Husband Arrested After Crying Baby Leads Police To Dead Mother

New York City Police arrested a man this week after a crying toddler led authorities to the body of her mother. Tonie Wells, 22, was found dead at the bottom of a set of stairs in a Brooklyn apartment building Wednesday. The cries of her 2-year-old daughter led neighbors to call the police for a wellness check.

Neighbors alerted police after they heard crying and realized they had not seen Wells recently. After finding her body, authorities arrested her husband of nine months, according to the New York Daily News. The husband was identified by police as a person of interest and was in custody for questioning, WPIX-TV reported.

“It was him,” Wells’ sister told the Daily News. “It wasn’t an accident. It was definitely him.”

Her young daughter was found in the apartment near her mother’s body unharmed. Wells’ cause of death had not yet been released. Authorities were waiting on a determination from the medical examiner.

“An initial determination deemed this person’s death to be suspicious and it is currently being investigated,” said deputy chief Michael Kempfer, according to CBS News. “The deceased female has bruising on her neck and it appears she was either pushed or fell down the flight of stairs leading to the basement.”

Police were also looking into reports that the first wellness check on Wells may not have been adequately conducted. Two officers reportedly visited the home after receiving an initial call about an hour before Wells' body was found and reported that nothing was amiss, NBC News reported. The officers were called on a report that Wells was “scared” and her husband was “acting funny,” but may never have left their car, according to the New York Post.

“We are actively investigating the steps that were taken during the wellness check,” an NYPD source told the Daily News. “We want to know all the steps they made in this incident.”