Amy S. Laszkiewicz appears inset against an image of the residence where she allegedly allowed her daughter to starve to death in Pewaukee, Wisc. (Waukesha County Jail; Google Maps)
A Wisconsin mother starved her adult daughter with “severe autism” to death, in part, because she did not want to upset the since-deceased woman with issues regarding her weight, authorities allege.
Amy S. Laszkiewicz, 52, stands accused of one count of recklessly subjecting an individual at risk to abuse – and causing death over the Jan. 4 malnourishment death of Cora Laszkiewicz, 23, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office and obtained by Law&Crime.
The defendant was originally arrested and charged on June 21. She quickly posted $10,000 bail and was released until Monday when Court Commissioner Kevin Costello found probable cause to sustain the charge and ordered her to remain detained in jail pending trial, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
Amy Laszkiewicz made the 911 call herself on the morning she found her daughter dead in bed, the criminal complaint says. The elder Laszkiewicz was the younger’s legal guardian and full-time caregiver as of 2017 due to her daughter’s “severe autism.”
Deputies responded to the residence and found the young woman without a pulse, unable to breathe, and beyond medical help.
According to medical findings from Dr. Amy Shiel that are cited in the complaint, the “extremely thin and emaciated” victim, who stood at 5’5″, weighed all of 70 pounds at the time she died. Her hip bones and rib bones were visible through her skin, her eyes were sunken in, and she had almost no fatty tissue on her body, the report said. The medical examiner also said the deceased woman’s skin was in a state of “turgor,” a term that means skin does not sufficiently recover after being pinched and which suggests severe dehydration.
In an email to Law&Crime, a spokesperson for the Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s Office said that Cora Laszkiewicz’s full autopsy report had not been finalized as of Thursday.
The criminal complaint says that Cora Laszkiewicz’s manner of death was “homicide, with the caregiver failing to provide [her daughter] adequate hydration and nutrition.”
The defendant would go on to tell law enforcement that her daughter had not left their residence since the COVID-19 pandemic began and that she “did not want to go to school, have visitors or go anywhere,” according to the complaint.
The defendant allegedly told law enforcement that her daughter last saw a doctor in person in 2019, according to the complaint. Investigators say the deceased woman last saw her primary care physician in 2017, however, when she was 17 years old. At that time, she weighed 135 pounds.
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Amy Laszkiewicz allegedly told investigators that her daughter “was never a big eater,” the complaint says, but would eat “breakfast burritos” while “sticking to a gluten and dairy free diet.”
The accused mother said she knew her daughter had been getting ever thinner but thought she would “bounce back.” When asked by a detective if she ever considered calling emergency services to have her daughter taken to a hospital over her extreme weight loss, the defendant said she “didn’t want to upset” the young woman.
In the complaint, Amy Laszkiewicz allegedly said that all of her daughter’s feeding and cleaning went through her.
“The defendant acknowledged that [her daughter] was very thin and said, ‘maybe my decisions weren’t right, and I can acknowledge that. I probably should have taken her in, I didn’t want to upset her more. That was always a goal of mine, to keep her calm,”” the criminal complaint reads.
Law&Crime reached out to the DA’s office for comment on this story but no response was immediately forthcoming.
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The defendant is currently being detained in the Waukesha County Jail.
She is being represented in her case by attorneys Ronald James Sonderhouse and Breanne Marie Bucher. During Monday’s hearing, Sonderhouse objected to having his client detained pending trial and moved to have the charges against her dismissed. A not guilty plea was entered by the defense, who moved to have the case reassigned.
“When the case has been reassigned the trial Court will set a new date,” the public docket in the case reads.
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