CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – A mother is facing murder charges for killing her two sons, she also made an attempt to kill her grandfather before she jumped out of her apartment window on the 11th-floor.
20 year old Aleah Newell is being held without bail as of Saturday after leaving one of her sons in the bathtub full of water and throwing her other son from the 11 story apartment window she lived in with them.
The children were seven months old and two years old. Aleah Newell them leaped out of the window herself. She is also accused of stabbing her grandfather who has not been identified.
Newell and her grandfather are at a hospital at the University of Chicago medical center and are recovering. The grandfather is in critical condition but he is expected to recover and live.
Newell and her age two son named Johntavis Newell were discovered on the ground outside the apartment on Thursday at around 2 a.m. after someone called police and told them about a person who was injured on the street.
Officers arrived and also found Ameer Newell, her seven month old son in the bath, along with the age 70 grandfather.
The grandfather was wounded in his face and told officers that Newell jumped out of the windows while she held Johntavis, NBC Chicago reported, and also a more recent report.
Newell stabbed her son Ameer and the grandfather several times, then she put the baby in a “scalding” hot back, according to police.
Officers reported that she then tossed Johntavis out of the window and jumped out herself.
Johntavis’ death has been confirmed to be from multiple blunt force injuries from the fall, while Ameer’s death was caused by assault injuries, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Newell’s fall had been broken by scaffolding, but she suffered a broken ankle and wrist, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Newell was given surgery at the hospital.
If Newell is found guilty, she is facing a mandatory life prison sentence.
According to Aleah Newell’s mother named Zera Newell, Aleah had taken her children to a women’s shelter earlier in that week and had asked employees to take custody of her children.
Zera said her daughter Aleah showed signs of depression in the past. Zera said,“I thought she was over that. Maybe behind closed doors it was another thing.”
According to The Salvation Army. Newell was staying at a homeless shelter for families on Monday and Tuesday, then she left on the morning of Wednesday, WBBM-TV reported.
An investigation has been launched by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. A department spokesman said they didn’t have any previous contact with the Newell family.
