trial. Because of her age, Klokow may not serve much, if any, time in prison, and will probably be placed under electronic monitoring, DeCecco said. Sentencing is scheduled for April 15.