‘It was a mistake’: Parents of 3-month-old charged after baby found dead in Bronx woods

Originally Published: 30 MAY 23 15:12 ET

By Janice Yu

Click here for updates on this story

    HIGHBRIDGE, New York (WABC) -- Police have released new information about what led up to the death of a 3-month-old baby who was found along the Major Deegan Expressway.

Damion Comager, the baby's 23-year-old father, was arrested and charged with murder on Monday.

Officials say Comager told the baby's grandfather that he shook her because she wouldn't stop crying. He later found his daughter, Genevieve, was dead.

Comager reportedly panicked and put the infant in a bag before he dumped her along the Major Deegan Expressway, just blocks from the transitional housing shelter where they lived.

The baby's grandfather told a priest what happened and he wanted to "do the right thing" by calling the police.

Officials say detectives questioned Comager and the baby's mother, 20-year-old Ivana Paolozzi, during the day on Sunday.

Police spent hours combing through the area surrounding the University Family Residence on University Avenue. By 8 p.m., Genevieve's body was found in the woods below a pedestrian overpass in the Highbridge section.

Paolozzi is also being charged with concealment of a human corpse and obstructing governmental administration, authorities said.

When reporters spoke to Comager as he got into a police car he said, "I love my daughter." When asked if he shook the baby, he said, "it was a mistake."

Comager is from Louisiana and had a few prior arrests there, sources said. He and Paolozzi moved to New York City in December and Genevieve was born in February.

Neighbors say this tragedy wouldn't have happened if they had just reached out for help.

"That baby deserved a life. I don't care what the circumstances are. There's the fire department, take that baby and drop it off," one neighbor said.

An autopsy was conducted Sunday, but the official cause of death is still pending. The NYPD says they are treating the death as a homicide.

Authorities say Comager and Paolozzi will be arraigned Tuesday at criminal court.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.