By Jane Nambi

A woman fell eight stories to her death with her baby clenched in her arms in New York on Wednesday.

Cynthia Wachenheim, a resident of West Harlem died in an apparent suicide while holding her ten month old son, Keston. According to a fellow apartment resident, Steven Dominguez, Cynthia, 45, who is a law student at Columbia University fell to her death with the child tightly clenched in her arms. “I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it,” the 18-year-old witness said.

Cynthia and her husband on their wedding day.

Police discovered a seven-page suicide letter under a bed in Wachenheim’s apartment which she wrote to her husband, saying “she recognized what she was about to do was ‘evil’ but she was concerned about how her child was developing.” However, neighbors said they were unaware of any mental or physical problems the baby had.

The baby is in critical but stable condition at Harlem Hospital.

“I heard a scream like a yell,” Dominguez said. “When I got closer, I saw the baby crying.”

Resident Yaa Dwamena, 32, said she’s lived in the building for several years and as long as she’s been there she’s seen Wachenheim. “She was very nice, very friendly, very warm,” Dwamena said. “I wouldn’t have thought anything was wrong with her. They were a happy-looking family. I wouldn’t think anything like this would happen,” she added.