Cops: Tot found dead may have been put in freezer; mom charged
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. -- Police say a 15-month-old suburban New York girl found dead Friday showed signs of trauma and was very cold, indicating her body might have been put in a freezer.
The Journal News reports the child's mother, 26-year-old Dasia Bartee, was arrested Saturday in the death of Samia Yusef.
Officials say the child had been dead for hours before police arrived at the family's Mount Vernon apartment on Friday.
Police say she showed evidence of trauma to the face and internal bleeding. In what investigators called an "unusual situation," sources tell CBS New York the girl's body was "ice cold," suggesting she might have been put in a freezer.
Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Ronald Fatigate called it "a gruesome discovery."
Bartee's two other daughters, 6 and 9, were at the home when police arrived, the station reports. They were unharmed and are now in the custody of child protective services. Fatigate told reporters there has been a history of Child Protective Services investigations at the home involving Bartee and her daughters.
Bartee appeared in court Monday and was charged with first-degree manslaughter, Mount Vernon police tell Crimesider. A judge ordered her held on $50,000 bond.
It's not clear if she has an attorney who could speak for her.
"It's really deeply disturbing," Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas told CBS New York. "No child, no infant, no toddler should be subjected to that type of violence."