Police Charge Stepfather After ME Rules 3-Year-Old's Death Homicide
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police arrested and charged the stepfather of a 3-year-old girl in the Bronx whose death was ruled a homicide by the Medical Examiner, police confirmed Friday.
India Durant, described as a "little princess," died Wednesday morning of blunt force trauma to the chest and other internal injuries, according to the M.E.
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Kenneth Williams, 27, has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment, according to police. Williams, who was caring for the baby, called 911 around 10 a.m. Wednesday, and told police that little India fell off a chair.
Relatives said the baby's mother, Lauren Durant, was working at her job as a home health aid during the time of the incident on Southern Boulevard in East Tremont.
For Marquis Eaddy, the biological father of the little girl with whom he had occasional visits, the loss is devastating.
"I lost my world. That was my only child, that was my baby girl, that was my little princess," Eaddy told CBS 2's John Slattery. "I think she probably wet herself or peed herself and they went too far in hitting her or trying to punish because they was upset and the end result of it is she died."
The child's grandmother also spoke with Slattery and said she "just couldn't believe it."
"A little 3-year-old girl just killed by falling out of the chair. I didn't understand that at all," Sharon Eaddy said.
A neighbor named "Joe" said the couple had been together for a number of years.
"They all lived together, you know. It wasn't like he just came around. Everybody's been together for years," he told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa
Annie Alvarado babysat the child a few months after she was born and broke down in tears when speaking to reporters.
"A baby doesn't deserve this, any child doesn't deserve what happened," she said.
Alvarado said she couldn't bear to look at the collection of candles and bouquets now outside the building where the baby died. She said little India didn't always appear herself when she was with Williams.
"I saw her, she was like a little bit sad, she wasn't always laughing like she usually did," she said.
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