Five-year-old twins found dead in the Bronx were suffocated, an official says

The 5-year-old twins found lifeless in their mother’s bed in the family’s Bronx apartment last December were smothered to death, according to the city’s medical examiner.

The deaths of the children, a boy and a girl, are being ruled a homicide, said Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office. The cause and manner of their deaths were determined Wednesday evening.

No arrests have been made so far, a police spokeswoman said Thursday.

The twins’ deaths had puzzled authorities for nearly three months. Police saw no visible signs of trauma on their bodies, nor did officers find weapons or narcotics in the family’s sixth-floor apartment on East 175th Street near Monroe Avenue in the Mount Hope neighborhood.

The first autopsies were carried out, but Ms Bolcer said further investigation was needed. The medical examiner did not specify what those tests were, although certain tests, including toxicology, neuropathology and histology — a close examination of tissue — often take longer for results to appear.

On December 18, the mother, who police have not named, told officers she had slept in the same bed as her children the night before. She said the last time she saw the children alive was around 5 a.m

When she woke up around 11:20 a.m., she said, she found them stiff and cold. Emergency workers arrived shortly afterwards and performed life-saving measures. The children were pronounced dead 10 minutes later. The boy and girl were discovered foaming at the mouth, Joseph Kenny, chief of police detectives, told reporters later that week.

The mother was taken to an area hospital for examination. The children’s father, a health care assistant, had been working overnight and was not home when they died.

The twins, both of whom had special needs, had been ill in the days before their deaths, Chief Kenny said in December. The boy was vomiting at school on November 30 and was sent home. About two weeks later, he developed a runny nose and other cold symptoms and was sent home from school again. The girl had recently had an ear infection, had been vomiting and had been biting and spitting at school, Chief Kenny said.

Assistant Chief Benjamin Gurley, the commander of the Bronx patrol district, said at a news conference last year that police had never received a report of child abuse or domestic violence at the home.

Neighbors and friends at the time said they were shocked by the news and wondered what had gone wrong.

Candi McDonald, who lives next door to the family, said she was woken up by the mother’s screams. Ms McDonald said she and other neighbors found the mother in the hallway, sobbing, and saw the boy lying by the front door.

“It’s just sad,” Ms. McDonald said at the time. “I feel horrible.”

Maira Bonet, who lives nearby, said the mother had given Ms Bonet’s daughter a birthday present. She had returned the gesture and bought remote-controlled cars, clothes and baby dolls for the twins.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Mrs. Bonet said after the children’s deaths. “It breaks my heart.”