Mother on suicide watch after facing judge on charges that she killed her 4-year-old son

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    NEW LONDON, Connecticut (WFSB) — A New London mother is on suicide watch after she faced a judge on charges that she killed her own son.

Tiffany Farrauto, 33, was charged with murder and risk of injury to a minor.

Farrauto’s arraignment on Monday was virtual, though she was at New London Superior Court.

Her public defender said Farrauto has serious mental health problems.

The suspect’s bond was set at $2 million.

‘When I asked her address this morning, she gave me a list of numbers followed by the claim that she lived in a squad car,” said Tim Gilman, prosecutor.

The office of the Chief Medical Examiner was scheduled to perform an autopsy on her 4-year-old son, identified as David Jasmin, on Monday.

In the meantime, the community where it happened is still trying to process what was first reported as vehicle vandalism on Sunday morning.

“Like somebody hitting something. I don’t know what it was,” said Rachel Castillo, a New London resident.

What Castillo heard was cars in a nearby parking lot getting hit.

“Then, I heard a lady walking and she kept saying, ‘You screwed up. You screwed up. You screwed up,’ and that was it,” Castillo explained.

One of the cars’ owners called New London police sand said a woman was armed with a bat.

As officers spoke with them, the suspect, identified as Tiffany Farrauto, approached the group.

“She made an utterance, ‘Take me away’, and he asked, ‘Why do I need to take you away?’ and she indicated she harmed her son and her son was in the apartment,” New London Police Chief Peter Reichard said.

Officers found Jasmin inside their apartment with no pulse.

They tried CPR and called an ambulance, but he died at the hospital.

Police said Farrauto strangled him.

“As we’re a very small city, we really are just one big family and so we all share in a loss like this,” said New London Mayor Michael Passero.

The emotional toll of this crime was evident in both Passero and New London Police Chief Peter Reichard, not to mention in everyone else who tried to save the child.

“I talked to the officers who first arrived to the scene. They were choked up by it. All of them have children the same age and it hits home. It hits you right in the gut,” Reichard said.

Now, the city said it just wants justice served.

“That’s terrible if that really, really happened. Hopefully they took this person in and do something about it,” Castillo added.

All first responders who responded to the incident will be provided grief counseling and other support services.

“I talked to the officers who first arrived to the scene, they were choked up by it,” Reichard said. “All of them have children the same age, and it hits home. It hits you right in the guts.”

In a statement, New London Mayor Michael Passero said:

As our city mourns the tragic death of a child, we express our sympathy to the family & wish comfort to all who mourn Special word of consolation & gratitude to first responders (our police, firefighters, paramedics) for their heroic efforts to save a precious young life.

A vigil was held on Monday night to honor Jasmin.

“Honestly, I don’t think there is a single one of us who can wrap our heads around this and what happens in your life to cause you to do this,” said Jennifer Ostey, Jasmin’s aunt.

Family members have started a GoFundMe page to help bury Jasmin.

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