A 20-year-old mother who survived jumping 11 floors from a high-rise apartment building was charged Saturday with killing her two children and critically wounding her 70-year-old grandfather before the jump, the Chicago Tribune reported.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, the incident happened at a high-rise apartment building off of the 7200 block of South Shore Drive at around 1:45 a.m. on Thursday morning. When officers responded to a call regarding a “person down,” they found a woman on the ground outside of the building with critical injuries. A 2-year-old toddler boy was found unresponsive next to her.
Inside the apartment building, authorities found another child unresponsive in a bathtub and a 70-year-old man in critical condition. The elderly man told police that a woman, identified as 20-year-old Aleah Newell, stabbed him numerous times before jumping from the building with her son in her arms. On Friday, however, authorities said that it appeared that the suspect threw the baby out of a window first before jumping out herself.
The children were identified as 7-month-old Ameer Newell and 2-year-old Johntavis Newell.
The Cook County medical examiner said on Friday that Ameer, who was found scalded with hot water in the bathtub with lacerations on his head, died from an assault, and Johntavis died from multiple traumas caused by the fall.
The elderly victim is currently in the hospital in critical condition but is expected to survive. The suspect is also hospitalized, prosecutors said Saturday, and is having surgery for a broken wrist and ankle. A judge on Saturday ordered her held without bail.
Prosecutors described the series of events in court on Saturday, according to NBC Chicago. They said Newell first ran hot water in a bathtub, then came up behind her grandfather as he used the restroom and placed him in a chokehold. After hitting him over the head with a towel bar, prosecutors said she took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed him more than 10 times, striking him in the ear, neck, shoulders, arms, and mouth.
After her grandfather lost consciousness, she allegedly stabbed Ameer 19 times and put him facedown in the bathtub with scalding hot water. In the living room of the apartment, Newell cut a hole in the window screen, and threw Johntavis out. Newell then jumped herself, but her fall was broken by scaffolding at the third floor. Prosecutors also said that surveillance video shows Newell and Johntavis falling from the window.
The prosecutors added that Newell will make an appearance in court on Monday if her condition allows.
Before the incident, Newell apparently went to the Women at the Shield of Hope Shelter and asked for help. The woman reportedly said she couldn’t take care of the children by herself.
Adrianne Thomas, a woman at the shelter, told WGN 9 that the shelter told Newell that they couldn’t help her.
“It was wrong for them not to help her,” she said. “She told us that she asked them during intake, [and said], ‘Well I asked them if they could help me, and they said they couldn’t help me. I had to do it on my own.'”
The story is developing. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Johntavious and Ameer/GoFundMe]
