April 26, 2021 By Christina Santucci
A Queens mother of six-week-old twins was arraigned Saturday on charges of brutally murdering her babies in the Woodside Houses, authorities said.
Danezja Kilpatrick, 23, was charged with two counts of first and second degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.
Police found the lifeless bodies of her 46-day-old boy and girl – Dallis and Dakota Bentley – Thursday afternoon inside the building at 31-76 51st St., after relatives called the cops to check on Kilpatrick.
When officers showed up to her fifth-floor apartment, Kilpatrick reportedly told them, “I didn’t want them anymore,” and, “They are dead.”
The baby boy was discovered in his bassinet with a knife in his neck, and the baby girl was stuffed in a plastic garbage bag under the kitchen sink, the district attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors said that the killings took place as early as Monday, April 18.
During her arraignment Saturday, prosecutors said Kilpatrick had first tried unsuccessfully to poison the babies by mixing Pine Sol into their milk – then allegedly scalded one child with hot water and used a knife on the other, the NY Daily News reported.
“This is a tragic, heart-wrenching case. Two babies – boy and girl twins – are dead and their mother charged with doing the unthinkable,” DA Melinda Katz said in a statement.
“This should have been a joyous time for this family, instead the babies’ relatives are mourning their deaths and the sad fact that the one person who should have been their protector and loving caregiver allegedly killed them,” Katz continued.
Queens Criminal Court Judge Stephanie Zaro ordered Kilpatrick to be held without bail, and the young mother was also placed under the care of a doctor while in custody, the News reported.
Kilpatrick is scheduled to appear in court in May, and if convicted, she faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A call to her attorney was not immediately returned.