Greenfield child death cold case; closing arguments Tuesday afternoon

MILWAUKEE - In the trial of Ronald Schroeder, both the state and defense rested their case on Tuesday. He is accused of killing his infant daughter, Catherine, in 1991. Closing arguments began on Tuesday afternoon. 

Schroder will not take the stand in his own defense, saying pending charges in Waukesha were a factor in that decision.

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Multiple bruises on a newborn baby and fractures were part of a pattern of abuse that prosecutors say Schroeder handed out to not just the child he's accused of killing.

Video from August 24, 1991, captures the Schroeders at a video store. In that video is seven-week-old Catherine Schroeder.

"You can see her face off and on, for short periods of time," said Dr. Lynn Sheets, a professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin and a child abuse pediatrician.

Hours after that video, the Schroeders called 911. Catherine wasn't breathing. She was rushed to Children's Wisconsin, and doctors worked for hours to resuscitate her, eventually getting a heartbeat.

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Under cross-examination, Schroeder's defense suggested Catherine's injuries could have happened earlier, and gotten progressively worse.

Prosecutors said it was a pattern of abuse seen in another child of Ronald Schroeder's years later, and physical abuse that extended beyond infants to his own wife – and mother of Catherine.

Additional coverage

• Greenfield child death cold case; jury selection wraps for Ronald Schroeder trial
• Day 1: Opening statements delivered, testimony begins
• Day 2: Medical examiner, others testify 
• Day 3: Ex-wife, child's mother testifies
• Day 4: 2 more mothers, exes testify
• Day 5: Child abuse pediatrician testifies