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 cou🦩ld 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 arr🌃ived 15 minutes later and rushed the girl to Li🌄ncoln 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 bei💜ng 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 lifeไ.”
“At 3:42 in the morning that girl was s꧅creaming,” Dennis Rivera, 58, said. ℱ“She was screaming for dear life . . . She was screaming like hell.”
“She kept saying ‘stop, sꩵtop, 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 fꦇor the child.&nbs💖p;
“The little girl would be running around, t❀hen she would cry, like screaming, crying,” said babysitter, Michelle Abreu, who said she could hear the so🌳unds 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 hear💛tbreaking.
“I can’t stop crying, because it’s sad,” shඣe said.
A classmate of Jalayah’s 8-yeaওr-old brother said the sibl♏ings “seemed very sad.”
“He told me his mom was whi𝕴pping him, slapping him,” said the 9-year-old classmate at PS 146. “He said the mother༒ was slapping [Jalayah] in the face.”
&nbs🐽p;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.
Cop🔯s said there were dirty clothes in piles around the apartmen𝐆t, which looked as if no one has cleaned it for a while.
The 8-ye꧑ar-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 interesღt Friday afternoon.
“Definitely suspicious at this time,” 🎃the s꧒ources said.
The source also said the investigation “may not resolve today” as investigators a⭕re waiting for the results of an autopsy.
ACS has been alerted
;Eason has one prior arrest from 2016 when she was picked up f♓or grand larceny.
The city’s Administration forꦗ Children’s Services said they had been alerted to the situation, but would not comment on whether or not the family had been under thei🐼r observation before the death.
Sources said there have been multiple calls for domestic violence at the fa🔴mily’s address.
Another neighbor was shocked by the news.
“She’s a good mother every time I see her,” Ishia Gilchrest said. “I alw꧅ays see h💧er 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. G🌠eorge 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 s🍸ystem.
As of Friday, no arrests ha𓄧ve been made in that case eithไer.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Amanda Woods and Katherine Donlevy
