- New York mother killed five-year-old daughter, confessed.
- Indian-origin father seeks funeral aid via GoFundMe.
- Mother had psychological issues, motive remains unclear.
A distressing incident has come to light in New York, where a woman has killed her five-year-old daughter and confessed to the crime in a call to the police. Now, the grieving Indian-origin father of the child is seeking financial assistance to cover her funeral expenses.
A 32-year-old woman identified as Francis Cabello told the police during a call on the evening of October 14 that "I killed my daughter." Soon after the call, officers arrived at their home in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood of Queens and found the child, Fabiana Cabello, unconscious.
The five-year-old was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Her father, Kuldeep Singh, is now trying to raise $18,000 to cover her funeral expenses.
According to The New York Times, the police received an unusual 911 call from a woman reporting an assault at her address.
"She's upstairs not breathing," the accused mother, Francis Cabello, told first responders when they arrived.
Officers reached the house at 6:55 PM and found the girl unresponsive and bleeding from her nose. However, the motive behind the alleged killing remains unclear. Cabello was arrested on a murder charge on Thursday.
An autopsy revealed that the girl had scrapes on her face, as well as petechiae (tiny spots caused by bleeding) in her eyes, heart and lungs. These findings can be associated with asphyxia.
Meanwhile, Fabiana's father has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the funeral costs.
"I loved my daughter very much, and losing her feels like I lost my whole world," Kuldeep wrote in a GoFundMe campaign launched four days ago.
"Right now, I am facing expenses I cannot cover on my own. The funeral home and cemetery are asking for a deposit, and I do not have the money for it. I am trying to keep working as an Uber driver while driving a rental car, but I am grieving and struggling to manage these costs at the same time."
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Singh said the fundraiser aims to give his daughter a "proper funeral" and support him during "one of the hardest moments" of his life.
By Wednesday, the campaign had raised 16,780 dollars towards its 18,000 dollars target.
Why did the mother kill her?
According to a report by the New York Post, Francis Cabello had "psychological issues" and was acting "strange".
The woman's father, Franklin Cabello, said he had been keeping an eye on his daughter because she was "acting strange" and had "stopped taking the medication".
"I knew mentally she wasn't 100 per cent there," said Franklin Cabello, who was home at the time. "I knew something was wrong. When a person stops taking medicine for the sickness that she had, the person is going to suffer.
"I wouldn't say that she would be capable of doing damage to the child because she's a mom that was protective over her kid. She was attentive. I never would have thought she would have done something like this," he said. "The family is distraught."
"I used to tell her to take her medication. She said the doctor authorised her to stop taking the medicine," he told the NY Post.
Family remembers Fabiana as a joyful child
Neighbours described the five-year-old as "so loving and joyful".
The girl's uncle, who lived in the apartment below the family's home, recalled how she cared for his mother, her great-grandmother, by holding her hand and helping her move around the apartment when her knees hurt.
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Speaking about Fabiana's friendly nature, Singh said the family often had to remind her not to talk to strangers. During one doctor's appointment, she hugged all the nurses she could see, he recalled.
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"Nobody would want to lose her," Singh told The New York Times. "She was such a beautiful child."