Mom Threw Newborn Daughter Out 7th-Floor Window to Death: Police

A woman who apparently hid her pregnancy from her boyfriend gave birth in her home and tossed her newborn daughter out a seventh-story window to her death, police said Tuesday. 

Jennifer Berry, 33, was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the baby's death. She said nothing to reporters as she was led from a Bronx police stationhouse Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, officials said, she was ordered to be held without bail. 

NYPD officers found the infant with her umbilical cord still attached in a courtyard of the Bronx apartment building on Monday afternoon, police said. They had responded to the home after receiving a call that an infant had fallen from a window.

An autopsy revealed the infant died of blunt force injuries, Dr. Barbara Sampson, the city's chief medical examiner, said Tuesday. The baby's death was officially ruled a homicide, meaning she was alive when she plummeted from the window.

Law enforcement sources say the child was found outside the boyfriend's building. Berry, who is from Yonkers, was visiting at the time, they said. She and her boyfriend had been dating for about a year. 

Detectives questioned the child's mother throughout the night Monday and arrested her Tuesday. Berry remained stonefaced as she walked out of the precinct house. Attorney information for her wasn't immediately available. 

Berry's boyfriend told police he was in another room when the child was born and when the baby plunged from the window. He told investigators he didn't realize either event had occurred and had thought his girlfriend had an abortion, authorities said. He is not facing any charges. 

It wasn't immediately clear how much time elapsed between the baby's birth and her fall from the window, officials said.

Christopher McKniff, a spokesman for the city's Administration for Children's Services, said the agency has launched a probe to investigate the circumstances that led to the baby's death. Authorities said privacy laws prohibited the agency from commenting on whether child welfare investigators had ever interacted with the family before.

Tiffany Martinez, who lives across the street from the Bronx apartment building, told The New York Times she was shaken up by it.

"I get frustrated with my son a lot," she told the newspaper, but "doing harm to him never crossed my mind." 

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