Police believe they located mother of baby found dead in New York river
Police say the woman filed a domestic incident with the department on Monday.
Police may have located the mother of a baby boy whose body was found floating in New York's East River on Sunday.
Officers with the New York Police Department said they've made contact with a 36-year-old woman who they believe is the infant's mother, according to a statement released Tuesday.
Police have not released the woman’s identity, but they said she filed a domestic incident report with the department on Monday. It did not provide any details on the nature of the incident.
"We are in contact with a thirty-six year old female whom we believe is the mother of the infant recovered from the East River,” the statement said. “On 08-06-18 the mother filed a domestic incident report with the Department. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not yet determined the cause of death of the infant. The investigation is continuing."
Investigators are now working to locate the child’s father, who they say may have fled to southeast Asia, according to The Associated Press.
Tourists found the child, about 8 months old, lying unconscious and unresponsive near the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday afternoon wearing only a diaper, according to police.
The baby boy was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. There were no signs of trauma, and no sign of the child's parents in the area.
It was unclear how long the baby had been lying there. Police are investigating how he may have ended up in the water.
Austin Campbell, who was visiting from Oklahoma with his family, said his father jumped into the river with hopes of saving the young child.
"It just doesn't seem real ... it's just, I dunno, I didn't expect this when I came here," Campbell told New York ABC station WABC on Sunday. "My mom, she was out here and she was kind of just looking in the water, and she calls my dad over and says, 'There's a baby in the water!’
"As soon as they called the police my dad was like, 'I'm gonna jump in, I wanna grab it.' He's a physician so he knows how to do CPR and stuff like that," the boy added.