{"id":92866,"date":"2025-07-26T01:44:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T01:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92866\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T01:44:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T01:44:17","slug":"monster-nyc-mom-who-killed-twin-newborns-dumped-them-like-trash-in-2020-finally-nailed-after-dna-link-cops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92866\/","title":{"rendered":"Monster NYC mom who killed twin newborns, dumped them like trash in 2020 finally nailed after DNA link: cops"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u00a0Bronx monster mom killed her twin newborns<\/a> in 2020, dumped them like garbage in a rat-infested alley \u2014 and was finally nailed this week thanks to DNA \u00a0from a drink container, \u00a0sources told The Post.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Castillo, 36, was\u00a0arrested on murder charges Friday by NYPD cops after a trail of genetic evidence tied her to the grisly unsolved slaying of her tiny sons in Claremont, law-enforcement sources said.<\/p>\n

The twins were given the names Zeke and Zane by grieving NYPD officers and homicide detectives who never stopped investigating the crime \u2013 and new evidence revealed Castillo was their biological mother, sources said.<\/p>\n

Stephine Castillo, 36, is facing murder charges as police say she killed her newborn twins in 2020. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n

\u201cOur detectives had the funeral for these two children,\u201d said NYPD Assistant Chief Michael Baldassano. \u201cEvery year they had a memorial for these two children. They have never stopped caring about this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castillo faces first- and second-degree murder charges in both infants\u2019 deaths, in addition to murder with intent and manslaughter counts, police said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh man. This is really a big burden lifted off my mind, a big weight,\u2019\u2019 said Renford Cole, 75, \u00a0who discovered the boys\u2019 bodies while working as a super at a nearby building, to The Post.<\/p>\n

The NYPD arranged a funeral for the murdered infants. Tomas E. Gaston<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy to know that they find the person because those were babies, innocent babies,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to sleep better tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cops on Friday led a handcuffed Castillo from the 44th Precinct building, several blocks from where Cole found the dead infants behind a College Avenue building in November 2020.<\/p>\n

One newborn was partially covered in a pet training pad, with apparent head trauma and his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, sources said at the time.<\/p>\n

Castillo was the biological mother of the murdered infants. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n

The other infant, found 20 feet away, was bound in a black plastic bag with no visible injuries.
Both were less than 24 hours old when they died.<\/p>\n

Castillo had previously lived in the College Avenue building with her parents, sources said. She never told anyone that she was pregnant, according to sources.<\/p>\n

Forensic evidence, including blood from the suspect and children, helped lead to a break in the case, a source revealed.<\/p>\n

The suspect\u2019s blood yielded a hit on a genealogical DNA database from one of the suspect\u2019s relatives, sources said.<\/p>\n

One of the babies had apparently head trauma, another was bound in a plastic bag. Tomas E. Gaston<\/p>\n

The investigative genetic genealogy work by the NYPD\u2019s forensics division developed a lead on a potential suspect \u2013 Castillo \u2013 that was handed over to Bronx homicide detectives, according to a source.<\/p>\n

Castillo herself inadvertently provided the final piece of evidence, sources said.<\/p>\n

She threw away a drink container that investigators collected and used to extract her DNA, which matched with the suspected killer, the sources said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInterviews and video canvasses and the really great work of our forensic investigation division brought us to where we are today,\u201d Baldassano said.<\/p>\n

The infants, who were less than 24 hours old when they died, were found within 20 feet of each other. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n

Castillo had since moved near the College Avenue building into a shelter, where cops cuffed her Friday morning, according to sources.<\/p>\n

NYPD officers were also assisted by Homeland Security Investigations agents in Castillo\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

The arrest potentially closes a painful chapter for the NYPD detectives and officers who originally investigated the twins\u2019 tragic deaths.<\/p>\n

Nearly 20 officers even organized a funeral for the babies in September 2021, placing them in a single white casket, adorned with a bouquet of white flowers and a large blue bow.<\/p>\n

The NYPD detectives named the infants Zeke and Zane. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have never seen a case like this,\u201d one detective said at the time. \u201cThese were two newborn babies who were full term and then put in garbage bags and thrown in a rat infested backyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir little bodies had fractures. This has weighed heavy on every detective that has worked on the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole said he remembered the Monday that he found the children\u2019s bodies \u201clike it was yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw [a trash bag] there from early in the morning, but I thought it was garbage. I paid it no mind because people threw garbage back there all the time,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Then, \u201cI saw the legs sticking out. The legs were straight. They weren\u2019t twisted or anything like that,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

He said he thought what he saw was part of a doll, but \u201cI touched the legs \u2014 they were soft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was confused. I went inside to get my buddy. He said it wasn\u2019t a toy. I told him to call the police.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is a very good day,\u201d he added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u00a0Bronx monster mom killed her twin newborns in 2020, dumped them like garbage in a rat-infested alley…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":92867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,4219,61399,5248,27813,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5305,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-92866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-major-crimes","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-murders","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-the-bronx","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114917006601941567","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}