Rescue, recovery and adoption follow discovery of newborn on Chestnut Street
YONKERS — A newborn who was found abandoned inside the hallway of an apartment building on Chestnut Street earlier this year was reunited Tuesday with the Yonkers police officers who first found and rescued her, city officials said.
Officers Tyler Barreira and McEvoy responded to the call and discovered the infant, later named Melanie, wrapped in cloth with an umbilical cord still attached, according to Yonkers Police Deputy Chief Richard Alaimo. The child was taken to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla for evaluation and treatment.
"When police arrived, they saw a young infant, newborn, wrapped in a cloth on the floor. Baby still had an umbilical cord attached," Alaimo said. Officers said their immediate priority was to secure the infant and get her medical attention.
"The main thing was just getting her safe and getting her to the hospital," Officer McEvoy said.
Medical staff at Maria Fareri performed an extensive evaluation and determined the infant to be in generally good health, Dr. Edmund La Gamma, chief of the division of Newborn Medicine at the hospital, told reporters. Following the hospital assessment, Melanie entered the foster system.
The two officers who responded to the scene later fostered Melanie and have since completed the process to officially adopt her. The couple, who asked not to show their faces in media coverage, said they feel fortunate to have the child in their lives.
Melanie’s birth mother, Jaqueline Marleni Perez, was sentenced to two years of probation, authorities reported. The circumstances of Perez’s decision to leave the infant in the building hallway have been part of the court record, and local officials have said the mother indicated a belief that the child would be taken in by a family able to care for her.
Local officials call reunion a rare positive outcome
Yonkers law enforcement described the Tuesday reunion as a rare success story in a case that began as a child welfare and criminal investigation. Officers and hospital staff gathered for the meeting, marking the conclusion of the rescue and medical phases of the response and the beginning of a family life for the child with her adoptive parents.
- Discovery location: hallway, Chestnut Street apartment building, Yonkers
- Initial responders: Officers Tyler Barreira and McEvoy
- Medical care: Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, Valhalla — evaluated and declared healthy
- Legal outcome: Birth mother Jaqueline Marleni Perez sentenced to two years of probation
- Current status: Infant Melanie fostered then adopted by the rescuing officers
| Event | Detail |
|---|---|
| Initial discovery | Newborn found in building hallway on Chestnut Street |
| Medical evaluation | Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital — declared in good health |
| Custody | Fostered, then adopted by responding officers |
| Legal | Birth mother sentenced to two years probation |
Deputy Chief Alaimo praised the officers’ actions and the hospital staff’s care, saying the case showed teamwork across emergency response and pediatric medicine. "They performed admirably, and I couldn't be more proud," he said, calling the reunion a meaningful outcome for everyone involved.
Officer McEvoy described the scene and the aftermath as the kind of outcome that department personnel do not often get to witness. "It's a success story that we don't get to see a lot," he said.
The case has drawn attention in Yonkers both for the circumstances of the infant’s abandonment and for the resolution in which first responders became permanent caregivers. City officials and child welfare advocates continue to stress the availability of resources for parents in crisis, and the legal proceedings concerning the mother concluded with the probation sentence as reported.
As Melanie begins life with her new parents, the reunion on Tuesday served as a reminder of the role local police and medical professionals play in child welfare emergencies, and how those responses can shape long-term outcomes for vulnerable infants.
