Bronx Mother Found Not Responsible in Deaths of Sons, 3 and 11 Months, at Shelter

A Bronx judge has found Dimone Fleming not responsible for the deaths of her two young sons, ruling that the 2022 killings at a Mount Hope family shelter occurred while she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Fleming, who confessed to killing 3-year-old Daishawn and 11-month-old Octavius, will remain in state custody rather than go free, and she is expected back in court on September 18.

The bodies of Daishawn Fleming and Octavius Canada were found with multiple stab wounds in a bathtub at the Echo Place Family Shelter in November 2022, according to ABC7 Eyewitness News. Police at the time described Fleming's behavior as erratic, and both prosecution and defense mental evaluations later determined she was in a state of psychosis when the children died. Fleming, then 23, was charged with first-degree murder shortly after the killings.

The 246 Echo Place address where the deaths occurred is operated by the nonprofit Services for the UnderServed under contract with the city's Department of Homeless Services, providing transitional housing for homeless families, according to the NYC City Record. When officers first responded to a 911 call at the shelter, they took Fleming for a psychiatric evaluation at St. Barnabas Hospital after finding her naked and attempting to burn items, per FOX 5 New York. It was only after a second 911 call, minutes later, that officers discovered the children submerged in the bathtub.

Autopsy Findings and Formal Charges

An autopsy by the city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found that both boys sustained four fatal stab and slicing wounds each to their necks and torsos before being placed under a dark sheet in the water-filled tub, according to the Norwood News. Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced in July 2024 that Fleming was arraigned on first-degree murder, four counts of second-degree murder, and two counts of first-degree manslaughter before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Brenda Rivera. She was remanded without bail following that arraignment.

Relatives told reporters shortly after the killings that Fleming, who went by the nickname Brenda, had been exhibiting severe delusions, obsessively talking about demons and expressing fear that her young children were devils, according to Punch Newspapers. Family members said she had been affectionate and loving with her children before her psychological break.

What Comes Next Under State Law

Fleming's case now moves into a distinct legal track reserved for defendants found not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect. Under New York Criminal Procedure Law Section 330.20, a court making that finding must immediately order an examination to determine whether the person currently suffers from a dangerous mental disorder or remains mentally ill, according to the New York Courts statute. The court has ordered a new evaluation to determine whether Fleming might still be a threat to others, and she remains under the jurisdiction of the state Office of Mental Health rather than being released.

Doctors who spoke to ABC7 offered medical context for how a mother could reach that point. Dr. Veerle Bergink, director of the Women's Health Center at Mount Sinai, said postpartum hormonal changes may partly trigger psychosis, and stressed that the risk of mothers harming or killing their children remains very small. Peer-reviewed research indicates postpartum psychosis affects roughly 1 to 2 per 1,000 deliveries, with a mother's relative risk of a psychotic episode more than 20 times higher in the month after childbirth than at other times, according to clinical literature cited in prior Hoodline coverage.

A Pattern of Cases Across the Region

Fleming's case joins a string of recent maternal infanticide prosecutions that have tested how courts weigh postpartum psychiatric evidence. In Brooklyn, Coney Island mother Erin Merdy was sentenced in May to 20 years to life after pleading guilty to drowning her three children off Coney Island in September 2022 following reported mental health struggles — a case that reached resolution through a guilty plea rather than an insanity verdict. In Massachusetts, the state's Supreme Judicial Court granted a new trial this month to Latarsha Sanders, convicted in 2022 of killing her two sons, after ruling that the trial judge improperly excluded psychiatric records documenting her history of postpartum psychosis.

Legal and cultural commentators writing in ZORA Magazine have pointed to disparities in public attention and empathy given to infanticide cases involving Black mothers with reported postpartum mental health crises, comparing cases like Fleming's and Merdy's to the extensive national coverage of Massachusetts case Lindsay Clancy. Legal scholars cited in that outlet note that Black mothers frequently face harsher early criminalization during psychiatric emergencies, even when later evaluations point toward severe mental illness rather than criminal intent.

For now, Fleming remains confined rather than free, awaiting the danger assessment required under state law before any determination is made about her future placement. She is due back in court on September 18.