Police charged Queens mother Francis Cabello with murder in the death of her 5-year-old daughter, Fabiana.

What police describe as a confession on a 911 call is the core of the case so far, and it is still an allegation. The medical examiner has not released a cause of death, and police have not said what happened before the call. Relatives told reporters Cabello has a history of mental illness and had recently been hospitalized, which could become central to how the case is prosecuted and defended.

A Queens mother has been charged with murder in the death of her 5-year-old daughter, the NYPD said. Francis Cabello, 32, was charged Thursday night, Oct. 15, 2026, after officers responding to a 911 call about an assault found Fabiana Cabello unconscious, unresponsive and bleeding from her nose and mouth in a bedroom of the family's home on 110th Street in South Richmond Hill just before 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14. ABC7 New York, NBC New York, FOX 5 NY, PIX11 and CBS New York all reported the arrest.

Law enforcement sources told NBC New York and FOX 5 NY that Cabello made the 911 call herself and told the operator she had killed her daughter. ABC7 reported that when officers arrived, the mother was downstairs and told them, "She's upstairs, not breathing." A neighbor's surveillance video showed officers rushing the girl out of the house and into the back of a police car, FOX 5 NY reported. Fabiana was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital shortly afterward.

The girl's grandfather, Franklin Cabello, told ABC7 and NBC New York that he was home at the time but did not know anything was wrong until police came through the door. "She was in the bedroom, closed the door. We saw nothing," he told ABC7. He told NBC New York that his daughter had been hospitalized for about a month for mental health problems and had been home for about two months, and that he believed she had stopped taking her medication. ABC7 reported that Cabello was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation before she was charged.

Neighbors described Fabiana as a happy child who spent the summer riding her bike and scooter outside. "She used to hug me so tight," one neighbor told NBC New York. The city medical examiner is working to determine the cause of death, and police have not released details about what happened before the 911 call. No court date or attorney for Cabello had been reported. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.