What to Know
- The bodies of 36-year-old Felicia Barahona and her 4-year-old son were found in a Manhattan apartment Monday
- Barahona was found strangled; her son was found unresponsive in a bathtub
- Isaac Duran, a former student of Barahona's and the father of her baby, was arrested on murder charges
The ex-lover of a former New York City schoolteacher has been arrested on murder charges after the woman and their 4-year-old son were found dead in her Manhattan apartment Monday.
Isaac Duran Infante, 23, was taken into custody Tuesday in the deaths of 36-year-old Felicia Barahona and their 4-year-old son Miguel, and confessed to killing them, a law enforcement source told NBC 4 New York.
The medical examiner has determined Barahona died from strangulation by the electrical cord, and her son died of asphyxia from neck compression.
Duran Infante was a former student of Barahona's, and their son was born from their affair, which began when he was 17 years old.
A source told NBC 4 New York that Duran Infante, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, confessed to the double killing in part because he was dissatisfied with the way his son was being raised by Barahona.
Duran Infante said nothing to reporters as he was led in handcuffs from the police stationhouse where he was interviewed.
His anguished grandmother, who lives in the Bronx, told NBC 4 New York in Spanish she wanted justice and that she knows her grandson is innocent of the charges.
Another relative of Duran Infante, Janiel Santana, said, "It's hard to believe they're dead. When we heard the news, we thought this has got to be a mistake."
The couple shared custody of the child, relatives said. Miguel's father's side of the family was expecting to see the boy for New Year's Eve to give him his Christmas presents.
Barahona lost her job as a science teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School in 2013, shortly after she became pregnant and school administrators learned of her illicit relationship with a student.
Local
Felicia Barahona was found dead, an electrical cord wrapped around her neck, on the living room floor of her West 153rd Street apartment in Hamilton Heights around 8:15 a.m. Monday after the building super was alerted about a smell, police said. Her son Miguel was found unresponsive in a bathtub, police said. Investigators believe the duo had been dead several days.
Neighbors described Miguel as a sweet boy.
"It's sad. It's a little life," said Elia Flores, adding of his mother, "I've known her for a lot of years that she live here."
