Sunset Park Mom Admits to Drowning 2-Year-Old Daughter: DA

Pictured: The family home. Image via Google Maps

UPDATE, Wednesday: Lin Li has admitted to investigators that she drowned her 2-year-old daughter Sunday evening, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.

Straight from the complaint: "The defendant did place Melody Zheng in a container full of water and then pushed her under the water until her head was submerged and held her there for a period of time and later removed Melody Zheng from the container observing that she was unresponsive."

Li was arraigned Wednesday, according to the DA's Office, and will appear in court again March 21.

Citing "law enforcement sources," the New York Daily News reported that Li, angry that her 2-year-old had urinated on herself, placed the little girl in "a storage container inside the bathroom tub and left the water running — a form of punishment she and her brother regularly endured."

Original story below.

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A young Sunset Park mother was arrested and charged Tuesday with murdering her two-year-old daughter, Melody Pheng, in their family home at 652 47th St.

Lin Li, 24, was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and "acting in a manner injurious to a child," according to the NYPD.

A spokeswoman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office confirmed these charges. However, she said the details of the investigation into Pheng's murder could not be revealed until Li was arraigned Wednesday.

Someone at the home on 47th Street called police Sunday evening, according to the department. Once officers arrived, around 8:30 p.m., they said they found 2-year-old Melody Pheng "unconscious and unresponsive" and undergoing CPR at the hands of her father.

Emergency medical responders transported the girl to Maimonides Medical Center in nearby Borough Park, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

NYPD detectives said they initially suspected drowning to be the 2-year-old's cause of death. Multiple news outlets reported that the girl had been found in the family's bathtub — and that her parents and 4-year-old brother were being questioned and examined for physical evidence. They were reportedly cooperating.

The Daily News reported later Monday afternoon that investigators found bruises on the neck of Pheng's 4-year-old brother. While the injuries were not serious, they were reportedly enough for police to suspect that 24-year-old Li and/or her 30-year-old husband may have been abusing the children in some way.

Pheng's death has since been ruled a homicide by the NYC Medical Examiner.

The family's 4-year-old boy, meanwhile, has been handed over to the NYC Administration for Children's Services, according to Brooklyn News 12.