On Wednesday, November 17, 2021, EMS Personnel responded to a residence in Griswold for the report of an unresponsive infant. The baby was transported to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford where he was treated for several days.
On Sunday, November 21, 2021, the infant was pronounced dead.
Detectives from the Eastern District major Crime Squad were assigned to the case. At 3:30 PM, Detectives arrived at Czyzewski’s residence and found her mother, Linda Kennison, in the home and told Detectives that Crystal wasn’t home but visiting with a cousin in Norwich.
According to the arrest warrant, Kennison told police that Czyzewski was fed the baby and put him in his swing at about 7:00 – 7:30 PM that evening, then placed him in his bassinet around 8:00 PM. She also stated that Czyzewski picked up the child at about 9:25 PM and had “white stuff” coming out of his nose and was not breathing. Kennison tried to clean the white stuff from the babies nose and thought it was formula. Kennison said the baby took a breath, but then didn’t breathe. Kennison said she also attempted CPR on the baby until EMS arrived.
Detectives made contact with Czyzewski in Norwich and told the same story that her mother had to police. She added that when she put the baby in the swing, she went for a walk.
It was all a lie.
Czyzewski admitted to detectives that she had been home most of the day and that her and her mother, Linda Kennison, made up the story but eventually stated that she was stressed out and hadn’t planning on having a child when she gave birth to her son. She went on to say that both her 5 year old and the baby were crying and it was “too much.”
Czyzewski then admitted that she placed a blanket over the baby’s face while he was sitting in the swing. She then placed her hand over the blanket for about 20 minutes until he was dead. Czyzewski said that when she removed her hand, the baby was no longer breathing and his body was lifeless. She left her infant son in the swing for the remainder of the day.
Her mother, also knew the baby wasn’t breathing but decided that it was best to lie to the police because she was concerned about losing her 5 year old is the truth was revealed. Kennison only admitted that she was aware after detectives told her that Czyzewski had confessed. She admitted to knowing that the baby wasn’t breathing but didn’t know that he was suffocated by his mother or that she did anything to hurt him.
Czyzewski is being held on a $500,000 bond after being charged with First Degree Manslaughter and Risk of Injury to a Minor.