Officials: Bronx couple charged after discovery of infant daughter's body
A Bronx man faces a murder charge for allegedly killing his 3-month-old daughter, while his girlfriend, the child's mother, is accused of helping him dispose of the dead infant over the Memorial Day weekend in a wooded area off the Major Deegan Expressway, officials said Tuesday.
Damian Comager, 23, and Ivana Paolozzi, 20, also of the Bronx, were set to be arraigned late Tuesday in Bronx Criminal Court, according to the Bronx District Attorney's Office.
Comager and Paolozzi, who police said were for a time living at a shelter on University Avenue, face charges after cops discovered the body of their daughter, Genevieve, late Sunday, discarded in the vicinity of West 161st Street and the expressway. The infant was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner said that an autopsy on the child had not been finished as of late Tuesday afternoon.
According to a law enforcement official, Comager was arrested after he allegedly told his father about Genevieve’s death, who then informed police. Comager reportedly told police that he had shaken Genevieve to stop her from crying and the infant then went silent and cold, the official said.
Comager was arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter and concealment of a corpse. Paolozzi was arrested and charged with concealment of a corpse and obstructing government administration, according to the NYPD.
The death of Genevieve and the way her body was disposed was evocative of the 1991 case of “Baby Hope,” whose naked body was found in a cooler off the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan. In 2013, based on a single call to NYPD cold case investigators, the child was identified as Anjelica Castillo, who was allegedly sexually abused and killed by a relative. DNA analysis helped confirm the girl's identity.
According to the NYPD, Conrado Juarez, a cousin of the child, confessed to killing her but later said his confession was coerced. Juarez died in custody in 2018 of cancer.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
