Brandis Nwegbo (via MySpace)

Yesterday, police responding to reports of a jumper in Bed-Stuy instead found a young mother cradling her fatally wounded two-year-old daughter while babbling incoherently. The little girl, Cathryn Nwegbo, had wounds to her neck, “major bleeding to the back of her head,” and appeared to have "evidence of strangulation." She was pronounced dead at Woodhull Medical Center. The mother, 29-year-old Brandis Nwegbo, was reportedly babbling things about the girl being possessed by demons: “The monsters are coming from my baby. God wasn’t there for her, so I had to save her.” She has since been taken to Woodhull for a psychiatric evaluation.

Police believe that Nwegbo killed her child in their apartment at 1078 Putnam Avenue around 4 a.m. Friday; charges are expected but haven't been filed yet. They also believe Nwegbo may have used shards from a shattered fish tank they found at the apartment as the murder weapon. Her father, Lawrence Nwegbo, was shocked about news of the horrific death: “I don’t think she has any problems,” he told the Times, adding he had not spoken to his daughter in six months. “She is very happy with the baby.” Other friends said that despite being a loving single mother, Nwegbo was struggling financially and was growing increasingly distraught.

Another friend told CBS that Nwegbo, who had lived in the Rose F. Kennedy homeless shelter between June 2009 to April 2010, was unemployed and just days from being evicted, but refused to get help. A neighbor told NY1, “Brandis is depressed. It looks like she needs help. She looks like she has something mental. All of us are talking about her that she needs help mentally."

The city's Administration for Children's Services said in a statement: "ACS has received a report of the terribly sad death of the two-year-old this morning in Brooklyn and is actively investigating. There are no other siblings in the family." Skye Anderson, who babysat Cathryn, told NY1 her nickname was Cha-Cha: “She was like a little sister to me. I always watched her, she was so nice. She was the sweetest girl ever.”

Cyril Joseph, the director of the Linden-Bushwick Community Garden, told the Times he met Nwegbo at the garden a couple years ago, where she planted herbs and volunteered. Knowing her financial difficulties, he offered to adopt the little girl last August, but she refused. “This is the very, very last thing I thought Brandis would do,” he said, adding, “It’s not the Brandis I know. The Brandis I know would take a bullet for that child.”