The fire started shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday in a second floor apartment on Monroe Street near Patchen Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
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The child’s 20-year-old mother, who wasn’t at home when the fire broke out, returned to the building at about 9:45 a.m. and said she couldn’t find her daughter.
“When she learned that her child was dead, Aquino collapsed to the ground in tears”.
Meanwhile, the rest of Kaleenah family is mourning her death and trying to figure out how this happened. The blaze started on the top floor of the home at 755 Monroe St.
Fire marshals are working to determine what sparked the fire, and the Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death, officials said.
Ms. Aquino initially told investigators she left the child with a baby sitter, but later said she left the child alone with the television on while she went out for the night, a law-enforcement official said.
Sources say she was out drinking when the flames broke out.
It is believed she first told police that she had left Kalenah with a babysitter but when officers checked, the sitter said she had not been looking after the child.
But Langsam said there are no messages that show this; Aquino said she deleted them.
The child’s father, Kason Muldrow, said he was unsure if his daughter was left alone at the time of the blaze. She then allegedly said she left Kaleenah at about midnight before the baby sitter arrived, and they had arranged through Facebook messages for her to be watched.
“I’m just here just like a dream, it’s like a nightmare, like a nightmare to me”, he said.
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“Nobody burn but her, think about it. How would you leave someone in the house like that alone?” said the victim’s great-grandmother, Jean Archibald.
