Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Tuesday, Oct. 7, that a Bronx man has been charged with second-degree murder and other related charges in the death of a one-year-old girl he allegedly punched in the head while she was left in his care by her mother.

“Imani-Dior Monique Mitchell was an innocent child whose life ended in unthinkable violence. The defendant was entrusted with her care for less than an hour by her mother, who now must bear this horrible loss,” Clark said.

Clark said the defendant, Jerome Thomas, 19, of Union Avenue, The Bronx, was arraigned on Tuesday on second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Alvin Yearwood. He remains in custody and is due back in court on January 2026.

According to the investigation, on Aug. 28, between 8.30 p.m. and 9.15 p.m., inside a Union Avenue building in the Melrose section of the borough, Le’Nesha Mitchell, 26, placed her child, one-year-old Imani-Dior Monique Mitchell, in the care of the defendant while she went to the supermarket.

When she returned, she found her daughter in bed, struggling to breathe with bruising on her face. Mitchell called 911 and the child was taken to NYC Health+Hospitals  Harlem. She was found to have extensive subdural hemorrhaging and cerebral edema, which was causing her brain to herniate.

The baby was transferred to New York Presbyterian /Columbia University Irving Medical Center where she underwent surgery in an attempt to relieve the pressure on her brain and was placed on life support. Imani-Dior was pronounced dead on Sept. 5. Her injury was determined to be consistent with a direct forceful impact to the right side her head. The defendant allegedly admitted in a video-recorded statement that he hit Imani-Dior twice in the head with a “heavy hand.”

The case is being prosecuted by Tiffany Wichman, major case assistant of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Camila Sosa of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, under the supervision of Johanna Hernandez, deputy chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, Alexandra Militano, deputy chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, Mimi Mairs, chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Adrienne Giunta, deputy chief of Special Victims Division and Joseph Muroff, chief of Special Victims Division.

Clark thanked Erin Schiotis and Elaina Clarke, trial preparation assistants, Xavier Campo and Jeremy Rothman, video technicians with the Bronx DA Video Unit, and Brandon Leonard, crime victim advocate/violence response specialist, for their assistance with the case.

She thanked NYPD Det. Arelis Collazo of the Bronx Homicide Squad, Det. Paolo Ruiz of the 40^th Precinct detective squad and Officer Yuliana Comas of the 40^th Precinct.

 The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.