Karla Espinal: Mother claims she was baptizing daughter who died after being in bathtub
Espinal was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, but the autopsy could result in murder charges.
A mother has been arrested in Brooklyn, New York City, after police found her daughter unresponsive in the bathtub of their home, according to a News12 report.
In an incident 26-year-old Karla Espinal allegedly tried to explain away as “baptizing” her daughter, police responded to a call dispatching them to a home on Elton Street at about 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2024 to find the little girl unconscious in a bathtub filled with water.
Doctors later declared six-year-old Madelyne Tavarez dead at the Brookdale Hospital, News12 states.
“Pursuant to an ongoing investigation, the following individual was arrested and charged on February 8, 2025 at 1755 hours in the confines of the 75 Precinct,” the NYPD said in a statement to People Magazine.
The NYPD added that her charges include assault in the second degree for recklessly causing serious physical injury, acting in a manner injurious to a child and reckless endangerment in the second degree. Upon receiving the medical examiner’s report, police could lay more serious charges.
Investigators said the child’s father saw Madelyne and her mother together about an hour before the incident, according to News12. At the time, everything seemed normal.
However, another relative claimed to police that they saw Espinal hold her daughter under water. Espinal allegedly told police she was baptizing Madelyne.
The New York Post spoke to neighbors of the family.
“I see that they are happy. I see the mother loved the girl… and [the father] is a nice guy,” said Gina Khau, who lives next door.
She also told the Post reporter that at about 4 a.m., hours before Madelyne’s death, she heard someone screaming.
Another neighbor, Vincent Abad, described Madelyne as “happy, happy all time.”
Speaking to the New York Times, neighbor Helen Cunningham said she saw police lead a young woman out in handcuffs that day, and saw a man she thought to be the girl’s father get into the ambulance.
Cunningham also revealed that the family, both parents and one or two other children, had only moved into the home a few months ago.
More to come as this case unfolds.