Queens mother charged with murder after 5-year-old daughter’s autopsy suggests asphyxiation

A 32-year-old woman in Queens, New York, is being held without bail after authorities charged her with murdering her 5-year-old daughter, Fabiana Cabello. Court documents indicate that the child’s autopsy revealed injuries suggesting she may have died from asphyxiation.

Francis Cabello was arrested Thursday night after police said she called 911 on Wednesday and told dispatchers, “I killed my daughter.”

According to the criminal complaint, the medical examiner found scratches and ruptured blood vessels around the child’s eyes, along with findings involving her heart and lungs that investigators say suggest asphyxiation.

Police arrived at the family’s home on 110th Street in Richmond Hill shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday. They found the girl unconscious, bleeding from her nose and mouth, and with a bruise on her temple.

Emergency responders took Fabiana to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Cabello appeared before a judge on Friday and did not enter a guilty or not-guilty plea. Her attorney declined to comment.

The girl’s father, 36-year-old Kukdeep Singh, told reporters that his work as an Uber driver prevented him from seeing his daughter as often as he wanted, but said she was happy when they were together. Before Cabello’s arrest, Singh said he had no reason to fear for his daughter’s safety while she was with her mother, whom he described as having loved the child deeply.

Singh also showed reporters messages in which he and Cabello discussed buying school supplies for their daughter’s first year of kindergarten.

The investigation into the circumstances of the girl’s death remains ongoing.