Mubashra Uddin | Homicide Watch Chicago

Judge orders teen charged with dropping infant daughter from 8th-floor window to stay behind bars

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 13:19:49 -0600

By RUMMANNA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Mubashra Uddin | Cook County sheriff's office

Mubashra Uddin has been depressed since she was accused of dropping her newborn baby from a window of her family’s eighth-floor Uptown apartment, her lawyers said in court Thursday.

A close friend also said Uddin may have been overwhelmed by the pressure that comes with being raised in a pious immigrant family.

“At that moment she probably wasn’t thinking and she cracked ... because the Mubashra I know wouldn’t do something like this if she was in right state of mind,” Uddin’s childhood friend “Nina O” wrote in a letter to Cook County Judge James Brown.

As Uddin stood with her head bowed in court Thursday, her attorney Barry Sheppard urged the judge to set bail for the 19-year-old.

“Standing before you is someone who is heartbroken and sad. ... She is a confused, older teenager,” Sheppard said. “She’s extremely contrite. She’s saddened. She’s been crying.”

But after hearing the details of the baby girl’s death, Brown ordered Uddin remain held without bond in Cook County Jail while she awaits trial for murder.

“Dropping a baby out of an eighth-story window to its eventual death is exceedingly evil and exceedingly cruel,” the judge said.

Judge Peggy Chiampas originally ordered Uddin held without bond on Saturday while she was hospitalized. Since she had a surgical procedure, Uddin’s lawyers filed a motion to set bail so she could get out of jail.

The naked, bloody and still-breathing baby was found in a grassy area by a neighbor on the night of Nov. 11. The neighbor wrapped the baby in his shirt, got two blankets and waited for an ambulance that took her to Weiss Memorial Hospital. The girl died over an hour later, Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Turnock said.

Uddin, a Muslim of Pakistani descent, hid the pregnancy from her parents because she thought they wouldn’t approve, authorities said.

The only people who knew she was pregnant were her boyfriend—who her parents didn’t approve of; and another friend, Turnock said. She was able to conceal her pregnancy by wearing baggy clothes and never sought prenatal care.

Uddin gave birth to a 7-pound, 11-ounce girl in her bedroom at 11:20 p.m. while her 10-year-old sister slept, Turnock said.

Minutes later, when Uddin heard her mother approaching the bedroom, she opened the window, held the baby out head first and released her grip, Turnock said.

Police found blood on the floor and a window in Uddin’s bedroom in the 800 block of West Eastwood, Turnock said. They also found blood on the toilet, bloody sheets, bloody scissors allegedly used to cut the umbilical cord, and clothes that had been washed.

Uddin first denied being pregnant but then made incriminating statements on tape, Turnock said.

Sheppard told reporters that while Uddin comes from a religiously conservative background, it doesn’t mean her parents don’t love her. They support her “100 percent,” the defense attorney said.

Uddin’s father and teary-eyed mother declined comment but shook their head in agreement while standing with another relative and Uddin’s former counselor from Walt Disney Magnet School.

The counselor described Uddin, who waved to her parents in court, as a model student and a “sweetheart.”

Uddin’s boyfriend’s mother also expressed support and said she wasn’t “in the right state of mind” at the time of the incident. The young woman’s family was “strict” and pulled her out of high school once they found out about the relationship, she said.

Uddin, who had been attending DeVry University on a scholarship, has been receiving treatment for depression while in Cook County Jail, Sheppard said, adding the baby’s fall may have been “accidental.”

Sheppard and his partner, Adam Sheppard, gave the judge several letters of support from Uddin’s neighbors, classmates and teachers.

A friend, Sahdia Uddin, described Mubashra Uddin as “a very kind, caring and loving girl who should not spend the rest of her life in jail. … Mubashra is not a monster.”

WEEK IN REVIEW: Six people killed in Chicago, including newborn baby dropped from 8th-floor window in Uptown

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 16:00:40 -0600

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire
At least 6 people died from violence in Chicago last week, including a newborn baby girl, whose mother is charged with dropping her from an 8th-floor window shortly after giving birth on the North Side.

The newborn, being called Baby Jane Uddin was found dead outside an Uptown building Wednesday night.

About 11:20 p.m., she was found in the yard in the 800 block of West Eastwood, the same block where the suspect lives, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The baby was taken to nearby Weiss Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:57 a.m.

Bond was denied Saturday for 19-year-old Mubashra Uddin, who police say gave birth to the girl, then dropped her from the 8th story of a high-rise.

Uddin faces faces first-degree murder charges, according to police.

A 25-year-old man was shot to death Saturday afternoon in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the North Side.

At 12:30 p.m., Eric Jordan was walking in the 1600 block of West Howard when someone walked up and shot him, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Jordan, of the 4600 block of North Racine, suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and back, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

A 33-year-old man was shot to death in West Garfield Park Thursday morning.

Lee M. Fields was found about 10:35 a.m. in the 4400 block of West Monroe Street with two gunshot wounds to the lower abdomen, according to police. He ran into a building and collapsed on the stairs.

Fields, who lived on the same block as the shooting, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the medical examiner’s office said.

A man was found shot to death in a car Wednesday night in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side.

James Mitchell, 38, was found with a gunshot wound in the driver’s seat of a car about 10 p.m. after the vehicle crashed into the side of a building in the 100 block of East 127th Street, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Mitchell, of the 8400 block of South Maryland Avenue, suffered a gunshot wound to the upper back and was dead at the scene, authorities said.

A suspect is in custody after 42-year-old Terrell Peterson was found dead following a fight inside an apartment Wednesday morning in Austin.

Officers responding to a report of a battery in progress at an apartment in the 800 block of North Central at 6:30 a.m. found Peterson unresponsive, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Peterson, who lived on the block where he was found, was dead at the scene, authorities said.

Dwayne Jones has been charged with beating Peterson, his mother’s fiance, to death in front of two young relatives who were watching cartoons in a bedroom.

After beating Peterson, Jones took off on one of the children’s bicycles, Cook County prosecutors said in court. Jones, 20, was angry at Peterson because he thought he had taken his wallet.

He was taken into custody at a downtown bus station Wednesday morning, police said. He was charged with murder and ordered held on a $2 million bond.

The week's first homicide was 23-year-old man shot to death Monday afternoon, also in West Pullman.

At 2:25 p.m., officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 300 block of East 120th Street and found 23-year-old Mark Anthony Hayes unresponsive with a single gunshot wound to the arm and torso, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Hayes, of the first block of West Brayton Street, died at Stroger Hospital about 30 minutes later.

Mother charged with dropping newborn girl to death from 8th-floor window in Uptown

Jeff Mayes — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 10:00:19 -0600

A 19-year-old woman gave birth to a girl, then dropped the newborn to her death from the 8th floor window of an Uptown neighborhood high-rise Wednesday night, according to Chicago Police.

Mubashra Uddin | Cook County sheriff's office

Mubashra Uddin faces first-degree murder charges, police announced early Saturday.

About 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, the girl was found in the yard of the building in the 800 block of West Eastwood, the same block Uddin lives on, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The child, known as Baby Jane Uddin, was taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:57 a.m., authorities said. An autopsy Thursday found she died of multiple blunt force injuries and ruled her death a homicide.

Uddin, who remained hospitalized early Friday, had dropped the girl from the window shortly after giving birth, police said.

On Saturday, a judge ordered Uddin held without bond.

--Chicago Sun-Times Wire