Queens mom charged with murder in baby's death

ELMHURST (WABC) -- A mother from Queens was arraigned Thursday on charges of second-degree murder in connection with the death of her 11-month-old son in their Elmhurst, Queens, apartment over the July Fourth weekend.

Nicole Kelly's arraignment was at the hospital before Queens Criminal Court Judge Suzanne Melendez via video hook up. She was ordered held without bail.

Police responded to a 911 call just after 4 p.m. Sunday on 52nd Avenue, where they were advised that the boy, identified as Kiam Felix, Jr., had been already been rushed to Elmhurst Hospital.

There, they discovered that the child had been pronounced dead on arrival.

The blinds were shut. The roommate of 22-year-old Kelly said very little about her baby and all that went wrong.

"I feel bad, you know, because I have a kid of my own, but I really don't want to talk about that, OK?" she said.

Investigators say Kelly told them she had "reached her breaking point" and just didn't want her 11-month old boy anymore. And so, she told police, she wrapped little Kiam Felix, Jr. in a sheet last Sunday so he could no longer breathe. Then, sources say, Kelly proceeded to take a shower and methodically get rid of all her baby's belongings. One neighbor noticed.

"I saw the woman put the baby's walker out by the garbage," said Katrina McPherran, a neighbor.

But she also noticed something worse the day before, little Kiam junior abandoned right on the sidewalk in his stroller outside their apartment.

"I waited like 15 minutes," McPherran said.

"And the baby was just there?" Eyewitness News reporter Stacey Sager asked.

"Right, so I went up the stairs and I was like, 'Miss, miss, your baby's down here. Come and get him.' I said it three times, and finally she came out," McPherran said.

Prosecutors say the medical examiner's preliminary findings are consistent with Nicole Kelly's confession, that she stopped her baby from breathing.

Nevertheless, Kelly took to Facebook as late as Monday morning saying she missed Kiam junior, and that she wished she could bring him back. Her final post about the murder in shorthand said, "RIP KJ...am not ready 2 say goodbye to you... :( feeling terrible."

"It makes us feel sick," said Joel Yoder, of the Mennonite Church.

The folks at a church on her block say they spent the 4th of July holiday with her and her baby and if she was overwhelmed, not once did she ask for help.

"This is an opportunity, it's right on our street, she was here with us, other people were here too and we had no idea," Yoder said.

If convicted, Kelly faces up to 25 years to life in prison.