10Horrific turn in breakup
Cops: Divorcing dad kills his 7-year-old daughter
THE UNEASY truce between a divorcing Westchester County couple ended with the ghastly suffocation of their daughter — at the cruel hands of her own father, cops said.
Neil White, 47, was charged with second-degree murder after a distraught baby-sitter discovered the lifeless body of his 7-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, in her bed Tuesday afternoon, police said.
One day earlier, White had approved a deal to surrender the house on Arbor Glen in New Rochelle to his estranged wife, top television executive Michelle Hord-White, as part of
their split, sources told the Daily News.
Hord-White was in hysterics when she arrived at the home after the sitter, upset by texts from Neil, rushed to check on the second-grader, police said. The sitter had dialed 911 after finding the child unresponsive.
Cops said the asphyxiated girl showed no other visible signs of trauma. The medical examiner will determine the exact cause of death.
“No words could sum up all that Gabrielle meant to us, but she was our light,” said a statement from Hord-White and her family. “We are broken and devastated that our sweet little girl is gone, but we’re thankful that we had seven wonderful years with her.”
Hord-White had filed for divorce in April, according to authorities. The couple was living in separate residences and shared custody of their daughter.
Neighbor Ron Oliver said Hord-White, 47, was inconsolable when she arrived at the house Tuesday afternoon.
“She was beside herself,” said Oliver, 58, who was walking through the neighborhood about 3 p.m. “She was crying, ‘I want to see the baby! I want to see her!’ ”
The father, found bleeding alone inside his bedroom from non-life-threatening wounds on both arms, was led out of the home by police.
“People here were calling
him the devil,” said Oliver, adding that the couple’s marital woes were a matter of public knowledge.
The baby-sitter “said they were going through a bad divorce,” he said. “She said (people at the local church) had a feeling something bad was going to happen.”
White, who wore a blue hospital gown, tan socks and bandages on both forearms for a court appearance, was arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder.
The divorce case came after cops responded to a domestic dispute between the couple in January.
It was unclear if White deliberately kept his daughter home from school prior to the killing.