A mother and father were arrested after their 3-month-old daughter was found dead Sunday night among trash in a wooded area near Yankee Stadium.
During Damion Comager’s arraignment on Wednesday, prosecutors alleged that the pair dressed their daughter and placed her in a stroller so they could wheel her out of their Bronx shelter without anyone noticing she was dead, the New York Post reported. Comager, 23, was arraigned on charges of murder, manslaughter, and concealment of a human corpse.
Comager was at the 44th precinct on Monday, Fox 5 reported, and told reporters as he left: “I love my daughter. I’m sorry. It was a mistake.”
Prosecutors allege that Comager shook the infant, causing her death, and then worked with his girlfriend, 20-year-old Ivana Paolozzi, to dump her remains in a wooded area. Comager’s father, Donald, reportedly told police that his son had shaken the infant. He then panicked, resulting in the gruesome stroller walk.
“Both defendants changed her diaper, placed her in a onesie and a hat, wrapped her in a blanket, and placed her in the stroller,” Assistant District Attorney Serena Newell said in court on Wednesday, according to the Post.
Newell reportedly told Judge Matthew Bondy that surveillance video showed the pair with the stroller containing their dead daughter, Genevieve Rozzlyn Comager.
“The defendant pushed that stroller containing Genevieve’s corpse out of the shelter where they were living,” Newell added, “successfully prompting no inspection or questions from the shelter staff.”
The couple then “placed their daughter Genevieve’s body into a garbage bag and disposed of said garbage bag and the baby stroller into a wooded area amongst massive trash,” Newell said.
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It was Comager’s father who called the police, he told Fox 5.
“It’s difficult you know. That was my first son my first son my first born and that’s my first grand baby, and I don’t have none of them right now,” the elder Comager said, according to Fox 5.
Comager appeared in court wearing a black T-shirt and his dreadlocks in a ponytail, the Post reported. He said nothing except to whisper to his attorney. Comager was held without bail and must return to court on Friday.
In contrast, Paolozzi was charged only with concealment of a human corpse, tampering with evidence, and obstructing a governmental administration. She was arraigned after Comager and released with monitoring, as her charges make her ineligible for bail due to New York’s controversial 2019 bail reform law.
In court, ADA Newell argued that Paolozzi “poses a significant flight risk” since she holds a Swiss passport and is in the U.S. on an expired visa.
Paolozzi is alleged to have lied to city Administration for Children’s Services investigators on Sunday about her daughter’s whereabouts.
“Ivana Paolozzi stated that the defendants and their daughter, Genevieve Comager, were all alive, safe and had relocated to Louisiana,” said the criminal complaint against her, according to the Post.
Baby Genevieve, however, had already been dead for two weeks, according to prosecutors.