Ill. slayings suspect was grieving father’s death

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois prosecutor says the suburban Chicago woman charged with stabbing to death her son and a little girl she was babysitting told investigators she was upset by her father’s recent death.

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin also says the woman had known the mother of the girl who died since the beginning of the school year — though their children went to different schools, and it remains unclear where the two women crossed paths.

Those details and others are emerging as investigators try to determine why Elzbieta Plackowska (elz-BEE’-tah plah-KOW’-skuh) may have stabbed her 7-year-old son Justin 100 times and 5-year-old Olivia Dworakowski 50 times this week.

Berlin says investigators have found nothing to indicate that the 40-year-Plackowska had a history of mental illness.