Mother Was Drinking At Bar As Daughter Drowned In LI Hotel Pool: Suffolk DA

MELVILLE, NY — The girl found unresponsive in a hotel pool in Melville in January 2022 remained in a coma until she died on May 1, Suffolk police said.

Her mother, Erica Baez, 41, of the Bronx, was arrested on Monday in Manhattan after police said she left her daughter, Katlyn Pineda, unattended in the pool the day she drowned. Pineda was 7 at the time of her drowning, police said.

Baez was indicted on one charge of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of acting in a manner injurious to a child on Tuesday.

Baez was a guest at the Melville Marriot Hotel with her boyfriend, her 5-month-old son and Pineda on Jan. 13, 2022, said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney. Baez's boyfriend had left the hotel early in the morning to go to work nearby, officials said.

Around 3:30 p.m. that day, Baez asked hotel staff at the front desk to open the pool gate for the indoor atrium pool, prosecutors said. Hotel staff told Baez she was required to watch her daughter at all times since there was no lifeguard on duty, investigators said. Baez instead left Katlyn playing inside the pool alone as she sat at the hotel bar eating and drinking an alcoholic cocktail, authorities said.

Baez returned to the pool roughly 30 minutes later to check on Katlyn, who was still unsupervised in the pool and then left her a second time, officials said. Baez went upstairs to her room, where her 5-month-old son was staying unsupervised, before returning to the hotel bar for a second mixed drink, prosecutors said. Baez did not check on Katlyn again for another 30 minutes, authorities said.

When Baez returned and saw her daughter was floating lifeless in the pool, she removed her shoes and socks and set aside her phone before removing her daughter from the pool, investigators said.

When Melville firefighters and Suffolk police officers arrived at the hotel, Katlyn was pulseless and in cardiac arrest, authorities said. Baez told the first responders that Katlyn had only been alone for five minutes, officials said.

"The alleged actions of this defendant were selfish, senseless and heartless," Tierney said in a news release. "We are going to do everything we can to ensure that justice is served for little Katlyn, whose short life ended too soon."

A Suffolk police EMT performed CPR along with a paramedic before rushing the child to the hospital, authorities said.

"The heroic efforts of the Melville Fire Department paramedic and the EMT successfully restarted Katlyn’s heart, however the damage to her brain from the lack of oxygen was irreversible, and she remained dependent on a ventilator and feeding tube," Tierney's office said.

Katlyn was treated in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Cohen’s Children’s Hospital for almost two months before being transferred to a long-term care facility in New Jersey, officials said. Katlyn became septic and died on May 1, prosecutors said.

Baez was arrested Monday and arraigned Tuesday. She was ordered held without bail. Her next court date is scheduled for May 24.