NEW YORK — A 36-year-old woman was charged Friday in the deaths of newborn twins who were found behind a New York City apartment building nearly five years ago, police said.
Stephanie Castillo, identified as the boys’ mother, was arrested at a homeless shelter in the Bronx, police said. She is charged with murder and manslaughter.
The superintendent of a Bronx apartment building discovered the boys’ bodies on Nov. 9, 2020, in the building’s courtyard. The Medical Examiner determined the babies died from blunt force trauma.
It was unknown whether Castillo, who was in custody Friday, had an attorney who could comment on her behalf.
The case weighed heavily on New York City police officers, who were still looking for the person responsible for the babies’ deaths when they were laid to rest nearly a year later.
Police officers organized a funeral service for the infants, whom they named Zeke and Zane. They were placed in a single white casket, with officers serving as pallbearers at the service.
“You look at the way that the DNA technology has progressed over the last couple of years, and we are at the forefront of it,” Assistant Chief Michael Baldassano told 1010 Wins radio after the arrest. “This case speaks to that.”
Details of the investigation that led to Castillo’s arrest were not immediately released.