A distraught mother strapped her baby
boy to her chest and plunged eight stories out of an apartment window to
her death in an apparent suicide on Wednesday - but the child
miraculously survived.
Cynthia
Wachenheim, 45, was found on the Harlem street with her son, Keston, in
her arms. A police officer who responded took the boy, believed to be
10 months old, to hospital where he is said to be in stable condition.
Wachenheim - who was also known as Cindy - was
clutching her son to her chest when her back hit the pavement. On
impact, the baby bounced out of her motionless arms and started
wailing.
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Horrific scene: The 45-year-old woman's body was
covered with a white sheet outside 102 Bradhurst Avenue after she
leaped to her death with her son in her arms
Silver lining: The woman was pronounced dead at
the scene in an apparent suicide, but her 10-month-old son is expected
to survive
A window to the upper Manhattan
apartment was wide open, and there were no signs of struggle inside,
police said. There were no safety bars on the apartment's windows.
Neighbor Steven Dominguez, 18, was walking to a grocery store with his mother, Adelina Dominguez, when he saw the woman fall.
‘I heard a small scream when she was in the air, and then I heard a nasty bang,’ he told DNAInfo.com. ‘It sounded like a big piece of wood hitting the ground.
When he approached Wachenheim on the ground, he saw the baby crying on the sidewalk.
‘I was shocked,’ he said. ‘I couldn't believe it.’
He said his mother went to pick up the baby but an emergency response person told her to stand back.
A pair of cops happened to be sitting in a squad car near the scene and also witnessed the fall.
A neighbor told The New York Post
Wachenheim was heard arguing with her husband, 48-year-old Hal
Bacharach, at the upscale The Sutton co-op at 147th Street and Bradhurst
Avenue at around 1pm.
The man was seen on surveillance video leaving the apartment building after the argument.
About
two hours later, at 3.25pm, witnesses saw Wachenheim leaping from her
eighth-story apartment window with her son in her arms.
She
was pronounced dead at the scene. Neighbors say baby Keston is the
couple’s only child together and Wachenheim was thought to have been
suffering from severe postpartum depression.
The
44-year-old is said to have left a rambling, incoherent 13-page suicide
note in which she referred to her failings as a mother.
Sources told the New York Daily News: 'The note said she was not happy and she talked about what she planned to do.'
Evidence: Police found a seven-page suicide note
inside the home written by the distraught mother saying that what she
was about to do was 'evil'
Site of tragedy: The woman jumped to her death from her apartment in the upscale building at 147th Street and Bradhurst Avenue
In the note, Wachenheim is 'saying
to her husband, "I love you. I'm making you suffer. You’re going to
think I’m evil",' a source said.
'She thinks she’s a failing mother.
On the last page, she refers to postpartum depression. She was supposed
to see a therapist, but she blew him off.
'As the note goes on, you get the idea she’s explaining why she’s going to do it,' the source added.
The note also referred to a handicap that Keston was suffering from and said she was worried about how he was developing.
It is unclear if the baby had any
mental or physical problems but a law enforcement official told the
Daily News that though Wachenheim was convinced her son had cerebral
palsy, doctors said there was nothing wrong with him.
Horrified witnesses: Steven Dominguez, 18, left,
described hearing a scream coming from the woman before she hit the
ground, and his mother, Adelina, right, said how she rushed to her side
and tried to pick up the baby
Police say the child is being treated at Harlem Hospital Center and is expected to survive.
Neighbor Christina Johnson told the New York Times
the victim and her family had lived in the building for about three
years, and she had never heard the parents fight until today.
Johnson said she heard Bacharach yelling at his wife, asking her over and over again why she wouldn't pick up the phone.
Police said they had never been called to the $300,000 apartment before.
Wachenheim,
a high school valedictorian in Albany and a Columbia Law graduate, was
on maternity leave from her $118,000-a-year job in the city court
system.
She worked
there for more than 15 years doing research and writing for judges. She
was also said to be an associate court attorney.
Resident
Yaa Dwamena, 32, said she’s lived in the building for several years and
as long as she’s been there she’s seen Wachenheim.
'She was very nice, very friendly, very warm,' Dwamena said.
She said that the last time she saw Wachenheim was last week.
'I
wouldn’t have thought anything was wrong with her,' she said. 'They
were a happy-looking family. I wouldn’t think anything like this would
happen.'
Wachenheim' father
was a state police spokesman before his death in 2011. She worked in
state Supreme Court in Manhattan doing legal research for judges, court
officials said.
'We are all
deeply saddened about this tragic incident,' state courts spokesman
David Bookstaver said. 'Our thoughts are with Ms. Wachenheim’s family.'
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