Bartee
WHITE PLAINS – A Mount Vernon month has pled guilty in Westchester
County Court to a charge of manslaughter in connection with the death
of her 14 ½-month-old daughter.
On August 5, 2016 at about 5:21 a.m., Mount Vernon Police were called
by Deasia Bartee, 27, for a report of her unresponsive child who had died
in her sleep.
Officers went to 210 Washington Street where they found the infant, Samia
Yusuf, in a play pen in a lifeless state. She was taken to Mount Vernon
Hospital and pronounced dead.
The emergency room doctor who examined her told police the child was unusually
cold and said she may have been dead for some time and was possibly refrigerated
based on an advanced state of decomposition.
When interviewed by detectives, Bartee implicated herself to the death
of her baby saying she repeatedly struck her on the back with her hand.
The medical examiner ruled her death as the result of blunt force trauma
with a fracture dislocation of the lumbar spine and internal bleeding.
The child was significantly underweight and malnourished and only weighed
14 pounds.
When sentenced, Bartee faces up to 25 years in state prison.
