Charge dad killed daughter for ‘crying’

A South Ozone Park father is being held without bail after an arraignment on charges of murdering his 13-month-old daughter.
Police say Peter O’Keeffe, 35, of 150-20 117th Street, beat daughter Jessica O’Keeffe to death Saturday, November 3 because she was crying too much.
Officers from the NYPD’s 106th Precinct responded at 6:42 p.m. to a call of an unconscious child from Louise Rojas, Jessica’s mother. Rojas said she had returned home from a day of shopping to find her daughter unconscious and her husband, O’Keeffe, gone.
Emergency workers arrived at the home and tried to resuscitate Jessica, but the child was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival at 7:25 p.m. She suffered a fractured skull, head trauma, human bite marks to her right arm and multiple bruises.
According to a statement released by Queens District Attorney (DA) Richard A. Brown, O’Keeffe had agreed to baby-sit the child while his wife ran errands. He admitted to having taken cold medicine after Rojas had left the house. When he became frustrated at the baby’s ongoing crying, he allegedly beat her, shook her and threw her to the floor.
O’Keeffe allegedly turned Jessica over to find blood on her head, then left his home and fled to Philadelphia. He told police he did not seek help for Jessica because he thought she was already dead. The following day, O’Keeffe returned to his mother’s house in Brooklyn, where he was arrested.
O’Keeffe was ordered into protective custody and put on suicide watch by Queens Criminal Court Judge Alex Zigman. His next court date is Monday, November 26.
“This helpless, innocent child was relying on her father to care for her,” said D.A. Brown. “Instead, he allegedly beat her senseless and left her alone to die. The defendant was supposed to protect his child, not harm her.”
The tree-lined South Ozone Park neighborhood where the incident took place is left in shock, but many neighbors declined comment in the aftermath of the slaying. Those willing to talk had varying impressions of the couple.
Chris McDaniels, who lives upstairs, said in a published report that the couple was so quiet “You wouldn’t even know they lived there.”
Other neighbors, however, said O’Keeffe and Rojas, who had been married about three years, could occasionally be heard arguing.
One man, who asked not to be named, called the couple “loners.
“I don’t know anyone who was close to them,” he said.
An NYPD squad car remained stationed outside the home for two days after the incident.
If convicted, O’Keeffe could face life behind bars.