Victoria Moreno Chicago aunt pushes nephew toddler Josiah Brown off Navy pier to his death. Charges expected to be upped against relative with history of mental illness.
A 3 year old boy pushed off a Chicago pier into Lake Michigan by his aunt last week has died, with state prosecutors now expected upping charges against the relative following the boy’s death on Sunday.
The aunt, Victoria Moreno, was charged on Wednesday with one count of attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery to a child.
During the bond hearing, Moreno argued that she suffered from a history of mental health issues. Despite her defense, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Susanna Ortiz denied her bail.
Authorities alleged that security camera footage showed the 34-year-old woman pushing her nephew off Chicago’s Navy Pier in the afternoon on September 19.
After pushing the toddler into the lake, his aunt stood by and did nothing to save the boy, witnesses stated. Prosecutors have since identified the toddler as Josiah Brown.
Aunt watched without reaction as boy struggled in water
Ashton King, a witness, saw the boy floating in the water and immediately called authorities.
‘We looked at what she was looking at, and we saw a little boy floating on his back,’ King said, referring to Moreno.
King told WBBM-TV that the aunt did nothing to save the child. She called Moreno’s lack of action and calm demeanor ‘the most bizarre thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.’
Prosecutors identified the child as Josiah Brown and reported that, after nearly 30 minutes in the water, the toddler suffered cardiac arrest and severe brain damage.
After Fire Department divers recovered the boy, he was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in ‘very critical condition,’ officials stated.
WFLD reported that the child’s mother left the boy in the care of his grandmother on the day of the incident. Moreno, who lived at the grandmother’s home, allegedly took the child and brought him to the pier by stealing a vehicle from her family.
Prosecutors said Moreno ‘stole the keys’ and ‘snuck out of the residence without anyone knowing that she had left.’
Boy’s father awaits heart transplant
Moreno was not allowed to drive because of medications she was taking for mental illness, according to WFLD. Allegedly, this was not the first time Moreno had taken young family members without permission.
According to a police report, the aunt initially denied knowing the boy. Later, she allegedly said she was holding onto the child’s shirt but let go because he started ‘acting up.’
The medical examiner’s office reported that Josiah Brown succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, almost one week after the incident. Given the recent announcement of the child’s passing, additional charges against the aunt are expected.
‘Rest easy my bubba,’ the boy’s father, Dantrell Brown, wrote on Instagram for his ‘Jedi JoJo.’
Brown said he only got to spend 3 hours at his son’s hospital bedside because he is also in another hospital awaiting a heart transplant, having been diagnosed with congestive heart failure when he was 22, just days before his son’s birth.
‘If I don’t make it out we can finally have that swim together that I promised you,’ he wrote in a tribute to his late son.
Brown’s family described the little boy as a ‘bundle of joy’ who was ‘full of energy’ and ‘loved his dad.’
Moreno following last week’s initial court appearance is to have no contact with Brown’s family. The aunt is due back in court Friday, online records show.
