Unraveling the Case Against Melissa Calusinski | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] hello Melissa hi it's been boy more than a decade since I first met you mhm when
we first met did you ever think you'd still be here this long no why am I still in
here I just don't understand you may remember in 2009 Melissa kazinski was working at a
Lincolnshire daycare she was given 31 years in prison for the death of a 16-month-old who was in her care since
then she and her supporters have been fighting back calling this a wrongful conviction it
hurts she doesn't blind D she she's the kind of person that would take her shirt
off her back and help other people this is my baby this is my youngest I just want her
home I used to work at the mini subie daycare I think it was definitely more than a job to her the kids were her
number one priority I feel like the kids brightened her day do you believe that Melissa kazinski
had anything to do with Ben kingan's death zero she had nothing to do with it I am Melissa kosinski's current attorney
she loved Ben Ben loved her and what she told the police was that she threw him to the floor you
threw him on the floor yeah show us how hard you threw him on the ground or like
that did you hurt that baby no I did not I would never do that you've got her isolated in a small room with these two
men for hours i' never been she's trying so hard to be the good girl the compliant girl I want to help you guys
so much she's not equipped to deal with a situation like that we're not going anywhere until we get the facts here the
only way for me to get out was to make a confession a false confession is there any evidence that
corroborates the confession that Melissa made zero we would never take someone to
trial with just a confession this child had a fractured skull there was extensive injuries to this child
internally it's clear that she killed Benjamin do you believe there was a skull fracture there is no fracture the
evidence had been manipulated if I take these sliders here you can manipulate this photo so somebody went
in and they altered the contrast to make it look like that on screen somebody took x-rays that were
completely clear and turned them into unreadable images yes I can't think of an innocent explanation so you're saying
that either the prosecutor's office or the coroner's office but somebody representing the state did this yes yes
a former daycare worker convicted of killing a toddler tries again today to be released from prison their case was
before the prisoner Review Board in an effort to get clemency people have to know the truth I have to keep pushing
fighting no matter how much it hurts I want people to know I'm innocent [Music] [Music]
Melissa kazinski has served 16 years of a 31-year prison sentence for the death of Benjamin kingan a 16-month-old whom
she cared for at an Illinois daycare center she has long insisted she is innocent
this is not where I belong I'm going to continue to fight no matter what cuz I did not do
this we've been covering this case for more than a decade and over the years Melissa's appeals have
failed but she and her attorney Kathleen zelner are not backing down now they're
taking their fight out of the court system and straight to the governor of Illinois JB pritsker and his prisoner
review board we're asking them to declare that she's actually innocent and release her we are
also saying commuter sentence the story began on January 14th 2009 Melissa then 22 years old was
working as a teachers's assistant at the mini subbi daycare in Lincolnshire an affluent suburb of
Chicago Ben King and attended daycare there along with his twin sister and their two older siblings I came to work
and uh I saw Ben he was fine normal happy playful late that afternoon after the kids were fed a snack and cleaned up
Melissa says she put Ben down on the carpet and he crawled into his bouncy seat on the floor he's sitting in his
bouncy chair playing with his blanket and he was uh starting to kind of fall asleep which was
normal the teacher working with Melissa stepped out of the room briefly leaving Melissa alone with the
children that's when Melissa says she noticed something wrong with Ben he didn't look right I took his little hand
and I touched his hand and I'm like Ben Ben he did not wake up at all I saw orange foam coming out of his nose
and um I'm sorry Melissa called for help her older sister Crystal kusinski also worked at
the daycare at the time I hear on the intercom someone help me help me help me I ran in then started CPR immediately
was that like for you Crystal um I dream about it a lot like I see it in my you know my head
911 was called I have a child who was uh who's filing who's not breathing paramedics
responded Ben was taken to the hospital he was pronounced dead an hour later me and my sister fell to the floor
and we're just we're just Bing what happened to him and how I don't I don't understand an investigation was launched
according to this police report during an autopsy the pathologist Dr yil Choy told a detective that he observed a
skull fracture extensive bleeding inside Ben's head and that the injury was caused by another person using strong
force within hours prior to Ben's dad and yet Ben had no Cuts or obvious wounds on the outside of his body no
serious bruises the pathologist listed the autopsy as pending further studies police brought in the daycare
workers who had been with the toddler on the day of his death somebody did something determined to find out what
happened to Ben after Melissa was read her rights it's routine and protocol for us detectives began pressing her for
answers I have a good idea that you've seen what happened or you were involved with what happened cuz you were the only
only one in the room at the onside of this Melissa denied over and over again more than 60 times doing anything to B I
never put my I did not drop him but the detectives didn't stop you're there it's
not like there were 50 people in that room with you all these years later Melissa still remembers what it was like
being in that room they weren't listening to anything I said after 9 hours was under pressure and without an
attorney Melissa changed her story she said she thought if she told the investigators what they wanted to hear
they would let her go home we're not going anywhere until we get the facts here the only way for me to get out was
to make a confession a false confession I wasn't thinking at all you weren't thinking of the consequences of doing
something like that no all I could think about was just going home he starts acting
up and you get mad at him and you throw him on the floor you threw him on the floor yeah really hard when Melissa was
taken to another station for booking she repeated the same story to another investigator after spending 14 hours
with police Melissa kusinski was arrested for the murder of Benjamin King it even
though she almost immediately took back the story she told police no I'm innocent Melissa's parents Paul and
Cheryl kusinski still remember receiving the news and I said what did you think possibly not at all she had hurt this
baby nope nope she is the kind of person that would never harm any never put her
hand on someone else's child but Melissa had told investigators that she did and after that the manner
of death on Ben's death certificate was listed as homicide law enforcement announced they
had solved the case Miss Kinski uh admitted to police that she had taken the infant boy uh and thrown him on the
ground they made her look like a bad person and she's not that type of a person Melissa's family would make it
their mission to clear her name my parents sold everything that they had I put all my effort into getting her freed
they had no idea how much of a fight they were in for he was very healthy baby just a happy
happy little boy in November 2011 nearly 3 years after the death of Ben kingan Melissa kusinski went on trial for
murder the state argued that Ben was a perfectly healthy toddler leading up to his death Matthew D martini and Steven
sheller prosecuted the case how would you describe what the parents have gone through when somebody takes your
Challenge from you I don't think there's anywhere to describe what they have gone
through Dr Choy the pathologist who conducted the autopsy testified about that skull fracture he said he had seen
and how he believed the child's injury was recent and consistent with having been thrown to the floor by someone but
Melissa's trial attorney Paul DeLuca told the jury about a head injury Ben had previously received it was noticed
at the daycare 3 months earlier Melissa was not even working there at the daycare center after Ben's death
multiple people including daycare teacher Nancy kinger told investigators about it I we called the mom called the doctor
but prosecutor Steven sheller argued that the earlier injury was insignificant the pediatrician actually
examined Benjamin's head had felt around um said there was no issues that Mom should just keep an eye on him then
never had an issue after that that's not what defense experts said they noted that after the injury
there were possible signs of head trauma medical records showed that in the days
after the injury Ben was lethargic and had a persistent fever and another daycare employee Holly who asked that we
identify her by her first name only testify for the defense about the last time she saw Ben 2 days before his death
Melissa walked into the room and she was holding Ben and she said like he's not feeling well and it was almost
immediately after she said that that he threw up like everywhere the next day one day before
he died Ben was kept home from daycare prosecutor Matthew de Martini argued it was a stomach bug or a winter cold he
was given Pedialite and put to bed he woke up the next day and he was fine but the defense maintained that Ben's prior
injury was so serious that any new impact could have had major consequences and then did have a habit of throwing
his head back he would be sitting on the ground and he would just kind of LA his
body backwards and hit his head you know I guess you call it like he was a headbanger Nancy calinger recalled that
Ben had done that twice on the day of his death I put him on the floor and he immedately himself on
the and then I the sink and he himself again prosecutors insisted that Melissa had hurt Ben this child did not explode
or implode on his own and they pointed to her confession she became frustrated holding
Ben she threw him to the floor prosecutors told the jury that the fall was so severe it caused that skull
fracture at trial they mentioned a skull fracture more than 30 times but was there one well most of the experts who
testified from both sides agreed there appeared to be a fracture in autopsy photos one defense expert said she
couldn't say for sure and according to Melissa's attorney Paul Deluga the x-rays the prosecution had provided
before the trial were unreadable before trial I said Do we have any better images and it was no the state's Final
witness pathologist Dr Manny Montes gave the most Vivid and damaging testimony at
trial he said he examined the body and felt the fracture with his bare hands Dr Mon says said he put his finger in the
skull and threw the fracture I mean it was devastating the jury deliberated for 7 hours before convicting Melissa
kusinski of aggravated battery of a child and first-degree murder my heart sunk I know I didn't do
this Melissa's family remained determin to prove her innocence I didn't accept the verage I I knew it was wrong and in
202 12 a year after the conviction Dr Thomas rud the then newly elected Lake County coroner agreed to review the
autopsy evidence at the urging of Melissa's trial attorney I saw a membrane and I thought my God what do
you mean when you say you saw a membrane you you see a scab similar to what forms
on your skin except it's in the brain this is a slide of a part of this infant's brain correct by definition if
you have a membrane you have an old injury at Melissa's trial Dr Choy had told the jury he observed no sign of an
old injury but according to Dr Rod Dr Choy had simply missed it he called in Dr Nancy Jones a well-regarded
pathologist for a second opinion and she agreed with Dr rud and noted that the old injury had been healing for about 2
or 3 months a time frame consistent with that bump on Ben's head that was noticed
at daycare how they let that go is beyond me like the defense experts at trial doctors Jones and rud believe that
the old injury was further exacerbated by Ben's headbanging the added fluid of the recent injury pushes that brain down
and shuts down the breathing system that is the the cause of the child's death it
was the old injury the old injury was massive Dr red phon the now retired Dr Choy who signed a sworn affidavit
conceding that he had missed that Ben had suffered an old injury but he crossed out the word significant and
when asked if he would have changed his testimony at trial Dr Choy said no there's no indication that anything in
there is significant but Dr rud suspected that Dr Troy may have also been wrong about another major issue in
the case that alleged skull fracture what should have been done was that whole section
should have been cut out to look under the microscope to see if in fact it is a skull fracture and they didn't Dr rub
believed what Dr Choy and the other medical experts thought was a skull fracture may have instead been a normal
part of Ben's growing skull but it couldn't prove it then in 2015 Melissa's father said he received an
anonymous call that there was a set of X-rays at the Corner's office that had never been turned over to the defense
when Dr rud's staff searched the computer archives they came across these startling
images that were never shown a trial I was dumbfounded there's definitely no skull fracture here
[Music] I've shown this to various pathologist and a radiologist they've all called me
and say there is no skull fracture at in this child at all in 2015 4 years after
Melissa kosinski's conviction and short after those clear X-rays of Ben kingan were found Dr Rudd changed the manner of
death on Ben's death certificate from homicide to undetermined by this point defense
attorney Kathleen zelner had taken on Melissa's case I don't know of a case in America where someone's serving a
31-year prison sentence for a death that was undetermined zelner who has built a
career on getting the wrong wrongfully convicted out of prison was intent on getting Melissa's conviction overturned
and in 2016 Melissa was granted an evidentiary hearing to present what zelner argued
was New Evidence before judge Daniel shanes the same judge who presided over Melissa's trial the New Evidence was
that the images that had been given to Paul deuca had been darkened remember the state gave Melissa's trial attorney
Paul Luca a disc containing these dark unreadable x-rays before trial at the evidentiary hearing Dr rud testified
about finding the clear x-rays x-rays that he and other defense experts said showed no skull fracture x-rays that
zelner argued would have changed the outcome of Melissa's trial the skull fracture was the pivotal point in the
state's case to convince the jury it was a h HDE but at the evidentiary hearing prosecutors argued that this wasn't new
evidence in the case they said that disc provided to DeLuca had software that could enhance the x-rays and that he
simply didn't do enough to brighten them DeLuca says he couldn't even open the software I call in a secretary call in
somebody else in the office no one could get any better images zelner with the help of an Imaging expert argued that it
didn't matter what Duca did that the x-rays that he had been given had been modified and were inferior to the ones
on the coroner's office computer she also called a witness whom she believed raised more questions about
the prosecution's case Paul Foreman the deputy coroner during Ben kingan's autopsies Foreman disputed the testimony
of one of the most important Witnesses at Melissa's trial Dr Manny Montes remember Dr Montes was the state's Final
witness who testified that he felt a fracture in Ben kingan's skull but Foreman who said he was there
when Montes came to the coroner's office testified that Montes never physically examined Ben's body or actually touch
the child's skull could he have somehow G gone in and looked at Ben's body examined the body without you knowing no
I was with him from the moment he came in the door to the moment he left the state tried to discredit Foreman by
questioning his memory as well as his mental health Foreman told us he had been treated for bipolar disorder and
depression well it was a personal attack but Foreman wasn't the only defense witness who raised questions about Dr
montes's testimony Dr Robert Zimmerman a renowned pediatric neuroradiologist who examined the
readable x-rays testified that if that skull fracture had existed it would be clearly visible it wasn't there on the
X-ray so I don't think he could have actually seen it but prosecutors stood by their trial Witnesses Dr Mones and Dr
Choy who said they saw and felt a skull fracture we reached out to both doctors for this broadcast but they did not
respond to our requests for comment when the evidentiary hearing ended judge shanes ruled against Melissa
she was dealt a devastating setback today in court that's when a judge ruled she would not get a new
trial in his ruling judge Shane stated that he didn't find Paul Foreman's testimony regarding Dr Montes credible
and he agreed with the state that Paul Duca could have brightened the x-rays and made them
readable it was another let down for Melissa and her family you clearly made a mistake I just don't
understand zelner appealed the ruling but again a disappointment and then 4 years later in
2022 there was a development that few saw coming Eric Reinhardt a new State's Attorney in Lake County the county where
Melissa was convicted had taken office zelner says he wanted more information on the discrepancy over the X-rays so he
recommended she retain the digital forensics company Garrett Discovery we paid for him but he recommended him
Andrew Garrett is the CEO of Garrett Discovery Brian Bowman is a digital forensics expert who works for him they
concluded the x-rays were manipulated by someone using a software tool used to view
x-rays how did Paul Duca the defense attorney end up with these very dark pictures I can show you so if I take
these sliders here and I drag them all the way down or all the way up you can manipulate this
photo so somebody went in and they altered the contrast to make it look like that on
screen and then exported that file on the coroner's computer on the coroner's computer Bowman agrees there was little
Duca could do the defense council could have adjusted some of the contrast on the jpegs that they were given but they
couldn't make the images bigger and they wouldn't be able to go in and zoom into
the the depth and have the clarity of the image that the original is but if Ben kingan's X-rays were manipulated who
did it in their report gar and Bowman pointed to the state you put in here the state adjusted the settings of the
images that resulted in Black washed out images you're saying that either the prosecutor's office or the coroner's
office but somebody repres presenting the state did this yes yes this is not a kiosk computer sitting in a Lobby this
is in their custody and control you have to be in the Corner's office to get access to
this what do you make of Garrett Discovery findings chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X
[Music] in late 2022 when Lake County State's Attorney Eric reinard met with the
forensic experts experts he recommended and learned of their findings attorneys Kathleen zelner and Paul deuca were also
there Eric was just indignant he was saying whoever had done this manipulation should be held accountable
I believed after the meeting that he believed in Lissa's innocence and he he was going to try to rectify this I
thought um he was going to do something about it but nothing happened say zelner
and Duca and as the months stretched on zelner decided to also look more closely
at Melissa's confession that's the only evidence against her there's nothing that tips this as being a homicide
absolutely nothing mer asked Dr Saul cassen a psychology professor and leading expert on false
confessions to review the case Dr Kasen had first analyzed the interrogation back in
2016 when he was a CVS news consultant he told us then and now that it appears police went into that room determined to
get a confession the reason that we were called in in this incident is cuz Ben's
skull was fracture what we need to know right now is if this was done by accident or did somebody
intentionally hurt him yeah I I would never put my hands on him her denials were emphatic I never put my hand on the
chest ever and they plowed over all of them and you know what medical evidence it just doesn't lie okay remember a
detective reported that during the autopsy the pathologist Dr Choy told him that Ben had a skull fracture and that
the injury was recent and was caused by another person using strong force they didn't an autopsy on B yeah we're
talking a skull fracture there's sometimes accidents happening I mean they're unavoidable they launch into an
accident scenario I did not drop them did you lose your patience and hit him no did you push him into a
wall M after nearly 6 hours with investigators you didn't come to work that day with the intent of hurting
anybody Melissa told them it was an accident did you drop the baby I wasn't paying attention he
flipped out of my hands but that didn't satisfy the detectives who had left the room periodically to phone Dr Choy that
story you're giv us is a there's no way no way that that would have caused that traumatic of an injury
all you need to do is tell us the truth and we're done they're not saying nothing will happen to you but it's
implied after 9 hours in that room the investigators were finally getting Melissa to tell a story that could
account for a skull fracture you were angry I was angry and aggravated show us how angry you were and show us what
happened and let's let just get this over with and move on okay so I got angry yeah and I went boom I'm going
tell you something right now we this is very specific this is going to leave a specific Mark like a fracture then they
gave Melissa a scenario of why she got angry we think in this situation the other babies are screaming crying and
what she did he starts acting up and you you get mad at him and you throw on the
floor you threw him on the floor yeah she needs to get out of there she can't take it anymore I need so sorry okay we
understand the detectives who interrogated Melissa did not respond to our request for comment Dr casson raises
concerns about how long Melissa was in that room approximately 10 hours and how particularly vulnerable she
was about two and half years before Ben kingan's death Melissa had reported she was
raped she was enclosed in a small space pinned down and sexually assaulted now she's pinned into the corner of her room
I can only imagine that while this would be normally stressful for the average person it would be even more stressful
for somebody with that history the defense recently had Melissa evaluated by a psychologist and psychiatrist
they diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder they also assessed her as having borderline intellectual
functioning she scored at a 4.8 grade level in sentence comprehension which could help explain
why she believed she could go home even after she had confessed to murder I'm just kind of curious how long much more
not much longer we're on the phone right now we're trying to get this done as quick
because I just want to go home spend time with my parents and puppy let me get she had no idea what was happening
the confession in my mind is worthless there are multiple reasons why she might have given this confession this isn't
just a vulnerable suspect it isn't just interrogation tactics that are highly deceptive it's
both the jury at Melissa's trial heard about her low IQ but the judge would not allow a false confession expert to test
testify zelner believes that testimony might have changed the verdict if Melissa kazinski had not walked into
that room as she had insisted on a attorney would she be impr prison today no absolutely not they had absolutely
nothing there's no eyewitness there was no video the reason Melissa kazinski got
charged is she confessed but if Melissa didn't harm Ben kingan what happened to the toddler it
raises more questions about that earlier injury the one that was discovered at the daycare months before his death
several employees there remembered a coworker she was working at the that happened her name is what I
believe I only heard I didn't see anything is that she put it in the crib and I believe he threw himself back she
quit the day after Brenda didn't have Tes ify at Melissa's trial and the defense was
never able to track her down but we did a number of people have said that b was hurt when he was with
[Music] you Melissa kusinski was interrogated for hours about the injury Ben kingan
received just before his death but what about the daycare worker who was reported to be with Ben a few months
earlier when he got a lump on his head she didn't return our calls but when we located her she agreed to speak to us on
the condition we obscure her face and identify her only by Brenda her first name on October 27th
2008 there was a report of an injury on Ben King and do you remember that that no I don't the way it's been described
is from some people is that Ben was with you and you were putting him in the bed
they heard a bump and and then he had a bump on the back of his head no did that
happen with you no but you did stop working the very next day I did I I was just kind of tired of being there I
don't recall a bump and I don't recall ever bumping him so do you say it didn't happen or you don't remember it Happ it
didn't happen Brenda has never been charged with harming Ben intentionally or accidentally but attorney Kathleen
Zelmer is adamant the Ben sustained a serious injury that day I think that his parents were misled by the daycare
center about that incident and according to these police reports it wouldn't be the first time that the daycare
allegedly tried to cover up the seriousness of a child's injury the daycare was shut
down by state authorities shortly after Ben died in April 2024 more than 12 years
after Melissa's conviction with no success in the court system zelner filed this clemency petition asking Illinois
governor JB pritzker to exonerate Melissa or release her for time served I believe this is her best chance for
Freedom before a scheduled hearing Lake County State's Attorney Eric Reinhardt spoke to an attorney representing Ben
kingan's family and then he wrote this letter to the prisoner review board stating his office strongly opposes
Melissa's clemency petition were you shocked by that totally I believe he thinks in his heart that she's
innocent Reinhardt would not do an on camera interview or speak to us on the record but in that letter to the board
he stated that there is no new evidence in the case and that Melissa's petition for clemency does not establish
innocence on July 9th 2024 zelner went before the prisoner review board to make her case for Melissa's Freedom what we
want to do today is focus on who is this person and how did she end up in the position that she's in convicted of the
first degree murder of a child but also they are making an impassion plea for Ben kingan's parents
my name is Amy K and I am here with my husand we are the parents of Benjamin pan who was murdered from Melissa cinski
threw him to the ground back his call because of her actions Andy and I are adamantly opposed to Melissa kusinski
released we continue to read about how there is no justice for Melissa but where is the justice for V and for Andy
and myself and our surviving children we hope that you as the prison review board and the governor will Deni
her petition for Clowny Amy and Andy kingan declined our request for an interview following Amy's statement
zelner was then given the chance to respond there is no question that the death of a child is probably the worst
thing that could ever happen to a parent but the only way that a parent gets closure is with the truth and the truth
has not come out on this case I know that she is innocent after the hearing it was up to
the prisoner review board to make a confidential recommendation to Governor pritsker as to whether Alissa should be
released if you had a chance to talk to Governor pritsker yourself M what would you say I would say just please look at
my case I didn't do this Holly who worked at the daycare with Melissa believes her so much so
that she wrote this letter to the Governor from the time Melissa was arrested for Benjamin's murder I have
always thought she was innocent the evidence does not point to Melissa I can only
imagine how Ben's family is going to feel knowing that I'm saying Melissa's Innocent but an
innocent person should not be in jail when we first met the kusinski family back in
2014 5 years after Melissa's arrest they still had her bedroom set up today that room is still set up just as
it was Paul and Cheryl kazinski haven't given up hope that their daughter will be home soon she's daddy's little
girl we did everything again and we're just going to keep on until she comes home
[Music] [Music] CBS next Saturday a young grad student is shot and killed it still doesn't feel real was
this just a random act of road rage it's not a violent crash no or was it something much more personal wow there's
our connection 48 hours is all new CBS next Saturday 109 Central and streaming on Paramount Plus

Was key evidence manipulated to help convict a day care worker of murder? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty has new details in a case she's been covering for more than a decade. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV. (Aired Jan. 18, 2025)

Go deeper into the case with our new "Post Mortem" video podcast: https://youtu.be/fIa9PSbolbM

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Brief Summary

Melissa Kazinski fights wrongful conviction for toddler's death, claiming coerced confession and new evidence of innocence.

Key points

The Controversial Conviction. Melissa was convicted based on a confession she claims was coerced and false.
Melissa Kazinski's Fight for Innocence. After serving 16 years for a crime she insists she didn't commit, Melissa fights for clemency.
New Evidence Emerges. In 2015, clear X-rays were found that contradicted the evidence used in Melissa's trial.
Manipulation of Evidence. The X-rays in the case were manipulated, raising questions about the investigation.
Zelner's Indignation. Attorney Kathleen Zelner expresses her frustration over the lack of accountability for evidence manipulation.
Confession Under Duress. Melissa's confession is scrutinized as potentially coerced due to her vulnerable state.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I want people to know I'm innocent.

Melissa's determination to prove her innocence.

3:45WatchJan 23, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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