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Brooklyn Mother Confesses to Drowning 2-Year-Old Daughter, DA Says

By Irene Luo | March 16, 2016 4:30pm
 Melody Pheng, 2, was killed in her Sunset Park home, police said.
Melody Pheng, 2, was killed in her Sunset Park home, police said.
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DNAinfo/Valeria Ricciulli

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The Sunset Park mother accused of drowning her 2-year-old daughter has confessed to the crime, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney. 

Lin Li, 24, told Detective John P. McDonald that she placed her daughter, Melody Pheng, in a container of water and then submerged her head until the girl was unresponsive, according to prosecutors.

The father was performing CPR on the unconscious girl when emergency responders arrived at their home in Brooklyn on Sunday night around 8:26 p.m., according to police.

Melody Pheng was taken to Mamonides Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 9:20 p.m. Sunday night, police said.

The Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be drowning and deemed it a homicide case.

Li faces charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, and endangering the welfare of a child. Her husband has not been charged, but the investigation is ongoing, police said.

She was arraigned Brooklyn Criminal Court Wednesday morning and ordered held without bail.

“We do not have enough information to know exactly what happened,” Li's lawyer, Martin Marshak, said.

Her next court date will be on March 21.