Mother Charged in Baby's Death 53 Years Later

Feb. 8, 2011— -- For 50 years, James Klokow had believed what his mother told him; that he was responsible for his baby sister's death.

Since he was 3, Klokow said, he believed that his crying distracted mother Ruby Klokow from looking after his 7-month-old sister, Jeaneen. If not for him, he was told his whole life, his mother would have kept the infant from falling off a sofa, smashing her skull and dying instantly.

Now a different story has emerged and his mother, 74, is sitting in a Wisconsin jail, awaiting trial for allegedly killing her daughter in 1957.

"James Klokow has spent his like thinking: 'I was responsible. My mother always told me Jeaneen died because I was fussy.' He finally realized he wasn't at fault," Sheboygan, Wis., District Attorney Joe DeCecco said today.

After watching a television show about cold cases in 2008, James Klokow went to police and asked them to reopen the investigation into his sister's death.

"This wasn't an easy investigation," DeCecco said. "It was very complicated. It was 1957, for crying out loud. All the records were gone, most of the witnesses were gone. One of the original detectives was still alive but couldn't remember the case.

"If not for [James Klokow] believing something had happened and coming forward, we wouldn't have a case," the prosecutor said.

The two-year investigation led to a trove of additional abuse allegations, the exhumation of Jeaneen's remains, questions surrounding the death of another of Ruby Klokow's young children and an alleged confession.

But Ruby Klokow's lawyer has raised questions about prosecuting a case closed more than 50 years ago, based on the testimony of someone who was 2 at the time and the comments of an elderly woman.

A family doctor who did the initial autopsy of Jeaneen concluded that her March 1, 1957, death was accidental. He found Ruby Klokow's actions irresponsible but not criminal.

Two doctors exhumed and examined the body last year. Their report concluded that the baby died of "abusive head injuries" that resulted in a brain hemorrhage. The medical examiners found the injuries were "not consistent with a 16-inch fall from a davenport [sofa] onto a rug covering a hardwood floor, as was originally reported."