Girl, 6, dies after being found in NYC apartment with bruises on wrists, body
A tragic 6-year-old girl found unconscious and covered in bruises in a squalid Bronx apartment died Friday — and police were questioning her mother as a person of interest, cops said.
Little Jalayah Eason, whose cries could be heard by neighbors of the family’s home in the past, was discovered by cops after a 911 call was made by her mom at about 4 a.m.
The mother, whom sources identified as Lynija Eason, told officers she found the girl cold and not breathing inside a closet in their 12th-floor apartment at NYCHA’s Forest Houses on East 165th Street.
She claimed she tried to administer CPR, but the Jalayah would not wake up, cops said. EMS arrived 15 minutes later and rushed the girl to Lincoln Hospital, but she couldn’t be saved.
Bruises and other signs of trauma were discovered on Jalayah’s wrists and torso — and the her mother was soon taken to the 42nd Precinct station house, where she was being questioned Friday. She has not been charged.
An upstairs neighbor who was alarmed by an early morning commotion on Friday recalled hearing the child “screaming for her dear life.”
“At 3:42 in the morning that girl was screaming,” Dennis Rivera, 58, said. “She was screaming for dear life . . . She was screaming like hell.”
“She kept saying ‘stop, stop, stop’ . . . “You could hear the thumps, bro.”
‘Don’t get involved’
The father of 10 said he woke up one of his sons amid the madness and asked whether he should call the police, but the boy warned him not to get involved.
“I feel terrible. I feel like I could have saved that little girl and I didn’t. It’s a sad situation — very sad, man.”
Rivera added said the sounds of the little girl’s screams continue to haunt him.
Other neighbors painted a grim picture of homelife for the child.
“The little girl would be running around, then she would cry, like screaming, crying,” said babysitter, Michelle Abreu, who said she could hear the sounds from the family’s home while working in an apartment below.
“She’s not happy, that little girl.”
Abreu added that news of the death was heartbreaking.
“I can’t stop crying, because it’s sad,” she said.
A classmate of Jalayah’s 8-year-old brother said the siblings “seemed very sad.”
“He told me his mom was whipping him, slapping him,” said the 9-year-old classmate at PS 146. “He said the mother was slapping [Jalayah] in the face.”
It was not clear if Jalayah attended PS 146, but a school official said, “We tried to do everything we could to help that family,” without elaborating further.
Cops said there were dirty clothes in piles around the apartment, which looked as if no one has cleaned it for a while.
The 8-year-old boy and another sibling, a 3-year-old girl, were also in the apartment but were unharmed.
It was unclear exactly how little Jalayah died.
A high-ranking police source said the mother was a person of interest Friday afternoon.
“Definitely suspicious at this time,” the sources said.
The source also said the investigation “may not resolve today” as investigators are waiting for the results of an autopsy.
ACS has been alerted
Eason has one prior arrest from 2016 when she was picked up for grand larceny.
The city’s Administration for Children’s Services said they had been alerted to the situation, but would not comment on whether or not the family had been under their observation before the death.
Sources said there have been multiple calls for domestic violence at the family’s address.
Another neighbor was shocked by the news.
“She’s a good mother every time I see her,” Ishia Gilchrest said. “I always see her with her kids. She took them to school, she always brought them back. I’m surprised, I didn’t expect her to have problems like that.”
Jalayah’s death comes two months after a 16-month-old boy died at Richmond University Medical Center after being rushed to the hospital.
The tot had been sharing a bed with his father in their house on Hamilton Avenue near St. Marks Place in St. George on Feb. 20 when the dad noticed the toddler was unconscious just after 4 a.m.
Earlier this month, the 16-month-old’s death was ruled a homicide after cops found he had a lethal dose of fentanyl and cocaine in his system.
As of Friday, no arrests have been made in that case either.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Amanda Woods and Katherine Donlevy
