NEW YORK CITY — The death of an 8-month old Queens girl — who was violently shaken a decade ago before succumbing to her injuries last year — was ruled a homicide, according to officials and a report.
The ME ruled on July 18 that Tajanae Silva's death was a homicide and said she died from complications after corrective surgery for "abusive head and neck trauma," a spokeswoman for the agency said.
"She was a beautiful baby. She was healthy, very healthy before the babysitter," Tajanae's biological father, Mark Reeves, told the Daily News. "I need justice for my daughter."
Tajanae, who once shared her father's last name, was left with a young babysitter and the sitter's friends in Harlem in May 2003. One of the sitters shook her so hard that she had to be taken to Harlem Hospital, according to the News.
No one was immediately arrested because investigators couldn't determine who shook her.
Tajanae was taken into the custody of the Administration for Children's Services and was later adopted by the Silva family in Flushing, the News reported.
The girl's injuries plagued her through the intervening years, until last October when she was rushed to New York Hospital Queens because she was having trouble breathing,
The hospitalization came in the wake of a surgery that was meant to repair the damage done years earlier, the newspaper reported.
She died Oct. 11 when she was 10 after being taken off life support, the News said.
