NJ 4-Year-Old Stabbed In Alley Was Found By Brother, Police Say

PATERSON, NJ — The brother of a 4-year-old Paterson girl was the first to find her outside their home after she had been stabbed and called out for their mother, police said in court documents.

The girl's aunt, 27-year-old Mabel Campechano, was later charged with first-degree attempted murder and other crimes in the Aug. 23 stabbing.

First responders from Paterson Police and the fire department arrived to a home in the area of East 24th Street and 10th Avenue just after 4 p.m. that day, to find the victim with multiple stab wounds.

According to court documents, the mother and brother were in the kitchen fixing a bowl of cereal that afternoon, when the boy said he heard crying outside a window. He went outside and found his sister lying wounded on the ground, and said there appeared to be bruises on her body.

The boy began screaming for his mother, who rushed outside immediately and took the girl back inside to wash her off and warm her up in the bathtubs, as she told first responders that her daughter was cold and her lips were turning blue. Meanwhile, the boy used her phone to call 911.

The girl, along with her mother and brother, were all transported to a local hospital. The 4-year-old girl could have permanent damage from the stabbing, according to a partially-redacted police narrative from the incident.

The children's mother told police that Campechano had approached her wearing clear plastic gloves and told her that she and the 4-year-old girl were going to clean, about 30 minutes before the girl was stabbed. Court documents also state that the brother told firefighters his aunt was responsible, and that the girl told her mother the same thing.

Campechano had left the scene, and the girl's brother said he did not know where she had gone.

Investigators located a crime scene in an alley next to the home, and collected evidence including a knife, a rubber glove, and blood samples. Officials reviews surveillance footage from near the home, which showed Campechano and the girl leaving the residence on the afternoon of Aug. 23, and Campechano wearing gloves similar to the ones recovered at the scene.

The police narrative indicates that Campechano checked herself into a medical facility the next day — still wearing the clothes from the day of the reported stabbing.

Detectives also spoke with Campechano's father, who said she had called him several days later and spoke to him about what happened.

Campechano surrendered herself at the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office on Sept. 23. She is currently in custody at the Bergen County Jail, and faces charges of first-degree attempted murder, third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree endangering an injured victim, and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

Related article — Child's Aunt Charged After Stabbing Of Passaic County 4-Year-Old, Officials Say