MOTHER HELD IN DEATH OF ADOPTED BOY

Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dateline: TOMS RIVER

A Brick Township woman was charged with murder yesterday after the 3-year- old Honduran boy in her custody died of head injuries.

Kathleen Golebieski, 37, was arraigned in Ocean County Superior Court on charges of murder and child endangerment and held on $200,000 bail. Her husband, Joseph Golebieski, also 37, was charged with child endangerment and held on $50,000 bail.

Kyle Golebieski died Sunday at Jersey Shore Medical Center after being brought, unconscious, by ambulance to the hospital two days before. He never regained consciousness, Ocean County Prosecutor Dan Carluccio said. An autopsy by Dr. Hydow Park found evidence of multiple beatings, Carluccio said.

"It is not a single loss of temper," Carluccio said. "It is a course of conduct over a period of weeks." Kyle's 2-year-old brother, Ryan, appeared unharmed and has been placed in foster care, Carluccio said.

The case has sparked an investigation into a former New Jersey company and its possible connection to black market adoptions, he said.

The children, from Honduras, had lived with the couple for about a year, said a police complaint.

Carluccio said that there was no record of a legal adoption in the United States and that the children had Immigration and Naturalization Service identification cards.

"This may be a black market adoption," Carluccio said.

A company, which Carluccio declined to name, is being investigated in connection with the adoption. The company moved the Florida after losing its New Jersey license, he said.