Death of 1-year-old boy at Bronx day care ruled a 'homicide'

Bahar Ostadan

Published Sep 29, 2023

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A small memorial is placed at the door of a Bronx day care center as police and crime scene investigators continue work, after a 1-year-old child died and three other children were injured from alleged exposure to the drug fentanyl last Friday, on September 21, 2023 in New York City.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Bahar Ostadan

Published Sep 29, 2023

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The death of the 1-year-old boy who was poisoned with fentanyl at a Bronx day care earlier this month was ruled a homicide by the city's medical examiner on Friday.

Nicholas Dominici was one of several children found unconscious at a home-based day care in Kingsbridge on Sept. 15. City officials determined his cause of death was “acute fentanyl intoxication.”

“I have no words for this,” Otoniel Feliz, Dominici’s father, told Gothamist several days after his son’s death. “Sad is just the beginning of all my feelings.”

Four people have been criminally charged in connection with the incident, where police found a kilogram of fentanyl and drug processing equipment stored beside children’s playmats and underneath floorboards.

The day care owner’s husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, was on the run for two weeks before federal authorities arrested him in Mexico. Herrera is being criminally charged in Manhattan federal court.

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public safety

bronx