“He was yelling at her today,” said Christian Johnson, 37. “It made me stop and listen. He was asking her why she wouldn’t pick up the phone. He kept repeating it. Then, the baby started crying.”
A police source said Wachenheim was taking antidepressants and that pills were found in the apartment.
A different police source said Wednesday was the first time police were ever called to the apartment. The couple had lived at The Sutton — where similar apartments run about $325,000 — for about three years.
Wachenheim, a high school valedictorian in Albany and a Columbia Law grad, was on maternity leave from her $118,000-a-year job in the city court system. She worked there for more than 15 years doing research and writing for judges.
Wachenheim, whose lifeless body lay on the street covered with a whire sheet, wrote a 13-page suicide note where she talked about not being happy and what she planned to do, a source said. She also said in the note to her husband that she loved him and was making him 'suffer.' “She was wonderful — very devoted to the court (and) wonderful with everyone she worked with,” said her boss, John Werner, chief court clerk. “It’s a tragedy.”
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident,” said David Bookstaver, spokesman for the city’s Office of Court Administration. “Our thoughts are with her family.”
Two NYPD narcotics detectives were parking a car nearby and were the first to respond after they saw the tragic fall.
Cops took the boy, who appeared to only have scratches and minor injuries, to Harlem Hospital. He was listed in stable condition and was expected to survive. A source said he underwent a CT scan.
Neighbors were shocked that Wachenheim, who officials said worked as an associate court attorney with the New York County Law Office, took her only child with her in the fatal leap.
“She was very friendly,” said Yaa Dwamena, 32. “She always greeted you when you came in and out of the building. She didn’t seem like she was going through anything.”
Neighbor Christian Johnson said he heard Wachenheim and her husband, Hal Bacharach, yelling at each other, but didn’t think it was anything more than a typical squabble until he saw Wachenheim dead. A building worker described Wachenheim as a devoted mom.
“She was always holding him in her arms,” the worker said. “She was always with the baby. She loved that baby.”
Johnson, who has known the couple since they moved into the building, said he never saw signs of trouble.
“I saw her a little while ago,” he said. “She seemed stressed out — but what mother of a 10-month-old isn’t stressed out?”
Johnson also thought that Wednesday’s argument was just a typical squabble between parents, until he saw Wachenheim’s body on the sidewalk.
“I saw her on the ground and I lost it,” Johnson said.
With Barbara Ross, Kerry Burke and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
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