Mother Charged In Death Of Bronx Newborn Allegedly Tossed From Window
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The mother of a newborn baby girl found dead outside of a building after apparently being dropped out of a window in the Bronx has been charged in the child's death.
Police said they were called to a building at 130 W. 183rd St. in the University Heights section around 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
That's when, sources told CBS2, the wife of the building's superintendent found the baby's body in the courtyard of the building. The infant's umbilical cord was still attached.
Police said she was likely born in a seventh-floor apartment and then thrown from a window, CBS2's Janelle Burrell reported.
Investigation Continues Into Death Of Bronx Newborn
Investigators found surveillance video showing the child falling from a seventh-floor window, sources said.
On Tuesday police charged the mother, 33-year-old Jennifer Berry, with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
The city medical examiner ruled the baby's death a homicide caused by multiple blunt force injuries, CBS2 reported.
Mother Being Questioned In Death Of Bronx Newborn Allegedly Tossed From Window
Even as a military veteran, Janiqua Torres, one of the first to see the tiny newborn's body, said it's an image that will forever haunt her.
"It's something I will never forget 'cause I've never seen anything like this ever in my life," she said.
"It was a lot of blood splashing," Torres added. "It don't look like they were thrown. It looked like she like dropped it way down."
Torres and her husband watched as paramedics escorted the mother from the apartment.
"The look on her face was like the devil's in her," said Kenneth Bolton.
"She looked zoned out ... like she wasn't there," Torres said.
Berry was taken to an area hospital.
Neighbors said they only saw the woman periodically but that the baby's father lived in the building with his mother and a toddler son from another relationship.
Police questioned the father of the child and released him after he said he was in another room at the time and didn't even know about the pregnancy, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.
"There's plenty of hospitals. There's plenty of people out here that want kids," Torres said. "It could have been anywhere you could have brung them. You didn't have to drop them out the window. That's killing. That's sin."
