south shore

Prosecutors Reveal Horrifying Details in Murder of 2 Young Boys

The boys' mother is accused of stabbing her infant son then throwing her toddler son from an 11th floor window

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WARNING: The following details may be disturbing to some readers. Please use discretion.

After prosecutors charged 20-year-old Aleah Newell with first-degree murder in the deaths of her two young children, the Assistant State’s Attorney laid out in horrifying detail the events that led to the deaths in a South Shore high rise.

Newell is also facing charges of attempted murder in the stabbing of her 70-year-old grandfather. She has been ordered held without bond in connection with the case.

According to prosecutors, Newell was in the apartment early Thursday morning when she began running hot water into a bathtub in the residence. As her grandfather used the restroom, Newell allegedly came up behind him, placing him into a chokehold. She then allegedly used a towel bar to strike the victim in the head, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and stabbed the man more than 10 times in the ear, neck, shoulders, hands, arms and mouth until he lost consciousness.

Prosecutors then say that Newell stabbed her 7-month-old son Ameer 19 times, then put him facedown in the bathtub, where he suffered extensive burns.

A toddler and an infant died Thursday after Chicago police said a woman stabbed her father, left the baby in a bathtub then jumped from an 11th floor apartment in South Shore with her toddler son. NBC 5's Regina Waldroup reports.

Finally, Newell went to the living room, cut a hole in the window screen, and threw her 2-year-old son out of the 11th story window.

The boy, identified as Johntavis Newell, died from multiple fractures to his head and blunt force trauma from the fall.

Police say that Aleah Newell then jumped from the window herself, but her fall was broken by scaffolding on the third floor of the building. She suffered a broken wrist and ankle, but was awake and alert after the fall.

When police arrived at the scene, they discovered Aleah Newell and her 2-year-old son outside of the residence. They took the woman to an area hospital, but the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police then went to the 11th floor apartment and attempted CPR on the 7-month-old boy, but he never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead.

Prosecutors say that surveillance video captured Newell and her son falling from the 11th story window.

Two knives and a broken knife handle were recovered from the scene.

If Newell’s condition improves in an area hospital, she will appear in court on Monday, according to prosecutors. A public defender has been appointed to represent her in the case.

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