The mother accused of fatally throwing her baby from a fourth-floor window in Queens on Friday allegedly told detectives she killed the infant boy because an "evil spirit" had taken over the child, court documents say.

Rashida Chowdhury, 21, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 1-month-old Rizwan Ahmad, whose lifeless body was found with severe trauma on the ground outside his apartment building in Richmond Hill Friday.

The infant was pronounced dead shortly after he was found. Medical examiners said the baby boy fractured his skull in the 42-foot fall and had lacerations to his brain, liver and spleen.

According to a criminal complaint, Chowdhury confessed to throwing the baby out of her bathroom window. She allegedly said the child had been sick recently and she threw him out of the window because she was "stopping the pain."

She also allegedly told police she thought the baby was possessed by spirits.



The baby had been hospitalized for three days with a viral infection, but had been discharged the day before his death and was recovering, officials said.

He appeared to be in good health otherwise. Investigators were trying to determine whether Chowdhury suffered from postpartum depression but no clinical diagnoses had been made.

On Saturday, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown called the case "disturbing."

"This is is a truly horrific and disturbing case of a mother accused of killing her helpless 3-week-old infant son by tossing him out of a window, where he fell more than 40 feet to the pavement and died," Brown said.

Chowdhury's attorney didn't immediately respond to a message from the Associated Press.