24-03-2025
Pewaukee woman gets 20 years in starvation death of autistic daughter
A Pewaukee woman will spend the next 20 years behind bars for the 2023 death of her severely autistic adult daughter, who officials say died as a result of starvation.
Amy Laszkiewicz, 53, faced up to 40 years in prison, had she been convicted by a Waukesha County jury of recklessly subjecting an at-risk individual to abuse causing death.
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Instead, she entered an Alford plea of no contest to the charge in January, online court records show. Such a plea meant she admitted no guilt in the case, but conceded that prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction.
On Thursday, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael O. Bohren handed down the prison sentence for Laskiewicz, and also ordered her to 15 years of extended supervision once she is released.
According to a criminal complaint, deputies responded to a home on Christian Lane Jan. 4, 2023 after Laskiewicz called 911 to report that her daughter had died. There, they found Cora Laszkiewicz, 23, in a second-floor bedroom with blankets covering her body.
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She wasn't breathing and had no pulse. Cora Laszkiewicz also was extremely thin and her eyes and cheeks were sunken.
Laszkiewicz told investigators her daughter had been diagnosed with severe autism and wasn't able to regulate her own diet. Laszkiewicz had been the legal guardian and sole care provider for her daughter since 2017, and that Cora Lazskiewicz hadn't left the residence since the COVID-19 pandemic.
An autopsy determined Cora Lazskiewicz was emaciated and dehydrated; her hip bones, ribs and sternum were all visible under her skin, according to the criminal complaint. She was 5-foot-5 and weighed 70 pounds at the time of her to the criminal complaint, Laszkiewicz told investigators Cora Lazskiewicz last saw a doctor in 2019, but they determined her last documented visit was July 3, 2017.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Pewaukee woman gets 20 years in starvation death of autistic daughter
