Parents eyed in battered B’klyn baby girl’s slay
LITTLE Nichelle Waring never lived to see the year 2017 — when she was officially declared a homicide victim.
An autopsy showed the 1-month-old Brooklyn girl died last June of a fractured skull, and detectives are now focused on her parents as possible murder suspects, officials said Wednesday.
Mom Kenesha McCroskey, 20, was the last person to see her daughter alive before the girl’s June 27 death. Cops were looking at her along with Nichelle’s father, 22-year-old Hakeem Waring.
Both parents are currently jailed on charges unrelated to the death, officials said.
Nichelle’s tiny body also showed bruising to the ribs and body, indications of battered child syndrome, authorities said.
The results of an autopsy eight months ago were inconclusive, leading the city medical examiner to perform a longer probe that led to the determination.
McCroskey told police she put Nichelle in her crib in the family’s BedfordStuyvesant home after feeding her at 8:30 p.m. on June 26.
When the mother returned 45 minutes later, the infant was lying facedown with blood on her blanket and near her face, police sources said. More blood was oozing from the baby’s nose.
McCroskey called 911 and an operator talked her through CPR as paramedics were dispatched. Nichelle was taken to Woodhull Hospital, where police said she died the next day.
Investigators initially believed Nichelle’s death was not suspicious — but an X-ray found a hairline skull fracture and fractures to the child’s ribs, police sources said.
“The tragic death of Nichelle is deeply troubling,” a city Administration for Children’s Services spokesman said Wednesday. “ACS is working with NYPD on the ongoing investigation of this homicide.”
ACS was not called to investigate the treatment of Nichelle before her death, but the agency did look into an abuse allegation against the infant’s toddler sister, sources said.
On June 22 — just four days before Nichelle was hospitalized — a Family Court judge filed an order of protection against Waring, barring him from the Hancock St. home except during supervised visits with ACS.
After Nichelle died, the family’s apartment was unoccupied — with the door open — for two days, neighbors said. Then McCroskey returned.
“The mother just came back into her house like if nothing ever happened,” said Juan Mercado, 21. “Had people there, threw parties. Smoking, drinking, whatever — like if nothing happened.”
The couple moved out before long, according to neighbors.
Neither McCroskey nor Waring, who in some court papers is identified as Warring, had been charged with little Nichelle’s death.