The sicko mother who allegedly stored her twin 14-year-old sons imprisoned in a Bronx home of horrors for practically a decade needed her youngsters to remain infants ceaselessly — and even stored them in diapers, feeding them with bottles, sources revealed.
Lissette Soto Domenech, 64, hid her sons away from prying eyes in her Riverdale co-op constructing for years, inspiring hushed whispers amongst fellow residents who introduced their issues to town’s Administration for Kids’s Providers a number of instances, neighbors stated.
ACS officers unsuccessful tried to enter the condo a number of instances, till Domenech lastly opened the door on Oct. 15 – revealing an appallingly skinny teen who gave the impression to be 8 years previous, law-enforcement sources stated.
A neighbor on the Mosholu Avenue constructing’s sixth-floor — the place Domenech allegedly held her boys captive for 9 years — stated the chilling discovery ought to have occurred way back, as she stated she contacted ACS a decade in the past in regards to the youngsters with no outcome.
“It shouldn’t take this lengthy to do one thing,” the neighbor stated. “They need to have performed the follow-ups. Any individual wasn’t going their job.”
The belated revelation final October led to the 2 boys to be whisked away to Montefiore Kids’s Hospital, the place they remained in therapy for 3 months, prosecutors stated. The boy weighed simply 51 and 54 kilos — far beneath the median wholesome weight for a 14-year-old of about 115 kilos, in response to the Facilities for Illness Management.
Domenech was arraigned Wednesday on a 13-count indictment charging her with baby endangerment, assault and submitting false info with New York Metropolis public colleges.
She pleaded not responsible and is free on $25,000 money bail awaiting trial, as her dumbstruck neighbors grapple with the alleged horrors that happened behind closed doorways of their quiet constructing.
One neighbor recalled that Domenech desperately needed a child earlier than her twins had been born when she was 50 — and would burst into tears when requested if she had a household.
“I consider she didn’t need them to develop up,” the neighbor stated. “She needed them to be infants ceaselessly. She needed infants and that was it. She needed them to remain infants ceaselessly and by no means lose them.”
Regulation-enforcement sources confirmed the neighbor’s suspicion, revealing investigators consider Domenech sequestered her twin boys from the world at an early age as she launched into a sick quest to maintain them in everlasting youth.
The boys had been stored in diapers, fed with bottles and hadn’t been to medical doctors in years, sources stated. One boy is autistic, however by no means obtained care, prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors stated the condo solely had toddler cereal, child bottles and toddler toys, with no meals or belonging acceptable for teenagers.
James, 60, a doorman who has lived within the constructing since 2002, stated he used to see the youngsters after they had been toddlers, maybe a 12 months or two previous.
“They’d lengthy blonde hair. They regarded wholesome. I’ve not seen them since,” he stated.
Domenech and the youngsters slowly disappeared from view within the constructing. Many neighbors stated they knew kids lived within the sixth-floor condo, however few had truly seen them.
In the meantime, Domenech’s husband — whose identify apparently was Yosef Inexperienced — might usually be seen hauling luggage of meals as much as the condo.
“As soon as I requested him, ‘I haven’t seen your youngsters shortly. Are they nonetheless right here?’ He stated, ‘Sure, I homeschool them,” James stated. “I stated, ‘They by no means exit?’ and he stated, ‘No.’”
Domenech had began submitting paperwork with town’s Division of Training in 2017 falsely claiming she was homeschooling the youngsters, prosecutors allege.
Neighbors described Inexperienced as a candy man who hailed from Israel and generally spent hours within the constructing’s foyer speaking in Hebrew on the cellphone. Some stated he not too long ago died from most cancers after a sluggish decline.
The sixth-floor neighbor contended that Domenech was bodily abusive towards Inexperienced, whom she had kicked out of the condo.
“She wouldn’t let him in. He yelled, ‘Oh child,’ and he was crying and she or he was hitting him within the hallway,” the neighbor stated.
“Sooner or later, he wasn’t seeing the kids as a result of she wouldn’t let him in. She wouldn’t let him go in there condo in any respect. When he introduced the meals, he knocked on her door and he handed it to her and that was it.”
After sleeping in a automotive and the constructing’s foyer, Inexperienced ultimately bought one other condo on the sixth flooring, neighbors stated. He usually requested different neighbors for cash and took to hauling cans to a close-by Key Meals for money, a number of stated.
Domenech had filed for chapter in 2025, court docket information present.
What number of complaints ACS obtained in regards to the household or visits baby welfare officers tried to make to the condo is unclear. It was additionally not clear why she was not charged till January.
The sixth-floor neighbor stated she as soon as noticed an ACS official exterior Domenech’s door, however the mom wouldn’t allow them to inside.
ACS officers stated they’re prohibited by state legislation from sharing case info, together with whether or not somebody has a present or previous historical past with the company.
“Our prime precedence is the protection and well-being of New York Metropolis’s kids,” an ACS spokesperson stated in an announcement. “Whereas State legislation prohibits ACS from sharing case info, we’re grateful to our baby protecting groups for the life-saving work they do every single day.”
A number of nameless ideas ultimately led to the fateful encounter at Domenech’s condo that lastly revealed the alleged abuse unfolding for 9 harrowing years behind closed doorways, prosecutors stated.
“They took them away a few months in the past as a result of they regarded like one thing out of a scary film,” a first-floor resident stated.
Extra reporting by Amanda Woods
