A 1-month old “beautiful” baby girl was killed last night in a Bronx apartment fire likely set to cover up the murder of her mother, who was found dead with multiple stab wounds, police sources said.
Horrified firefighters — who believed they were responding to a routine apartment blaze on Albany Crescent in Kingsbridge — tried desperately to revive the infant, performing CPR on her atop a car on the street, authorities said.
But she was pronounced dead of smoke inhalation at Jacobi Hospital shortly afterward.
The 32-year-old mother, whose name was withheld, was dead at the scene.
The woman had been stabbed repeatedly in the torso and arms, then dragged to a bathroom and tossed under a mattress, which was set ablaze, according to the FDNY and sources.
“The bathroom was lit on fire, possibly to cover up the crime scene,” said Joe Saccente, FDNY Deputy Fire Chief.
The infant was found in the bathroom in a tub, according to the FDNY.
A police source said that authorities are treating the heinous crime as a double murder.
Cops are looking to question the woman’s boyfriend, the source added.
It’s unclear if that boyfriend is the baby’s father.
“She looked like she’d been through a lot,” said one neighbor.
The murdered woman had been a victim of domestic violence in the past, and had another child — who was under the care of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services — said the neighbor.
Neighbors said she was devoted to the newborn.
“I saw her like a week ago, and I was telling her how beautiful she was,” said one.
“She was very tiny.”
The crime stunned residents of the five-story building.
“It’s devastating that this baby could perish,” said Kizzy Marte, who lives across from the charred apartment.
“Who would do this?”
Additional reporting by Antonio Antenucci