Toddler siblings who died three minutes apart early Monday morning were murdered, a medical examiner has determined.
According to DNAinfo, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that Olivia Gee, 2, and Micha Gee, 3, were beaten to death.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, both children suffered from asthma, and doctors initially believed that was their cause of death.
But further examination of the toddler girl revealed evidence that she had been beaten in the abdomen and chest. The final autopsy report determined that both children had died from blunt force trauma.
On Monday night, before the medical examiner’s ruling, police questioned the children’s mother’s boyfriend, Novell Jordon, 31, at length before releasing him without charges.
“He lawyered up so we can’t talk to him,” a police source told the Daily News.
Jordon reportedly woke the mother, Jade Spencer, at about 1 a.m. Monday in their Bronx apartment to tell her that her children were having difficulty breathing.
Spencer, a registered nurse, administered drugs to help open their airways and called 911. The children both died about an hour later, and were declared dead three minutes apart.
The Daily News reports that Spencer is under psychiatric care after she had a breakdown at the hospital where her children died. According to the Daily News, Spencer has a prescription for Lithium, a medication used to treat various psychiatric illnesses.
The newspaper also reports that the couple gave conflicting accounts to police.
Spencer reportedly told police that she fell asleep on the couch Sunday night after she and Jordon watched a movie, while smoking pot and drinking beer. She said she moved to her bed at around 11 p.m. and Jordon came into the bedroom about two hours later to tell her that something was wrong.
Jordon reportedly said that he fell asleep on the couch, and that Spencer woke him up before she went to bed. He said he heard wheezing from the children’s room when he walked by. The precise timeline of his account is not clear.
New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio gave a statement about the children’s tragic deaths.
“Our city is mourning the loss of two young children in a tragedy Monday in the Bronx,” the mayor said. “As a parent, it’s very painful for me to think about the deaths of these two children and what the family is going through right now.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Feature photo: Facebook
