The mother of a 6-year-old girl who was discovered dead inside a home in Brooklyn Friday has been arrested, authorities said.
Officials said police responded to a 911 call from a house on Elton Street near Fulton Street in Cypress Hills at around 1:30 p.m., and found the girl unconscious and unresponsive in a bathtub full of water. Responding officers observed blood clots in her eyes, indicating a possible struggle, officials said. They added that her parents and grandfather were home at the time.
First responders took the girl to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The NYPD said the girl’s mother, Karla Espinal, 26, was arrested on Saturday and charged with assault and reckless endangerment.
A criminal complaint provided by the Brooklyn district attorney's office alleges Espinal told police she was "baptizing" her daughter. The DA's office said a judge ordered Espinal held without bail. A spokesperson for the nonprofit Legal Aid Society, which court records list as representing Espinal in the case, declined to comment on Monday.
Officers were stationed at the apartment on Saturday morning, and family members reached by phone said they did not want to talk about the incident. Upstairs neighbor Bui Duan said he didn’t know the family well, but often saw the girl’s mother taking her to school.
At the Bravo Supermarket around the corner where the girl’s father worked, manager Emmanuel Pichardo said he was still trying to process the news.
“He always said she was an excellent girl, a good daughter,” Pichardo said.
The girl’s father was supposed to relieve Pichardo at the store at 2 p.m. yesterday, but instead sent him some alarming texts – which Pichardo showed to a reporter.
“‘I’m in the hospital, they killed my daughter,’” the father wrote in Spanish. “‘I’m going crazy… let’s see if God sends a miracle.’”
Pichardo said he saw lots of police driving around the area at around 2 p.m. Friday, but didn’t connect the dots until later.
“I figured something big had happened in the area, but I didn’t know exactly where they were going to,” he said. “And after that, sadly, I got the news.”
Vincent Abad lives across the street from the family and described the chaotic scene on the block Friday, when multiple ambulances and fire trucks arrived. He said paramedics loaded the little girl into the ambulance first, then her father got in with her.
Abad said he assumed the girl’s mother had also gone to the hospital, but he saw two police officers escort her out of the house about an hour and 45 minutes later.
“When I see her walking with police, with the handcuffs, I said ‘Yo, something’s gotta be big,’” Abad said.
He recalled seeing the family of three running errands together, or attending barbecues on the block in the summer.
“Everybody is like shocked,” he said. “You know, they looked like a good family.”
A white sedan that neighbors said belonged to the girl’s father was still parked askew in front of the house Saturday morning, with a pink car seat visible in the back.
Police did not immediately release the girl’s identity. The city medical examiner’s office was still working Saturday morning to establish the official cause of death.
This is a developing story and has been updated with more information from police and neighbors.
