New York Manhattan mother jumps eight stories to her death with her infant son strapped to her chest; baby survives with minor injuries
Sources say Harlem lawyer Cynthia Wachenheim penned a 13-page, handwritten suicide note before jumping out of an eighth-story window, taking her son, Keston, with her. The baby was saved from the impact when the woman landed on her back on the pavement.
By Rocco Parascandola , Joe Kemp AND Vera Chinese / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 4:46 PM
Updated: Thursday, March 14, 2013, 8:11 AM
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A Manhattan lawyer strapped her 10-month-old son to her chest and leaped to her death from an eighth-story window in Harlem on Wednesday — and the baby miraculously survived with little more than scratches, police sources said.
Cynthia Wachenheim, 44, who left a suicide note castigating herself for being a bad mother, landed on her back after taking the fatal plunge. Baby Keston was in a harness. He bounced off his mom on impact and then rolled away from her motionless arms.
“I heard a small scream when she was in the air,” said witness Steven Dominguez, 18. “I noticed something falling, but I didn’t want to believe it was a person.”
Dominguez, who teared up as he spoke, said the landing made a horrifying sound.
“It was a loud bang,” he said outside the woman’s building on Bradhurst Ave. near W. 147th St. “It sounded like a big piece of wood hitting the floor.”
“When I got closer, I saw the baby crying,” he said.
Cynthia Wachenheim and her 10-month-old son Keston plummeted eight stories from a Harlem building near W. 147th St. The baby was in stable condition Wednesday night at Harlem Hospital, hours after his mother’s 3:30 p.m. jump.
Sources said Wachenheim left a rambling 13-page, handwritten suicide note on small pages of notebook paper.
“The note said she was not happy and she talked about what she planned to do,” a source said. In the note, Wachenheim is “saying to her husband, ‘I love you. I’m making you suffer. You’re going to think I’m evil,’” a source said.
“She thinks she’s a failing mother. On the last page, she refers to postpartum depression. She was supposed to see a therapist, but she blew him off.
“As the note goes on, you get the idea she’s explaining why she’s going to do it,” the source added.
The note, which mentions little Keston having a physical handicap, was unsigned — but cops compared it to handwriting samples and determined that it was written by Wachenheim, the source said.
Wachenheim died, but her son Keston survived with minor injuries. He was in stable condition at Harlem Hospital. Police learned — not from the note — that Wachenheim was convinced her baby had cerebral palsy, although doctors said there was nothing wrong with him, said the source.
Wachenheim’s husband, Hal Bacharach, 48, was at work when his wife jumped, the source said. He was spotted on surveillance video leaving the upscale building at 12:55 p.m., less than three hours before the leap. Neighbors said he stormed out of their two-bedroom condo after a loud argument. Shouting echoed through the halls.
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