Baby Found 'Dead' In Bayside Was Actually A Doll, Cops Say

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — The infant reportedly found "dead" by Crocheron Park in Bayside on Tuesday morning turned out to be a doll, police said.

Police responded to a 911 call reporting what looked to be an unconscious baby by 215th Street and 35th Avenue about 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, an NYPD spokesperson said.

Police initially told news reporters that first responders pronounced the three-month-old baby "dead" from an unknown cause. Officers cordoned off a crime scene, and detectives started searching the area for evidence.

Then representatives from the city medical examiner's office came to pick up the body and discovered the "baby" was just a prop, according to the Associated Press.

The doll was colored pink and blue to look like it was decomposing and wore a T-shirt that read "the crawling dead," according to news reports.

"It appeared to be a baby with discoloration consistent with signs of prolonged death, but thankfully, it was actually a lifelike prop," FDNY spokesman Myles Miller said in a statement.

It is unclear how emergency responders managed to pronounce a doll "dead" without realizing it was a prop. Police are investigating the episode.

#UPDATE: NYPD confirms "dead baby" in #Bayside is actually a life-like DOLL. Sources call it an elaborate hoax. More live at 12 @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/cKGlZQMRPr
— Andrea Grymes (@AndreaGrymesTV) June 18, 2019

Scratching our heads how there was a major crime scene at a Queens Park for hours before NYPD and FDNY/EMS determined that a reported dead baby turned out to be a doll. Police had said the baby was found "unconscious and unresponsive" and was pronouced DOA.
— Tony Gatto (@gattotony) June 18, 2019