The distraught dad of a six-year-old girl found dead in her Brooklyn bathtub believes his daughter was “murdered” and asked a friend “for a miracle,” the pal told The Post.
No arrests have been made in the death of the child, who was discovered Friday afternoon submerged in the family’s Cypress Hills bathtub, unconscious, authorities said.
The co-worker sensed something was wrong Friday afternoon when the girl’s father, who he identified as “George,” failed to show up for his shift at a nearby supermarket.
“He just sent me a message around like 4 o’clock telling me that someone murdered his daughter. He didn’t say who,” said Emmanuel Pichardo, who described the dad as a “good friend.”
“He was at the hospital. I told him to be patient, believe in God, leave everything up to God. He asked for a miracle,” Pichardo, 42, added. “I feel sad because you’re receiving that news that you’re not supposed to hear.”
The girl’s mother was led out of the home in handcuffs, video obtained by The Post showed. She was questioned by police, but had not been charged as of Saturday afternoon.
Outside the home Saturday, a man who identified himself as the victim’s uncle told The Post, “I don’t even have the strength to talk right now. I don’t know what to say.”
The girl was “happy and cute,” said neighbors, who noted the family moved to the block only a few months ago.
“I see that they are happy. I see the mother loved the girl…and [the father] is a nice guy,” said next door neighbor Gina Khau.
Her husband, Tuan Bui, recalled the child’s cheery morning greetings.
“Sometimes when [the youngster] comes outside with the mom she said, ‘Good morning’ or ‘Hi’ – she was a nice little girl,” said Bui, 60, who said he often saw both parents play with their daughter in the backyard.
“The girl looked happy, happy all the time. In the summer I see her walking to the park with the mother and the father…nothing bad,” echoed neighbor Vincent Abad.
Something seemed wrong in the hours before the child’s death, the neighbors said, with Khau, 73, recalling how she heard “someone screaming” around 4 a.m. as she got up to use the bathroom.
“I think it was the little girl,” she said, while her husband noted he could hear the family speaking all night.
“That night they didn’t sleep,” Bui, 60, recalled.
He later watched first responders bring the child out of the home and into a waiting ambulance.
“The [EMT] brought her out on a dolly. The lips were green, the eyes were closed. They covered her up to her neck with white sheet,” Bui said.
The girl was taken to Brookdale University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Cop sources previously said the girl may have been submerged under water for 20 minutes, and she had blood clots in her eyes by the time cops found her – indicating some kind of struggle.
