Elmhurst mother charged with murder of baby

Updated 3:15 p.m.

An Elmhurst mother has been arrested after she apparently suffocated her 11-month-old son inside their apartment on Sunday, officials said.

Officers, responding to a 9-1-1 call of a baby not breathing, arrived at the 52nd Avenue home of Nicole Kelly, 22, around 4 p.m., according to police. They were then informed that the child, Kiam Felix Jr., had been taken to Elmhurst Hospital.

Kiam was pronounced dead at the hospital.

His mother, Kelly, has been charged with second-degree murder in his death, officials said.

Kelly allegedly made statements implicating herself in her son’s killing, saying, “I reached my breaking point, I didn’t want him anymore,” according to District Attorney Richard Brown.

She is accused of covering the face and body of her child by tucking him into a bed sheet, then watching him struggle to breathe and move before leaving him alone for about 30 minutes, the district attorney said. When Kelly came back, he was allegedly blue and unresponsive, and she did not take him to the hospital until several hours later.

A spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office said the cause of death is still pending, but according to the district attorney’s office, “preliminary findings are consistent with the defendant’s statements that she prevented the child from breathing.”

On Monday, Kelly said in a post on her Facebook page that she wished there was some way she could bring him back and should have protected him as his mother.

“Missing my baby boy so much wish there was some way I could bring him back to life I feel horrible knowing he passed away Am his Mother I was supposed to protect him I know his spirit will always be around me I would never forget my 1st Born he will forever remain in my heart & his family hearts,” she wrote.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Kelly was awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.

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