At 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, police responded to a 911 call at a family homeless shelter in the Bronx. They found a tumultuous scene: a woman, 22 years old, ranting and burning things in the kitchen of a small apartment filled with junk.
According to the police, a family friend informed the officers that the woman’s children were with their father, who was not present at the apartment.
The woman was taken into an ambulance by emergency medical personnel, and the police then left.
A few minutes later, the next 911 call described something far worse: two oblivious little fellows in a similar loft, not relaxing.
A senior law enforcement official stated that when the police returned, they discovered a 3-year-old and an 11-month-old who had been stabbed numerous times and were submerged in the bathtub beneath a towel or sheet.
The older boy, Daishawn, and the younger boy, Octavius, both passed away at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. According to the police, Dimone Fleming, their mother, was charged with their murder on Sunday night.
Beyond the fact that they were informed that the children were not in the apartment, the police have not provided a clear explanation for why the officers who responded to the initial call were unable to locate the children.
“What’s out there is the information that is out there,” Lieutenant said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity on Sunday to discuss a continuing investigation, Cathy Gamble, a police spokeswoman, stated that the apartment was smoky and messy and that the bathroom off the galley kitchen had such a small door that it resembled the door to a closet that the officers might not have opened it.
The official stated that the father of one of the boys, who had entered the apartment, fled screaming according to the second 911 call.
The police stated that Ms. Fleming was in custody at St. Barnabas Hospital on Sunday night.
On Sunday, neighbors, and friends, and family accumulated close to the sanctuary, on Reverberation Spot in the Mount Home area, and collected a stopgap commemoration of cardboard boxes protected from the downpour by a board.
Black ink notes were scribbled next to a white flower vase: “Rest easy, boys” and “Rest in peace, Dashawn + Baby O.” Octavius’s 31-year-old father, Columbus Canada, came to the memorial and stood quietly in the rain while others comforted him.
He had discovered the bodies of the boys on Saturday night.
The senior law enforcement official stated that although Ms. Fleming has a history with the city’s child welfare agency, Administration for Children’s Services, few details were available.
Shortly after her older son was born, the agency filed a case claiming that she was unable to care for him. It was not clear whether he was taken away. A.C.S. said it was looking into further investigation but didn’t say anything more.
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