Prosecutors are seeking murder charges against a Bronx man whose girlfriend’s baby died after he punched the little girl in the head, officials said.
The Bronx district attorney has presented homicide charges to a grand jury to consider in the case against Jerome Thomas, 19, according to a source.
Thomas admitted to police he struck 1-year-old Imani-Dior Monique Mitchell twice on the side of the head with a “heavy hand” last Thursday making her cry, according to a criminal complaint.
The tot was only semiconscious when cops responding to a 911 call from her mother arrived at their apartment on Union Ave. near E. 152nd St. in the South Bronx around 9:30 p.m.
“At this time, the case is fully presented along with additional charges with respect to the homicide,” Assistant Bronx District Attorney Tiffany Wichman said. “The complainant in the case died during the course of the grand jury presentation.”
Thomas had already been charged with felony assault and child endangerment.
The girl’s mother, LeNesha Mitchell, 25, told cops she left her daughter in the care of Thomas, and when she returned 45 minutes later, she found her daughter on the bed badly bruised, the complaint says.
“This is like something out of a movie,” Mitchell said shortly after her daughter’s death. “She was the light, she changed me. She made me feel more confident about myself as a first-time mother. I was learning from her. She was happy, smart, funny.”
The girl’s face and head were badly swollen, especially around her bruised left eye, and she was struggling to breathe when cops arrived, according to court papers.
Medics rushed the girl to Harlem Hospital, where she lingered for several days before she died.
The baby needed to be placed on a ventilator and life support and had extensive subdural hemorrhaging on the right side of her head, according to court papers.
Thomas is not the girl’s father but has been dating Mitchell for four months, Mitchell said.
Originally Published: September 12, 2025 at 5:30 PM EDT
