Baby Starves To Death, Parents Charged

MOUNT VERNON, NY — A mother and father were arraigned Tuesday in connection with the death of their 6-week-old baby in 2018. The child starved to death, according to the Westchester Medical Examiner.

The mom, Shanelle Straker, lived on South 5th Avenue with her mother and her two children, one of them Jessamine Lantigua, who had been born April 16, 2018.

The father, Henry Lantigua, lived nearby, prosecutors said.

Two 911 calls came into Mount Vernon police May 31, 2018. Each parent reported “an unresponsive child,” according to call records.

Emergency medical responders found the infant unresponsive. They took the baby to Montefiore-Mount Vernon Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Medical and emergency personnel including EMS, the police and in the Emergency Room, noted the infant was emaciated and had a severe rash covering most of her body and her face, said Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr.

The Medical Examiner declared the manner of death was homicide and the cause was undernourishment.

A Westchester County Grand Jury indicted Lantigua, 40, and Straker, 37, on Criminally Negligent Homicide, a class E felony, and Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a misdemeanor.

Westchester County Court Judge George Fufidio presided and set bail at $5,000 cash or bond each.
Their next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 22.

Assistant District Attorney Christine Hatfield of the Special Prosecutions Division is prosecuting the case.