Bronx, NY – Nearly five years after the bodies of newborn twin boys were discovered in a Bronx alley, prosecutors announced Wednesday that their mother has been indicted on murder charges in connection with their deaths.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said Stephanie Castillo, 36, of Jerome Avenue, was arraigned on first-degree murder and multiple manslaughter counts. The charges stem from the November 9, 2020, discovery of the infants’ bodies outside 1460 College Avenue in Claremont, where Castillo lived at the time.
Investigators said a building superintendent initially spotted one of the babies in the alleyway. Responding officers later found the second inside a garbage bag. Both infants were full-term and had been born alive, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The boys died from blunt force trauma to the head and torso.
Clark said the case remained active for years before forensic evidence linked Castillo to the deaths. The indictment followed an investigation by the NYPD Bronx Homicide Squad and the Bronx DA’s Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau.
“This defendant is accused of an unthinkable, unimaginable crime—the murder of her own children shortly after they were born,” Clark said. “This crime shocked the city, and while it may have faded from the headlines, investigators never stopped trying to find the twins’ killer.”
Castillo was remanded into custody and is due back in court December 18.
The prosecution is being led by Assistant District Attorneys Mimi Mairs and Rachael Baughman under the Bronx DA’s Special Victims Division. Authorities credited multiple NYPD units, forensic specialists, and federal investigators for their roles in the case.
Officials stressed that an indictment is not proof of guilt.
Key Points
- Stephanie Castillo, 36, has been indicted for the 2020 deaths of her newborn twin boys in the Bronx.
- The infants were found in an alley and determined to have died from blunt force trauma.
- Investigators said forensic evidence tied Castillo to the crime after a years-long probe.
A haunting case that once gripped the Bronx is now back before the courts.
