A 30-year-old man from Connecticut has been arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend’s 21-month-old daughter, viciously beating the toddler to death last year inside her home in Delaware. Timothy Olschafskie, who previously served prison time for brutally killing at least five cats belonging to the family of his former fiancee, was arrested and extradited back to Delaware on Tuesday where he is facing one count of first-degree murder by abuse or neglect in the little girl’s violent death, authorities announced.
According to a press release from the Wilmington Police Department, WPD officers at about 9:29 a.m. on March 11, 2023, responded to a call about a child suffering a medical emergency at a residence located in the 100 block of Town Estates Drive. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located the victim and transported her to a hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, the child succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the facility.
Authorities have not released the name of the victim or her mother.
Timothy Olschafskie (Wilmington Police Dept.)
Police said that a death investigation conducted by the Delaware Division of Forensic Sciences determined that the victim’s cause of death was a homicide. Detectives with the WPD Criminal Investigations Division and the Delaware Department of Justice conducted an investigation into the circumstances of the victim’s death. Based on their findings, an arrest warrant for Timothy Olschafskie was issued on Nov. 2.
Authorities in Enfield, Connecticut, took Olschafskie into custody a few hours after the warrant was issued. He was extradited back to Delaware on Nov. 14 and will appear at arraignment in Justice of the Peace Court for the victim’s murder on Friday.
Police did not provide any additional details about the tragic incident “out of respect for the victim’s family,” per the release.
A copy of the probable cause affidavit obtained by The News Journal provided additional details about the investigation into Olschafskie.
According to the report, when first responders in March initially arrived at the home on Town Estates Drive, which belonged to Olschafskie’s then-girlfriend, they found the victim unresponsive in the living room and noted that she had “visible signs of physical injury throughout her body.” Police said that Olschafskie was the only adult present in the home when they arrived.
Police reportedly said Olschafskie was evasive at the scene, initially telling authorities his name was Timothy Edwards, then telling a second officer he did not want to provide his name. When pressed further, Olschafskie agreed to write his name and date of birth for the officers.
Per the report, Olschafskie claimed he was staying at his girlfriend’s place when the victim started crying at around 2 a.m. When he checked on her, Olschafskie allegedly said the victim had vomited on herself, so he changed and cleaned her before putting her back to bed.
His girlfriend reportedly left for work at 7 a.m., leaving Olschafskie alone with the child. He claimed the victim woke up just before 9 a.m., which is when he went into her room.
“According to Timothy, [the victim] was woozy and looked tired so he put her down and she stumbled into the living room at which time she fell down and started to have a seizure,” police reportedly wrote in the affidavit. “Timothy began CPR shortly after [the victim] became unresponsive and called [his girlfriend] via FaceTime to inform her of what was going on.”
The mother then called 911, but her daughter was pronounced dead a few hours later, at about 1:30 p.m., per the report.
An autopsy revealed that the victim suffered numerous blunt force internal injuries, including lacerations to her pancreas, liver, and the membrane attaching her intestines to the outside of the stomach, per the News Journal.
Surveillance footage from inside the home reportedly showed that after Olschafskie told his girlfriend to call 911 and he was supposedly performing CPR, he actually went into the victim’s bedroom — leaving her alone in the living room and not breathing for several minutes.
Being arrested for the murder of his girlfriend’s toddler was not the suspect’s first run-in with the law. Olschafskie in 2015 was sentenced to two years in prison after he admitted to killing five cats that belonged to his then-fiancee’s family in 2013.
Timothy Olschafskie following his arrest for killing five cats belonging to the family of his former fiancee (Windsor Locks Police)
According to a report from The Associated Press, police said that cats suffered “blunt force trauma, bone fractures, lacerations to internal organs and skin torn from their bodies.” At one point, one of the fiancee’s family members overheard Olschafskie on the phone describing how he threw one of the male cats named Aladdin against a wall, then picked him up and “watched him die before laying the cat on the closet floor,” CT Insider reported.
Olschafskie is currently being held at the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on $2 million cash-only bond. He has not yet entered a plea.
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