Death of 2-year-old NYC girl in homeless shelter deemed homicide; tot died of drug overdose

The death of a 2-year-old girl in a Harlem homeless shelter has been deemed a homicide after tests proved she died of a drug overdose after attending a picnic sponsored by her mother’s Methadone clinic, police and sources said Friday.

Cops found little Mariya Huebler unconscious and unresponsive when they were called to the shelter at 30 Hamilton Place at about 11:40 p.m. on June 7, 2021, authorities said.

EMS rushed the tot to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, where she died.

No injuries were found on Mariya’s body, but an autopsy later revealed she had died from “acute Methadone intoxication,” a spokeswoman for the city’s Medical Examiner said. Traces of the drug were found in the girl’s stomach during the autopsy, according to a law enforcement source.

Mariya’s mother Jedidah Bailey called 911 when her child fell unconscious, police said.

Bailey and Mariya had lived in the shelter for about six months before the child died, heartbroken relatives said. No other adults or children were living in the unit at the time of the death, a law enforcement source said.

“She used to have this duck toy she really liked and this guitar,” Mariya’s aunt Kamali Bailey told the Daily News. “She liked shopping carts and stuff like that. My mom would call her a little old lady.

“[She was] the average little girl. She liked clothes and hair and she would always watch me get ready,” the 21-year-old aunt recalled, tearing up. “She was really quiet too, she never really cried.”

Attempts to reach Mariya’s mom were unsuccessful Friday.

Eighteen months after her daughter’s death, Jedidah Bailey was “doing the best she can,” the aunt said.

“Life has been different but the only way I’ve been able to cope with it is I’ve been spiritually in tune,” Kamali Bailey said. “I understand death is a part of life but honestly I just try not to think about it too much.”

It was not immediately clear how the tot fell victim to the lethal dose of Methadone. Investigators have reached out to an independent lab to determine how much of the drug the child received.

Bailey has been arrested three times for drug possession, according to a law enforcement source. She has never done any prison time and the cases are sealed.

Cops interviewed Bailey, who routinely goes to a Methadone clinic, a police source with knowledge of the case said.

The morning Mariya died, the mom and daughter attended a picnic sponsored by the clinic, the mother told investigators.

No arrests have been made. At this point Bailey is not considered a person of interest in her daughter’s death, a police source said.

It’s also not clear if Bailey was being investigated by the city’s Administration for Children’s Services before her daughter’s death.

“Our top priority is protecting the safety and wellbeing of all children in New York City. ACS is coordinating with NYPD on this case,” an ACS spokeswoman said.

After Mariya died, her mother received nearly $4,000 in donations to hold a funeral for the child.

“This tragedy has not only just affected me but many others,” she wrote on a GoFundMe post seeking donations. “Mariya was loved so deeply, it hurts to acknowledge that she is physically not with us no more. Anyone who knew me knew how much I loved my daughter, how much of a hands-on mother I was to Mariya. I still cannot believe this is real.”

In the year and half since her toddler died, Jedidah Bailey has shared her pain multiple times on her social media pages.

“I miss you so much. Ur the only one who brought me complete happiness. I would do anything. Give my last breathe (sic) to change places with you, my princess my queen,” Bailey wrote on Facebook in August. “U deserved to grow and become whatever you wanted to be, my heart will forever broken. I often question will I ever be happy again. I have nothing to lose mind (sic) as well leave this realm.”

The shelter the pair was living in is run by HELP USA, a non-profit organization founded by Gov. Cuomo in the 1980s. His sister, Maria Cuomo Cole, chairs the board of directors.

In the early 2010s, the shelter was plagued by deteriorating safety and health conditions, including damaged walls, poor housekeeping and crib-related problems. In February 2014, a 3-month-old girl died after she was rushed from the shelter in cardiac arrest.

As of Sept. 30, the shelter had no open violations, according to the Department of Homeless Services website.

A call to the shelter was not immediately returned.

With Arnav Binaykia and Rocco Parascandola