A Bronx couple is grieving the death of their 2-year-old daughter, Julia, who fell from a fifth-floor apartment window in the Mott Haven neighborhood Tuesday night, per the child’s parents and police.
The fall happened at about 10:37 p.m. at the family’s building on East 138th Street near St. Ann’s Avenue. Police said they suspect no criminality.
How The Fall Happened
Police sources said the toddler pushed out an accordion-style divider that sat between a window and an air conditioner, then fell through the opening.
The girl’s mother, Thessa Wilcox, said she left the room briefly. When she glanced at a baby monitor, her daughter was no longer on the screen. She ran back and found the window open.
Wilcox raced downstairs and tried to climb a fence to reach her daughter in an alley, she said. The building’s superintendent, Jose Sosa, also rushed to help. Sosa said he hoped to find signs of life but found none, per a report.
Girls’ Father Disbelief on Losing His Daughter
The girl’s father, Chayanne Polanco, was on his way home when he got a phone call about the incident. He said he first thought it was a hoax or a case of mistaken identity.
Callers kept insisting he go to Harlem Hospital, where he learned his daughter had died. Wilcox said she has been too heartbroken to get out of bed.
The couple said Julia’s birth followed a miscarriage and several attempts to start a family. They described her as energetic and full of life.
Her parents said they had taken her trick-or-treating for the first time only days before her death.
Wilcox said she was grateful her daughter got to see neighbors handing out candy and enjoying the holiday. Halloween had been the family’s first with her and now it would be their last.
Mother Urged Parents to Stay Vigilant
Only some windows in the apartment have window guards, the parents said and the one Julia fell through was not among them.
Wilcox used her grief to appeal to other families. She urged parents to “please watch your children” and called for greater awareness of safer child care.
