Authorities Investigate the Death of a 7-year-old Child in Newark – TAPinto.net
NEWARK,NJ-Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II has announced that the death of 7-year-old Aydin Brown has been ruled a homicide and that the cause of death is blunt force injury. Prosecutor Stephens has also announced that authorities have charged Mark Harper, age 36 of Union, with murder. Harper had previously been charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
The child was pronounced death on Monday morning at Beth Israel Medical Center. Newark police officers were dispatched to a residence in the 100 block of Weequahic Avenue on reports of a sick or injured child. Arriving officers observed an unresponsive child within the residence. Police and emergency medical personnel rushed the victim to the hospital.
This matter is being investigated by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force, which includes detectives from the Newark Police Department. As a result of the investigation, charges were upgraded earlier today, according to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly. Harper, who has been identified as the boyfriend of Aydin’s mother has been lodged in the Essex County Correctional Facility pending a detention hearing in NJ Superior Court.
The investigation is active and ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Prosecutor’s Tips Line at (877) 847-7432.
The charge against this defendant is merely an allegation. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
No further information is available at this time.