Dad in cuffs
Father of infant found in East River is nabbed in Thailand
The father of an infant found dead in the East River has been taken into custody in Thailand, police officials said Wednesday.
James Currie, 37, of the Bronx was detained by Thai authorities in Bangkok as he tried to get into the country after flying there several days ago.
Currie, who works as a station cleaner for the MTA, is expected to be brought back to the U.S. in about a week. He will be charged initially with concealment of a human corpse.
Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told reporters that Currie picked up the 7month-old boy, Mason Saldana, from the child’s mother at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Investigators obtained security video which showed him walking into his Co-op City building about 12:50 p.m. holding the baby in his arms.
“The child was at that time alive, apparently in healthy condition, and this is corroborated by video,” Shea said.
On Sunday about 1:30 p.m., Currie was seen on video holding a backpack converted into a papoose. Little Mason was under a blanket in the backpack.
“We believe at this time that the child was deceased in that 24-hour period and now the father is taking the child out of the residence,” Shea said.
Currie is suspected of killing the child in his apartment. About 3:10 p.m. Sunday, Currie was filmed walking toward the East River between the South Street Seaport and the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. He was carrying the same backpack.
About 4:05 p.m., cops received the first call about the baby in the water.
Oklahoma tourist Monte Campbell jumped into the water near the Brooklyn Bridge and tried to save the child. The boy, whose body showed no signs of trauma, was declared dead at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Lower Manhattan.
On Monday at 2:19 p.m., Currie boarded the flight to Bangkok at Kennedy Airport.
Mason’s mother, Julia DeJesus Saldana, and Currie live separately, but there was no prior history of domestic strife, police sources said. The mother told police there had been tension between them, however.
“She’s a good mother, that’s all I have to say,” said a neighbor who lives across the hall from Mason’s mom. “I don’t know nothing about her business, but she’s a good mother.”
About 9:10 p.m. Monday, she contacted the police to say Currie never returned him to her after the visit as agreed or took the child to day care — and became distraught because she heard about a baby found in the river.
“I don’t think anyone could listen to the call without their blood curdling,” Shea said. “The mother calls, has a rather lengthy conversation with our 911 operator and it starts out as a call to report the child was not dropped off at day care, some school type facility that day. At some point the mother brings up on her own that she heard on the news about a child in the water and she fears the worst — and she starts crying.”
Shea said she didn’t call 911 right away because she was communicating with the father.
‘’There were attempts to communicate, text messages, etcetera,” he said. “When that was unsatisfactory to her, that eventually led to the 911 call.”
Mason’s cause of death has yet to be determined.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the mother of this child during this difficult time,” Shea said.