A Naperville woman accused of killing her 7-year-old son and the 5-year-old girl she was babysitting is now standing trial five years later.
Attorneys argued Tuesday not over whether 45-year-old Elzbieta Plackowska killed the children but whether she was insane on the night of October 30, 2012, when the killings took place.
Judge Robert Miller heard opening statements as well as testimony from two witnesses on the first day of trial.
Plackowska is facing 10 counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals.
She has admitted to murdering her son, Justin, and 5-year-old Olivia Dworakowski as well as killing two family dogs at Olivia’s home where she was babysitting.
Prosecutors say Plackowska killed the children to get back at her husband who spent time traveling away from home as a trucker and that she felt unappreciated in her two jobs as a house cleaner and babysitter.
Plackowska’s defense says she was suffering from mania, the most serious form of bipolar disorder, and was suffering a mental break brought on by the death of her father about two weeks earlier.
Olivia’s mother Marta Dworakowski took the stand first.
She says when she interviewed Plakowska to babysit Olivia, Plackowska said she “would treat her like her own child,” but after a couple of disagreements Dworakowski says she made the decision to look for a new babysitter the night before the murders.
Plackowska faces a mandatory sentence of natural life in prison if convicted.
The bench trial is expected to last about two weeks.
Naperville News 17’s Beth Bria reports.