The death of a one-day-old Harlem boy last year was caused by fentanyl exposure and the case has been ruled a homicide by the city’s Medical Examiner, police said.
The baby was also placed in a plastic bag, which was a contributing factor in his death, the ME additionally found in its ruling on Tuesday.
No one has been arrested yet, but police sources said detectives have a person of interest in the case.
Police learned of the victim — who had not yet been named but who police are calling Baby John Doe, with the last name Santiago-Sanchez — when officers responded on Nov. 21, 2024, to Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
There, police said, officers were told that the baby’s mother had given birth a day earlier and then taken her son to the hospital, where he died.
The mother, now 28, could not immediately be reached for comment.
