NY - Manhattan lawyer jumps from 8 story window with baby in her arms.

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SurfieTX

SurfieTX

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HARLEM — A Manhattan lawyer died Wednesday after she jumped from an eighth-floor apartment window cradling her baby in her arms, but the child survived, police sources and witnesses said.

Cynthia Wachenheim, 45, was holding her 10-month-old son Keston as she plunged from her window at The Sutton, 102 Bradhurst Ave., at West 147th Street, about 3:25 p.m., sources, witnesses and the FDNY said.

Wachenheim was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. The infant was rushed to Harlem Hospital in critical but stable condition, according to the NYPD.

Wachenheim left a note behind, sources said. One police source described it as "mostly rambling."
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...ndow_n_2875604.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
 
This is so so sad.
 
I read a different news article which didn't mention a note, but had neighbors talking about a loud argument with a man right before it happened. I'll see if I can dig up that source - it seemed to call into question whether it was a suicide.
 
They said there was a note on HLN this afternoon. That she was concerned about how her child was developing. Sounds like PP played a part.. I can not imagine this. It is so terribly awful.
 
Not the original article I read, but this one is similar - although it places the argument a few hours before her death.


Christian Johnson told Pix11, “When I came home, they were arguing. And I actually stopped to listen, and I heard screaming, and the baby was crying. He just kept saying why wouldn’t you pick up the phone, why would you put that stress on me? Why wouldn’t you pick up the phone, why, why? He was screaming, why, why?”
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http://pix11.com/2013/03/14/i-wish-...-falls-8-stories-baby-survives/#axzz2NXCyILeW
 
---
Here's how the Associated Press, which spoke with an unnamed official with knowledge of the note, summed it up:

"In the note, the 45-year-old Wachenheim said she recognized what she was about to do was "evil" but she was concerned about how her child was developing...It was unclear whether the baby, who neighbors said was an only child, had any mental or physical problems."
---
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http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slat...henheim_dies_after_falling_eight_stories.html

Slate (and AP) also includes eyewitness accounts of the suicide.
 
AnaTeresa said:
Not the original article I read, but this one is similar - although it places the argument a few hours before her death.




http://pix11.com/2013/03/14/i-wish-...-falls-8-stories-baby-survives/#axzz2NXCyILeW
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It sounds to me like he knew she was deteriorating somewhat and he was trying to make sure he talked to her throughout the day, but this particular day she wasn't answering the phone thus causing him the stress (and probably having to leave work early or what-have-you).
 
This Daily Mail article reports the husband is very distressed and feeling guilty that he didn't stay with her. Apparently the baby's injuries were minor and he's now with the father. She had been prescribed medication for PPD, but wasn't taking it.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. Neighbors say baby Keston is the couple’s only child together and Wachenheim was thought to have been suffering from severe postpartum depression.

The 44-year-old is said to have left a rambling, incoherent 13-page suicide note in which she referred to her failings as a mother.

Sources told the New York Daily News: 'The note said she was not happy and she talked about what she planned to do.'
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CHERIE.T said:
Sad! How could the baby survive that fall?
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I think mom took most of the inertia/impact and then the remainder of it forced the baby out of her arms; thus, the baby only really "fell" about 2 feet or so.
 
Andrea Yates gave the same reason for killing her kids-she didn't think they were developing properly. Of course Yates killed the kids but not herself.
This woman was an older mother who had a successful career prior to this. Not an easy adjustment to being stay at home mother. Sounds like she was sitting at home obsessing over her child's imaginary issues.
 
24 years ago I suffered from this horrible ailment. I had the worst form-psychosis. Every day I struggled with unending thoughts/urges to hurt myself and my daughter. Back then no one really treated this disorder so I went through a lot to even get diagnosed. I was put in a hospital and family members took care of my daughter until I was on the right medication. I was hearing voices telling me to hurt us. I was seeing billboards that told me to hurt us. It was a living hell that today I still don't know how we both survived it. I knew the day I had my daughter that "something was wrong" but no one listened. My daughter was 10 months old before I was able to find someone to help me. I NEVER gave up reaching out for help.

Now I volunteer for a hotline in my state that is for PPD. We get back to the mom's who call (or dad's or grandma) within 24 hours, we have grants that pay for them to get medication and counseling. We send them personal letters and we do everything we can do. Everyone that volunteers has to have gone through PPD themselves and have to be 2 years from when they recovered.

I so wish Cynthia had found someone to help her.
 
Victoriouswon said:
24 years ago I suffered from this horrible ailment. I had the worst form-psychosis. Every day I struggled with unending thoughts/urges to hurt myself and my daughter. Back then no one really treated this disorder so I went through a lot to even get diagnosed. I was put in a hospital and family members took care of my daughter until I was on the right medication. I was hearing voices telling me to hurt us. I was seeing billboards that told me to hurt us. It was a living hell that today I still don't know how we both survived it. I knew the day I had my daughter that "something was wrong" but no one listened. My daughter was 10 months old before I was able to find someone to help me. I NEVER gave up reaching out for help.

Now I volunteer for a hotline in my state that is for PPD. We get back to the mom's who call (or dad's or grandma) within 24 hours, we have grants that pay for them to get medication and counseling. We send them personal letters and we do everything we can do. Everyone that volunteers has to have gone through PPD themselves and have to be 2 years from when they recovered.

I so wish Cynthia had found someone to help her.
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Thank you so much for sharing your story.

PPD is truly horrific. It is a miracle the baby survived in this case, she saved him by not letting go...her maternal instincts to protect him must've overridden her illness at the very last minute.

Tragic.
 
Victoriouswon
I thank you for sharing such a horiffic time in your life with us.I am sorry that you had to go through that,but it sounds like you became a stronger person for it.You are a hero to people like me to be able to admit this horrible disease that infect women all across own nation. PPD IS REAL!!What a sad story today and all the other ones we have read in the past!Lord help all the women going through it..My prayers are with all!!!
 
24 years ago I suffered from this horrible ailment. I had the worst form-psychosis. Every day I struggled with unending thoughts/urges to hurt myself and my daughter. Back then no one really treated this disorder so I went through a lot to even get diagnosed. I was put in a hospital and family members took care of my daughter until I was on the right medication. I was hearing voices telling me to hurt us. I was seeing billboards that told me to hurt us. It was a living hell that today I still don't know how we both survived it. I knew the day I had my daughter that "something was wrong" but no one listened. My daughter was 10 months old before I was able to find someone to help me. I NEVER gave up reaching out for help.

Now I volunteer for a hotline in my state that is for PPD. We get back to the mom's who call (or dad's or grandma) within 24 hours, we have grants that pay for them to get medication and counseling. We send them personal letters and we do everything we can do. Everyone that volunteers has to have gone through PPD themselves and have to be 2 years from when they recovered.

I so wish Cynthia had found someone to help her.
 
Cindy Wachenheim was someone people didn’t think they had to worry about. She was a levelheaded lawyer working for the State Supreme Court, a favorite aunt who got down on the floor to play with her nieces and nephews, and, finally, in her 40s, the mother she had long dreamed of becoming.

But when her baby was a few months old, she became obsessed with the idea that she had caused him irrevocable brain damage. Nothing could shake her from that certainty, not even repeated assurances from doctors that he was normal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/h...8552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=4&referrer
 
anyone have any idea why someone would put a dime in their baby's mouth???
 
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