Twin 5-year-olds who were foaming at the mouth and nose when their mother found them dead inside a Bronx apartment last year died by homicide, not the result of a medical tragedy as investigators previously suspected, the medical examiner's office confirmed Thursday.
The children, a boy and girl, were smothered, further autopsy study showed. They were discovered on a December morning in an East 175th Street home in Morris Heights. Their mother called 911 and said neither child was breathing.
The kids had been sick for several days and were sent home from school the week before they died. They stayed home again the day they passed away. It's not clear what they were sick with, but they had symptoms including vomiting and green mucus, and behavioral issues, like acting irrationally, according to police.
Investigators had said there was no trauma to the twins' bodies, nor any signs of foul play or history of domestic violence in the home, leading to the initial theory about a medical episode.
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The father, who was not home at the time the children were found, was questioned by police after rushing home from work as a home health care attendant in Port Chester. Their mother, meanwhile, had been admitted to the hospital for shock and emotional trauma. She reported having last seen them alive several hours earlier.
Prosecutors didn't immediately say whether they would move to file charges.
