No charges for teacher who didn't report abuse
A grade school teacher will not face charges for failing to tell child protective services she saw signs of abuse from a Crystal Lake woman who later murdered her 7-year-old daughter, police said Tuesday.
Although teacher Vanessa Hopp publicly stated she did not report what she saw to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as required, police said investigators found no evidence to verify her claims the girl was abused.
"Her statements alone would not be enough to bring charges," Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Dennis Harris said. "You can't convict someone on a confession alone. There has to be some substantiation."
Hopp came forward with the abuse claims after the Aug. 28 deaths of former student Sydney Kamysz and her mother, Maggie Kamysz. Police say the 28-year-old single mother suffocated her daughter to death in a Crystal Lake home they shared with her parents, then drove herself to railroad tracks near Cary and stepped in front of an oncoming Metra train.
Kamysz at the time was embroiled in a court fight with Sydney's father over visitation rights. Police say all evidence points to a murder-suicide.
Hopp, Sydney's dual-language teacher last year at Husmann Elementary School in Crystal Lake, told the Daily Herald two days later she saw Kamysz slap, pinch and verbally abuse her daughter in the classroom.
She admitted she never called DCFS directly, but said she reported the incidents to her supervisors and a social worker at Husmann. Those officials, Hopp said, told her they would address the situation.
However, Harris said, investigators found no one to verify Hopp's claims she reported the abuse to school officials or anyone else who saw signs the girl had been abused.
"We found no substantiation to establish that what she said she saw ever occurred," he said. "And there was no indication she reported it to anyone."
Hopp, who now teaches at Arnett Lines Elementary School in Barrington, could not be reached immediately Tuesday for comment.
Under state law, people in certain professions such as teachers, doctors and social workers must report indications of child abuse to DCFS. Failing to do so could result in criminal charges.
The decision not to charge Hopp comes about six weeks after Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 asked police to investigate whether anyone associated with the district violated state law by not reporting the abuse claims.
Harris said unless new information comes out, police consider the investigation closed.
The investigation into the deaths of Sydney and her mother remains open.
McHenry County Undersheriff Gene Lowery said last week that no new information has been discovered to sway detectives from their belief it was a murder-suicide.
A formal inquest into the deaths will be conducted by the McHenry County coroner's office, probably within the next month, Deputy Coroner Robert Lock said today.