Heartbreaking death of Bronx baby girl is sad story of despair, deceit
— The Bronx father, like any doting dad, changed his infant daughter’s diaper before dressing the baby in a onesie and a hat. He tucked the adorable 3-month-old inside her stroller before heading outside.
By then, authorities charged, little Genevieve was already dead at the hands of her parent, Damion Comager.
Comager, aided by the child’s mother, Ivana Paolozzi, left the family’s Bronx shelter residence for a trash-strewn stretch, with the couple dumping her tiny body near an abandoned toilet in mid-May, authorities charged.
The remains were finally located two weeks later on May 28, left in the weeds only a few blocks from Yankee Stadium. The parents were quickly arrested and accused in the shocking death of their only child.
The defendant dad, 23, remained behind bars this weekend, held without bail and charged with murder after allegedly shaking Genevieve to death inside their home.
Her body was stuffed into a garbage bag before the corpse was tossed aside as the parents tried in vain to hide their alleged crime while simultaneously plotting to flee the city for the girlfriend’s native Switzerland, authorities said.
Paolozzi was released after her Bronx arraignment last Thursday for attempting to help cover up the crime, with a prosecutor warning additional charges possibly loomed ahead.
The mother, ordered to wear an ankle bracelet while free, lied to the Administration for Children’s Services when an agency specialist checked in with her about her baby, authorities allege.
Paolozzi explained the family had recently relocated to Louisiana and all three were “alive (and) safe,” according to a criminal complaint.
The parents had actually only left the Bronx for upper Manhattan, and their daughter — born this past Feb. 6 — was already dead, officials charged.
The couple planned an escape to the home of Paolozzi’s parents overseas before their Manhattan arrests, with both suspects carrying their passports when busted, prosecutors charged.
The couple’s first meeting followed Comanger’s hasty departure for France last year, when he faced three active arrest warrants pending in Colorado — including an assault charge.
Once overseas, he met Paolozzi through an Instagram post and the pair quickly became a couple.
Her dad, Rene Paolozzi, was expecting a call from his daughter last Tuesday about the homecoming visit, only to instead learn their grandchild was dead and the mother in custody.
“Our daughter was a good girl, but she believed in (Comager),” he told The New York Daily News from Switzerland. “It’s really, really hard for us. Nobody understands why she (stayed with him). Only her.”
Rene Paolozzi, who never saw his grandchild, recalled “several times of terror” when the couple lived with the family in their home outside Zurich last year.
“We lost our daughter to him,” he said through tears, adding he last saw Ivana before the couple left for New York in December.
The baby’s grandfather was equally devastated in Louisiana, and actually contacted the New York Police Department last Sunday night with his concerns. When he and his son spoke earlier in the day, the elder Comager became worried after never hearing the infant making any sounds in the background.
The father initially balked at sharing the site where Genevieve was abandoned, but eventually led investigators to his daughter’s resting place.
Granddad Donald Comager offered no regrets about reporting his fears to the cops.
“My son, he might think I didn’t do the right thing,” he said. “But I did the right thing.”
Comager, other than a whispered chat with his lawyer, remained silent during the Wednesday court appearance. In addition to the killing, he was charged with evidence tampering and concealing his infant child’s remains.
Paolozzi, who arrived for a separate hearing, exited the courtroom without uttering a word.
The two suspects departed Paolozzi’s homeland in the last month of 2020 after a terrifying stay with her family. Comanger had allegedly knocked her father unconscious and beaten his girlfriend bloody before their hasty return to the Bronx.