https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...voy-story.html
A 2-month-old baby died after his 'frustrated' mother smacked his head repeatedly against a portable crib in a Midtown homeless shelter, cops said Tuesday.
The accused mom wept in Manhattan Criminal Court hours later as prosecutors announced assault charges against her.
'She said she was frustrated,' a police source said the mother, Alyssa Owens, told cops after she was charged with battering the defenseless baby.
Owens, 24, called 911 just after noon Sunday, reporting her son Antonio Diaz was unconscious inside their room at the Candlewood Suites Hotel on W. 39th St. at Ninth Ave. The city is using some rooms at the hotel to house the homeless.
Medics rushed the infant to Mount Sinai West but little Antonio couldn't be saved.
The baby didn't have any obvious visible injuries when cops responded to the 911 call, leading them to initially believed he died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
But it became clear something more nefarious occurred when they discovered five or six skull fractures, hemorrhaging in the organs and a hematoma under the scalp, prosecutors said.
'Detectives interviewed the defendant again (after discovering the injuries),' Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Junig said in court. 'Only after being told of the severity of the injuries' did the defendant admit she had hit her son's head on the side of the pack-and-play three times in a row.'
As Junig spoke, the mother of two began to cry, quietly at first, then audibly gasping and wiping at her eyes as the allegations against her were spelled out.
Police took Owens into custody Monday and charged her with three counts of assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
Little Antonio's older sister, a toddler, was taken from Owens by the Administration for Children's Services after the boy's death.
'We are investigating this case with the NYPD and we have taken action to secure the safety of the other child in this home,' a spokeswoman with ACS told the Daily News. It was not immediately disclosed if the other child was with relatives or in an ACS facility.
When the judge asked if Owens understood that she was not allowed to see or get in contact with her daughter pending the outcome of the case, Owens whispered, 'Yes, I do.'
Prosecutors said charges will be upgraded once an autopsy confirms Antonio's cause of death.
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'We anticipate adding homicide charges,' Junig said.
Owens had been moving from shelter to shelter in recent months, staying in Pennsylvania as recently as last week, prosecutors said.
Owens' defense attorney, Michelle Grant, said her client had no criminal history and serious learning disabilities and that she was living on social security while raising the two babies.
Judge Marisol Martinez Alonso ordered Owens held without bail.
Grant called into question whether three hits against the portable crib could kill the infant, or if injuries may have come from a different assault.
'The number of injuries call into question whether in fact something else happened,' she said. 'She [Owens] is a grieving mother no matter what happened in this case. That is what she is.'
The father of Antonio was not there at the time of the incident but police are not sure yet whether he was involved somehow, the source said.
A source with knowledge of the Owens family said that many in the family struggle with mental health issues, including a sister of Alyssa who is schizophrenic. Alyssa has been diagnosed with enough mental issues that she qualified for disability payments and did not work, the source said.
Owens' mother is currently in a nursing home in Staten Island and cannot speak after suffering numerous strokes, the source added.