BRICK WOMAN ADMITS KILLING ADOPTED SON, 3
Author: DEBORAH COOMBE
A Brick Township woman pleaded guilty yesterday to aggravated manslaughter in the beating death of her 3-year-old adopted son.
Kathleen Kelly Golebieski, 38, told Superior Court Judge James N. Citta in Toms River that she could not remember inflicting the fatal injuries to Kyle Golebieski, but could not deny the state's evidence that she was responsible for his death from blows to the head.
When public defender Robert Tarver showed Golebieski photographs taken prior to the boy's autopsy, she admitted causing the bruises, in various stages of healing, on the boy's legs, back, arms, hands and face. After Golebieski called police to her home 2:42 p.m. July 30, 1993, an ambulance was called that transported the unconscious boy to the trauma unit at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune. Kyle died the next morning without gaining consciousness.
Golebieski, who wore sunglasses and cried through most of the proceeding, pleaded guilty to an amended indictment in which a charge of murder was downgraded to aggravated manslaughter that included a count of endangering the welfare of a child.
The plea bargain calls for her to receive a maximum sentence of 20 years, serving 10 years before being eligible for parole. The charge of aggravated manslaughter carries a maximum 30-year sentence with a presumed sentence of 20 years, Citta said.
Citta set Sept. 23 for sentencing and allowed her to remain free on $90,000 bail.
Her husband, Joseph Golebieski, 38, pleaded guilty in May to a charge he failed to report signs his adopted son was being abused, and agreed to testify against his wife. He faces a four-year sentence.
Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie M. Wauters said Kyle's younger brother, Ryan, was placed in foster care, and the Golebieskis are legally separated.
The Golebieskis adopted the boys from the Honduras at ages 2 and 1 in July 1992 when they lived in Shrewsbury. Neighbors reported abuse of the older boy three times to the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS).
The last time DYFS workers visited the house was in June 1993 a week or two prior to the Golebieskis' move to Brick Township. Neighbors in their new community told police they had seen Mrs. Golebieski abuse the boy on a street near her home a week prior to Kyle's death and threatened to call police if she did not stop.