The 5-year-old Queens girl battered to death by her mother suffered gruesome injuries to her heart, eyes, lungs, and brain, prosecutors reavealed Friday — as the confessed killer was held without bail.
The disturbing details emerged as Francis Cabello, who chillingly told a 911 operator, “I killed my daughter,” was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on second-degree murder charges.
First responders discovered the youngster, Fabiana Cabello, in her South Richmond Hill home just before 7 p.m. Wednesday after her 32-year-old mother made the harrowing confession.
Franklin Cabello, the grandfather of the victim, told reporters outside court in Spanish, “As a family, we feel mentally and physically destroyed. We can’t think [clearly] but we put our confidence in God.”
“She was very respectful, quiet, and she always treated me like a father, she treated me with respect… She loved her daughter… She wasn’t in control. She didn’t make this decision in her right mind. She was under some kind of influence”
“I forgive my daughter,” he said with tears in his eyes.
When officers arrived at the family’s home, they immediately began CPR on the unconscious child.
“But given the severity of her condition, they didn’t even wait for an ambulance,” Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Ruzza said, describing how police placed the girl in a patrol car and rushed her to Jamaica Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Ruzza explained the mom made several statements to police “in reference to not only killing the child but wanting to have killed her child.”
The young girl was allegedly in good health and running around her home for hours before her mother brought her to a second-floor bedroom, locked the door and emerged alone 45 minutes later to call 911.
Fabiana was found by first responders face down on the floor with blood coming out of her nose.
Francis and her daughter were the only two people in the room, police said.
At the time of her arrest, Francis appeared stoic and didn’t shed a tear while she was carted away in handcuffs, according to a neighbor who identified himself as Carlos.
“She was not crying, it was like nothing happened,” he told The Post.
“It’s too much emotions together. I feel sad for the child.”
Erika Santiago, 43, a licensed practical nurse who lives across the street, said she heard “a lot of yelling” Wednesday night before the emergency response.
“I heard about this when I woke up this morning at 6 o’clock and it’s absolutely devastating, devastating,” said Santiago, who has two daughters of her own, 10 and 12.
“And it’s right across the street and they brought her to the hospital I work at. It’s so close to home.”
An autopsy conducted by Dr. Lin of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner revealed scrapes to the child’s face, petechiae in her eyes, heart and lungs, a swollen brain, bruises to her extremities, and intramuscular hemorrhaging on her shoulder blade and lower back — findings consistent with asphyxiation, according to court documents and prosecutors.
Additional reporting by Marie Pohl
