BY GABE HERMAN | The death last August of a baby found in the East River beneath the Brooklyn Bridge has now been ruled a homicide, police announced on May 10.
The body of a six-month-old boy, Mason Saldana, of the Bronx, was found on Aug. 5 floating in the water near the shore by South St.
Police said last year that the boy’s father, James Currie, 37, from Co-op City in the Bronx, was seen on surveillance video apparently carrying the boy’s dead body in a backpack in the South St. Seaport area at 3:10 p.m. on Aug. 5. That was less than an hour before the child’s body would be found in the water.
The next day, Currie fled to Bangkok, Thailand. But he was found and brought back days later.
Currie was charged with concealment of a corpse, and has been held on the charge without bail.
“While the exact cause of death cannot be determined,” said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson on May 10, “various factors indicate beyond reasonable doubt that recent homicidal violence occurred.”
Police said in August that the baby was last seen alive on surveillance video on Aug. 4, entering his father’s home in Co-op City shortly after noon.
