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Case Workers Went To Dead Toddler's Mount Vernon Home At Least Dozen Times Previously

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- There's new information emerging in the case of a toddler who was found dead in a Mount Vernon home.

CBS2's Lou Young reported case workers were at the home of 15-month-old Samia Yusef at least a dozen times before she was killed last week. At least one of those calls involved a child with a broken arm as most of the calls go back years.

Mount Vernon police said they had no idea.

"In this particular case, yes, it's disturbing," Deputy Police Commissioner Shawn Harris said of the number of police calls to the home.

The medical examiner estimated the toddler died last Thursday between 9 and 10 p.m. as police weren't called for eight hours.

An aunt called saying, "My niece is dead, my niece is dead."

Samia's body was ice cold when police got there, as if it had spent time in a freezer. Mayor Richard Thomas suggests that if this happened in a more affluent part of Westchester – anyplace but Mount Vernon – Child Protective Services would have acted.

"I need to know why Mount Vernon was treated the way it was relative to a Bronxville or Scarsdale," Thomas said. "I need to understand what judgment calls they made here, that they made differently elsewhere."

Dasia Bartee, the dead child's mother, has been charged with first-degree manslaughter and is being held on $50,000 bond, but there were others in the apartment.

"It's an ongoing investigation," Harris said.

Mount Vernon said it wants at-risk families identified to them so they can step in and help.

"We want to do that in the event CPS drops the ball again," Thomas said.

A spokesman at the county social services said, "Our staff's dedication is the same regardless of geography or individual circumstances, and their hearts break just as ours do every time an innocent life is taken."

Samia has two older sisters, aged 6 and 9. Both girls have been removed from the home, despite the presence of extended family members.

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