Custody battle leads to likely murder-suicide

A Crystal Lake mother embroiled in a custody dispute over her 7-year-old daughter likely suffocated the girl Tuesday afternoon soon before stepping in front of a train to take her own life, officials said Wednesday afternoon.

The deaths of Magdalene Kamysz, 28, and daughter Sydney Kamysz seem to have been a murder-suicide perhaps driven by the heated legal fight with the girl's father, McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren said.

"I would not want to rule anything out at this point, but certainly the focus of the investigation is on the mother," Nygren said.

Sydney Kamysz was found lying dead in her bed just before 6 p.m. Tuesday, a little more than four hours after her mother stood before an oncoming Metra train in a wooded stretch of track between Cary and Crystal Lake.

So far, investigators have not located a note or any other indication of the mother's intentions or motivations, Nygren said. Authorities will be more certain about the cause of death once results of toxicology tests are available.

Deputy Coroner Robert Lock found Sydney's body when he tried to notify the family of Magdalene's death. The girl was found in the bedroom she shared with her mother, Lock said. Magdalene Kamysz, her parents Jozef and Barbara Kamysz, and young Sydney all lived in the home on Hanover Drive near Crystal Lake.

There were no signs of trauma and no indication of forced entry, Nygren said. The girl's bedroom, however, was locked when Lock arrived.

Although Jozef Kamysz was home when authorities arrived, Nygren said he would have been at work when his granddaughter was killed.

After Magdalene Kamysz killed her daughter, authorities believe, she drove to an industrial area along Route 14 between Cary and Crystal Lake, parked a short distance from the tracks and walked over a steep embankment into the train's path.

"She came up from the north side of the tracks, faced the train, and as the train approached turned her back to it," Cary police Sgt. Ed Synek said.

Several neighbors said Magdalene, who had lived at the home with her parents for the bulk of her adulthood, left each morning around 8:15 a.m. with her daughter, who was often carrying an armload of books. Otherwise, they said, they rarely saw the quiet little girl other than the occasional door-to-door visit to sell something for school.

Since early this year, Sydney had been at the center of a custody and visitation dispute between her mother and her father, Alan B. Burton of Walworth, Wis.

Burton, 29, filed court papers Feb. 6 asking a court to grant him joint custody of the girl as well as liberal visitation rights. In his petition, Burton states he had been trying to establish a visitation schedule with Kamysz, but the two could not reach any agreements.

A judge had ordered the parents into mediation in June, but after three meetings with a mediator -- once each individually and once together -- the process was terminated unsuccessfully.

But Kamysz had completed a parenting class in June as required by the court process.

Burton could not be reached Wednesday. Nygren said Burton was notified of his daughter's death Tuesday night.

Burton's attorney, Margi Worth, said her client had a relationship with his daughter since her birth -- and had been making child support payments -- but in the past year was having trouble getting visitation from her mother. She said she did not know what had caused Kamysz to resist visitation between Burton and his daughter.

"Depositions had been scheduled, and that was an issue we were going to explore," she said.

Worth said she had not spoken to Burton since learning of Sydney's death.

"Clearly during this tragic time his focus is on dealing with this horrible loss," she said.

Wesley Pribla, who represented Kamysz in the ongoing custody case, said the proceedings were not unusually hostile and there were no indications his client would take drastic actions as a result of the case.

"She impressed me as being a loving mother who had nothing but the best interests of her daughter at heart," Pribla said. "She seemed to love her daughter a lot."

The case last appeared in court Aug. 14 and had been set for future hearings on custody and visitation.

Neither parent has a criminal history in McHenry County.

Sydney was to start school Wednesday morning as a second-grader at Husmann Elementary School.

Crystal Lake Elementary District 47 Superintendent Ron Miller remembered her as "a really talented and gifted student" who was fluent in Polish, English and then Spanish after having spent first grade in the school's dual language program.

When informed of her death Tuesday night, Miller said, "it took my breath away."

He called it "a terrible waste of a talented little girl."

Husmann Principal Linda Corteen said she was a friendly girl who could converse with adults and children alike.

"She was very talented and creative, very artistic. She loved to draw," Corteen said.

Miller Wednesday notified his staff of Sydney's death.

But with school ending by noon, no formal announcement was to be made today to students.

McHenry County Crisis Line officials said they would be working with the school district to offer counseling.

Neighbors, too, were shocked by the course of events.

Jozef and Barbara Kamysz have lived in the quiet, bucolic neighborhood for almost two decades, said neighbors who knew the couple for their carefully tended, backyard garden.

"It's very upsetting," said neighbor Tricia Blossom. "It's devastating. This is a quiet, nothing-happens neighborhood."