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NYPD: Woman and 8-year-old boy found dead in The Bronx

Police said a wellness check led to the discovery on East 231st Street, where a 4-year-old girl was also found stable and rushed to a nearby hospital.

Tim Harfmann

Apr 19, 2025, 9:57 PM

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The NYPD says the bodies of a 38-year-old woman and an 8-year-old boy were found Friday night inside a second-floor apartment in Wakefield.

Police said a wellness check led to the discovery on East 231st Street, where a 4-year-old girl was also found stable and rushed to a nearby hospital.

Neighbors said they’re heartbroken.

"She was a mother,” said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. “She stayed to herself. And whenever I saw her in and out, she was with her kid or going to get something from the store for the kid, you could tell pampers or wipes."

“She always took good care of her kids, and she was always outside with her kids,” said Charlene, another neighbor. “She always talked to them, she always talked to me.”

One man who declined to be indentified told News 12 he is the woman’s father and children’s grandfather. He identified the woman as Lisa Cotton and said his daughter struggled with mental health.

Charlene said she saw Lisa last week.

“I know that she had an issue, but I didn’t see any sign last week,” she said.

The grandfather said the 8-year-old deceased boy was nonverbal and used a wheelchair, and the 4-year-old girl is now with him.

As of Saturday night, it is unclear how long the woman and children were inside the apartment.

Neighbors said the apartment smelled like dead rodents, urine, and dirty diapers for weeks.

"That smell was in the building for two weeks, but prior to before that, it would always have a funk or a smell coming out of it," said a neighbor who did not wish to be identified.

The medical examiner was determining the cause of their deaths as of Saturday night.

News 12 Reporter Aurora Fowlkes' Saturday evening report on the mother and 8-year-old found dead in Wakefield

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