A mother who was found unresponsive “several yards” from her 1-year-old daughter in Bridgeport on Tuesday night was shot to death, police said.
The autopsy of 24-year-old Evelyn Rayo-Mairena found that she died of a gunshot wound to her head, according to Det. Jeffrey Holtz of the Bridgeport Police Department. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.
Rayo-Mairena was found unresponsive lying in the street when officers responded to the 200 block of Black Rock Avenue around 9:30 p.m. on the report of an abandoned child on the front porch of a house, Holtz said. She was given CPR at the scene and was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where she later died.
According to Holtz, Rayo-Mairena’s daughter was found unharmed on a front porch “several yards from her mother’s body.”
“She was left there by a suspect,” Holtz said in a statement.
The child was taken to Bridgeport Hospital to be evaluated and was later reunited with a family member through the state Department of Children and Families, according to Holtz.
Holtz said Rayo-Mairena, a native of Nicaragua, lived on Black Rock Avenue with her daughter.
“A motive for the homicide is still being established,” Holtz said Thursday. “Domestic violence is not being ruled out.”
Detectives working the case have developed “strong leads” and have gotten “significant help from the community,” according to Holtz.
“They are reviewing a large amount of surveillance videos and are making strong progress,” he said. “The Bridgeport Police Department believes the homicide is an isolated incident and there is no danger to the general public.”
Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked by police to contact lead Det. Elizabeth Santora of the Homicide Unit at 203-581-5291.
