The Krystal Krause infant death case returned to court in Ohio last week, with the 41-year-old Wickliffe woman entering guilty pleas to reckless homicide and endangering children in the 2023 suffocation of her two-month-old son, more than a decade after serving a prison sentence for the drowning of an earlier child.
Krause appeared at the Lake County Court of Common Pleas and pleaded guilty to both counts. The infant, identified in court documents only as DK, was found unresponsive at the family’s home on Ridge Road in Wickliffe on 15 November 2023. Officers from the Wickliffe Police Department discovered the boy face down on Krause’s bed; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Krystal Krause Infant Death: What the Court Heard
During the change-of-plea hearing, prosecutors disclosed the cause of death publicly for the first time. They told the court that DK had suffocated after Krause placed him in an unsafe sleep environment, despite having received repeated warnings from doctors and other caregivers about safe infant sleep practices.
A recently unsealed indictment alleged that Krause, acting as the child’s parent, recklessly created a substantial risk to the infant’s health and safety by violating her duty of care, ultimately causing his death. The grand jury returned the indictment in April, following an investigation by local officers.
Both the reckless homicide charge and the endangering children charge are third-degree felonies under Ohio law, according to reporting by Cleveland19 (WOIO) and confirmed separately by KSLA. Krause faces a sentencing range of between 18 months and six years in custody, along with a fine of up to $20,000. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for 13 August.
Krause was arrested on 9 April, two days after the grand jury returned the indictment. She initially entered a not guilty plea before changing her position at the hearing last week. She is represented by the Lake County Public Defender’s Office.
A Pattern of Loss: The 2009 Conviction
The guilty plea is the second time Krause has been convicted in connection with the death of one of her children. In 2009, a Summit County grand jury indicted her on charges of involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and child endangering, following the drowning of her three-year-old son. At the time of that indictment, the Akron Beacon Journal reported that Krause was 24 years old and listed as being from Cleveland.
Investigators determined that the three-year-old had wandered outside and fallen into a swimming pool while Krause was inside the home. She told police she had gone to the bathroom for approximately 10 minutes while the child was playing in the living room before discovering what had happened.
Under a plea agreement in that earlier case, the involuntary manslaughter charge was reduced to reckless homicide. Krause pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and child endangering and received a two-year prison sentence.
The pattern in both cases involves the same two charges: reckless homicide and child endangering. In the 2009 matter the underlying conduct involved supervision; in the current case, prosecutors point to unsafe sleep conditions despite professional warnings. The Lake County arraignment following Krause’s April 2026 arrest was reported by Cleveland19’s arraignment coverage, which confirmed the proceedings took place at the Lake County Court of Common Pleas.
Subject to any decision by the sentencing judge, Krause faces the prospect of a custodial term that could extend to six years. Whether the court treats the prior conviction as an aggravating factor in determining where within that range the sentence falls will be the central question at the 13 August hearing.
