Michele Kalina: The Infants Hidden in a Pennsylvania Closet
Background
Michele Kalina was a home-health aide from Reading, Pennsylvania, whose case became known after the remains of five infants were discovered inside her family’s apartment in July 2010. Although Kalina is sometimes described as a serial killer, the legal outcome was more limited: she pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree murder because prosecutors could conclusively prove a live birth in only one case. She also pleaded guilty to five counts of abusing a corpse and five counts of concealing the death of a child.
Kalina was married to Jeffrey Kalina and had two publicly identified children with him. Their son, Andrew, had cerebral palsy and died in 2000 at the age of 13. Their daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1991. Beginning during the 1990s, Kalina conducted a long-term affair with a male coworker. Investigators concluded that the affair produced several secret pregnancies. The coworker was identified through DNA as the father of at least three of the five infants whose remains were recovered, while the available results concerning the other infants were less certain.
The Secret Pregnancies
Authorities believed that Kalina concealed repeated pregnancies from her husband, her lover, her daughter and her coworkers. When people noticed changes in her appearance, she reportedly explained that she suffered from recurring cysts that caused abdominal swelling and needed to be drained. No hospital records documented the five deliveries connected to the recovered remains.
Kalina later told a psychiatrist that the births occurred privately in a bathtub at home. She said that after each delivery she wrapped the infant in a towel and placed the body in a bag, tub, cooler or other container. She then kept the containers inside a locked closet that members of her family had been warned not to enter. When the family moved from an earlier residence to an apartment in Reading, Kalina transported the concealed remains with her.
Discovery of the Remains
In July 2010, Kalina’s husband and teenage daughter entered the restricted closet while Kalina was away. They discovered bones and several containers, including plastic bags, coolers and tubs. Some of the remains were enclosed in containers containing hardened cement.
The family contacted police during the early morning. The first responding officers initially failed to recognize some of the bones as human and reportedly told the family that they could discard them. After additional remains were found, authorities returned and began a full investigation. Investigators recovered skeletal material representing five separate infants. A search was also conducted at Kalina’s current and former homes because officials needed to determine whether any other remains existed.
Forensic Findings
Forensic examinations established that the remains belonged to five infants. At least four had reached or approached full-term development. Investigators announced in October 2010 that evidence indicated at least four of the infants had probably been born alive. Because the bodies were badly decomposed and had been concealed for years, medical examiners could not determine a precise cause of death for each infant.
Authorities considered asphyxiation, poisoning and fatal neglect among the possible causes. Prosecutors maintained that Kalina caused the deaths or deliberately failed to provide the care necessary to keep the newborns alive. Kalina denied intentionally attacking the infants and claimed that she believed several had been stillborn. The available physical evidence, however, allowed prosecutors to establish beyond the required legal standard that at least one infant had been born alive and unlawfully killed.
Known Victim Information
The five infants were never publicly identified by personal names. Exact birth and death dates could not be verified because the pregnancies were concealed, the births were never officially registered and the remains were too decomposed to establish individual dates. Reporting placed the secret pregnancies and deaths within the period beginning in the late 1990s and ending before the remains were discovered in July 2010.
- Infant One: Name not publicly released. Exact date of birth and death unknown. Believed to have been delivered secretly at a residence in the Reading, Pennsylvania, area. Remains discovered in the Kalina family’s Reading apartment in July 2010.
- Infant Two: Name not publicly released. Exact date of birth and death unknown. Believed to have been delivered privately at home in or near Reading, Pennsylvania. Remains discovered in July 2010.
- Infant Three: Name not publicly released. Exact date of birth and death unknown. DNA evidence identified Kalina as the mother and connected the infant to her concealed pregnancies. Remains discovered in the locked closet of the Reading apartment in July 2010.
- Infant Four: Name not publicly released. Exact date of birth and death unknown. Forensic evidence indicated that the infant had reached or approached full term and had probably been born alive. Remains discovered in Reading, Pennsylvania, in July 2010.
- Infant Five: Name not publicly released. Exact date of birth and death unknown. This victim formed the basis of the murder conviction because prosecutors concluded that the infant was born alive before dying. Remains discovered in the Kalina apartment in July 2010.
Arrest and Charges
Kalina was arrested in August 2010, initially on charges related to the mistreatment and concealment of the remains. After forensic testing indicated that several infants had been born alive, prosecutors filed homicide charges on October 25, 2010. Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams described the investigation as exceptionally disturbing and unusual.
The case was difficult to prosecute as five separate murders because investigators lacked exact dates, independent witnesses, birth records and identifiable causes of death. The long period of decomposition prevented medical examiners from reconstructing every delivery and death with certainty. Prosecutors therefore negotiated a plea that held Kalina criminally responsible for the death that could be proved most clearly while also addressing her treatment and concealment of all five bodies.
Guilty Plea and Sentence
On August 4, 2011, Kalina pleaded guilty in Berks County Court to third-degree murder, five counts of abuse of a corpse and five counts of concealing the death of a child. She was 46 years old at the time. The court sentenced her to 20 to 40 years in a Pennsylvania state prison, the maximum term available for the murder offense under the circumstances of the plea.
During sentencing, Kalina expressed shame and said that she cried for the infants. Her defense presented evidence concerning depression, alcohol misuse and other mental-health problems. A psychiatric evaluation found her competent to proceed in court. Her husband testified that he would have helped care for the babies even though they were not biologically his, and he stated that he intended to remain married to her.
Uncertainties in the Case
Many important facts remain impossible to establish. The infants had no publicly recorded names, and authorities could not determine their individual dates of birth or death. Reports also differed over whether four infants or only one could be medically proven to have been born alive. The clearest legal conclusion is that Kalina admitted responsibility for one unlawful killing and for concealing and improperly storing the remains of all five infants.
The case is remembered for the length of the concealment, Kalina’s ability to hide multiple pregnancies and the decision to preserve and transport the remains rather than report the births or deaths. The discovery ended years of secrecy, but the condition of the evidence meant that the identities, precise timelines and complete circumstances of the five infants’ deaths were never fully recovered.
