Police: Bloody pillow found in Mass. tot's crib

Aisling McCarthy Brady, already jailed on an assault charge, could be charged with murder in last week's death of Rehma Sabir, a Cambridge infant who was hospitalized with head injuries on Jan. 14 — her first birthday. She died two days later.

Court documents filed Tuesday describe a gruesome scene inside the baby's bedroom and a concerned neighbor hearing a child's urgent cries fall silent.

An upstairs neighbor told police that on the day the baby was hospitalized, she heard the infant crying for almost an hour before it changed to "extreme crying." The woman said she knocked on the front door of the apartment for about 90 seconds, timing the knocks in between the baby's gasping so it would be heard by someone inside.

Her knocks went unanswered. Police said she told them she heard the baby cry for another 10 minutes.

"It started to slow and settle down before stopping completely," police said.

State police who later searched the girl's room found a bloody blanket and pillow in the crib and blood-stained baby wipes discarded in a diaper pail, according to court documents.

Dr. Alice Newton, medical director of the Child Protection Team at Boston Children's Hospital, diagnosed Rehma as a victim of abusive head trauma, according to the court documents.

"Abusive head trauma includes injuries caused by violent shaking as well as impact to the head either by directly striking the head or causing the head to strike another object or surface," the documents said.

Authorities said Brady, 34, could be charged with murder following completion of an autopsy. It's not clear when it will be completed.

Brady's lawyer, Melinda Thompson, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday. Thompson said Tuesday that her client had no role in the baby's death.

The baby's parents, Nada Siddiqui and Sameer Sabir, told police that Aisling had been their nanny for the last six months, caring for the baby while they worked.

State police said in the court documents that Brady was also watching another infant the day Rehma was hospitalized because the baby's parents participated in a nanny share. The other infant was not harmed.