An Oak Lawn woman accused of brutally slaying her 5-month-old granddaughter with a sledgehammer and kitchen knife is expected to be interviewed Thursday by a neuropsychologist who has studied domestic homicide, according to court records.
Alfreda Giedrojc’s public defender requested that the expert evaluate her to determine whether she is fit for trial. A judge ruled in October 2014 that Giedrojc could be tried after she previously was ruled unfit to stand trial.
Giedrojc was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing 5-month-old Vivian Summer in October 2013 in Oak Lawn after she was unable to quiet the baby.
Dr. Robert Hanlon, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry and clinical neurology at Northwestern University, was scheduled to interview Giedrojc, a 64-year-old Polish immigrant, through an interpreter.
Messages left at Hanlon’s Chicago office were not returned.
Hanlon is the lead author of a Northwestern University study that found people who kill family members and intimate partners have a different psychological profile than those who kill strangers.
The report, released in August, found those who killed their kin were more likely to have severe mental illness, lower IQ scores and cognitive impairment than those who killed people they didn’t know. They also were less likely to have prior felony convictions, according to the research.
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For the study, Hanlon interviewed and evaluated 153 people who were either charged with or convicted of first-degree murder in five states, including Illinois.
The new mental examination of Giedrojc was ordered in August. Her defense believes she is not mentally fit to face the charges against her.
A judge declared Giedrojc mentally unfit to stand trial in July 2014, but the decision was reversed three months later. According to court records, Giedrojc was admitted to McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield in August 2014. She was diagnosed with a history of “major depressive disorder” and went into remission after being placed on antidepressant and antipsychotic medication.
An October 2014 evaluation described Giedrojc, who came to America in 1983 and has an eighth-grade education, as “quiet and submissive” who speaks little, according to court records. The same evaluation found that she understood the consequences of the charges against her and that she would need continuous medication.
Authorities previously said Summers was left alone with Giedrojc, who beat the baby with a sledgehammer on the floor before retrieving a knife and cutting the infant’s throat.
It was the first murder Oak Lawn in three years.
Giedrojc has been held without bail by Cook County authorities since October 2013. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 20.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.